1960 to 1969: The Rise of Business Computers and Business Software - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 117

1960 also marked the introduction of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
Programmed Data Processor-1 (PDP-1), which would play a significant role in the
development of computer games, the UNIX operating system, and even computer
hacking.
As the IBM 1401 and other business-oriented computers began to be used by
banks and insurance companies, hundreds of clerical employees were phased out
of their jobs as automation began to take over. Another position that was phased
out due to electronic computers was the human “computer” who handled mathem-
atical calculations.
Digital computers introduced major sociological change that is still far from
complete. Some of the displaced clerical workers became data entry specialists,
program librarians, or part of the administrative teams that surround software and
data center operations.
While thousands of clerical jobs disappeared, companies began to build intern-
al software organizations that eventually would employ thousands of skilled work-
ers. In general, computers and software reduced clerical employment but added
new kinds of knowledge work and new kinds of skilled workers. In many cases,
the clerical workers were shifted into computer work and therefore learned useful
new skills.
In the fullness of time, software organizations in large companies would em-
ploy more than 115 new occupation groups, such as business analysts, database
analysts, software engineers, webmasters, database administrators, and the more
recent scrum masters and Agile coaches.
As software personnel expanded in numbers, academic departments for com-
puter science and software engineering opened up and rapidly increased both in
enrollments and in graduations. After the 1960s, formal training would be a re-
quirement for computer programmers and the period of casual entry into program-
ming would end.
The DEC PDP-1
The DEC was founded in 1957. By coincidence, the DEC headquarters building
was in a converted mill factory in Maynard, Massachusetts, just a few miles from
my home in the 1970s and 1980s.
The DEC PDP-1 was built and released in 1960. It updated an older computer
called the TX-0 that had been built at the MIT Lincoln Lab. The DEC PDP line
was a pioneer in what was called minicomputers , or smaller, cheaper computers