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
2. A programmer is…
3. “The computer boys take over” Nathan Ensmenger, 2010
5. The ENIAC “girls”
6. http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/78/2258
9. Computers Operators Coders
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
13. Programming is error-prone Mariner 1 1962
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”
17. 1962: 80% of businesses used some form of aptitude test Half of them used IBM PAT 1967 alone: 700.000 individuals
19. …are crazy about puzzles, …tend to like research applications and risk-taking, …dislike routine and regimentation, …don’t like people Programmers…
21. 1956: 700 programmers 700 = 3/5 of available programmers in US By 1961: 7000 more SDC & the “SAGE” Project
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.”
24. “Unlocking the Clubhouse” Jane Margolis / Allan Fisher 2002
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.”
26. 26 Passion! “I guess I think I’m more balanced…” “I enjoy this, but it’s not my life”
27. “If we are using a single model to identify potential programmers, we will miss many potential students.” Passion
28. What is the “vocational interest scale” in OUR heads?
29. medium.com/@ericajoy “The other side of diversity”
31. Don’t think the status quo is “just natural” Bed sheets ad ALDI
32. https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/stop-acting-so-surprised-how-microaggressions-enforce-stereotypes-in-tech “Stop acting so surprised”
33. Challenge your image of the “real programmer”
34. 34 martinfowler.com/articles/born-for-it.html @birgitta410
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