Born for IT? How the image of software developers came about

Presented in November 2016 at GOTO Berlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk1r4XaWwsM

Transcript

1. BORN FOR IT?
   How the image of software developers came about
   @ b i r g i t t a 4 1 0
   

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2. A programmer is…
   

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3. “The computer boys take over”
   Nathan Ensmenger, 2010
   

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5. The ENIAC “girls”
   

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6. http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/78/2258
   

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9. Computers
   Operators
   Coders
   

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12. It was with some shock and dismay that he
    realized that “a good part of the
    remainder of my life was going to be
    spent in finding errors in my own
    programs”.
    Maurice Wilkes,
    memoirs
    Programming is hard
    

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13. Programming is error-prone
    Mariner 1
    1962
    

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14. “Magic” (“Black art”)
    “Programmers are born,
    not made”
    “When a programmer is good,
    he is very, very good.
    But when he is bad, he is horrid.”
    (IBM, 1968)
    View of programming in 50s/60s
    “Software crisis”
    

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17. 1962: 80% of businesses
    used some form of aptitude test
    Half of them used IBM PAT
    1967 alone: 700.000 individuals
    

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19. …are crazy about puzzles,
    …tend to like research applications and risk-taking,
    …dislike routine and regimentation,
    …don’t like people
    Programmers…
    

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21. 1956: 700 programmers
    700 = 3/5 of available
    programmers in US
    By 1961: 7000 more
    SDC & the “SAGE” Project
    

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23. Female Computer Science student
    There are people who are born to do this, and
    I am not one of them. And it’s definitely not
    one of those things that, like, “Oh, with
    practice, you will become one who is born to
    do it.” …
    You just gotta be born to be like, ‘Computers!
    Yeah! They are awesome!! They are my
    life!’ You know, a lot of computer scientists,
    that’s all they do.”
    

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24. “Unlocking the Clubhouse”
    Jane Margolis / Allan Fisher
    2002
    

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25. “I don’t live to program. I know guys who
    live to program, or at least they seem to.
    You find them on the weekends doing
    nothing but programming and I just think,
    ‘How can they do that?’ I guess I think I’m
    more balanced.”
    “I enjoy computer science, but it’s not my life.”
    

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26. 26
    Passion!
    “I guess I think I’m more balanced…”
    “I enjoy this, but it’s not my life”
    

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27. “If we are using a single model to
    identify potential programmers, we
    will miss many potential students.”
    Passion
    

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28. What is the
    “vocational interest scale”
    in OUR heads?
    

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29. medium.com/@ericajoy
    “The other side of diversity”
    

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31. Don’t think the status
    quo is “just natural”
    Bed sheets ad
    ALDI
    

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32. https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/stop-acting-so-surprised-how-microaggressions-enforce-stereotypes-in-tech
    “Stop acting so surprised”
    

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33. Challenge your image of
    the “real programmer”
    

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34. 34
    martinfowler.com/articles/born-for-it.html
    @birgitta410
    

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35. http://devslovebacon.com/conference
    s/bacon-2013/talks/bacon-is-bad-for-
    you
    @birgitta410
    “The computer boys
    take over”
    Nathan Ensmenger
    “Pioneer Programmer”
    Jean Jennings Bartik
    “Unlocking the
    Clubhouse”
    Jane Margolis /
    Allan Fisher
    https://modelviewculture.com/piece
    s/stop-acting-so-surprised-how-
    microaggressions-enforce-
    stereotypes-in-tech
    https://medium.com/this-is-hard/
    the-other-side-of-diversity-
    1bb3de2f053e
    “Let IT go”
    Dame Stephanie
    Shirley
    

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