Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Coevolving with this fl ourishing new information industry was a
novel species of technical professional: the computer programmer. In
1945 there were no computer programmers, professional or otherwise;
by 1967 industry observers were warning that although there were at
least a hundred thousand programmers working in the United States,
there was an immediate need for at least fi fty thousand more.
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“Competition for programmers,” declared a contemporary article in
Fortune
magazine, “has driven salaries up so fast that programming has
become probably the country's highest paid technological occupation.
. . . Even so, some companies can't fi nd experienced programmers at any
price.”
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Of all the unanticipated consequences of the invention of the elec-
tronic computer in the mid-1940s, the most surprising was the sudden
rise to prominence of the computer programmer. While the computer
revolution itself might not have been unforeseen, the role of the computer
programmer in bringing about that revolution certainly was. In all of the
pioneering computer projects of this period, for example, programming
was considered, at best, an afterthought. It was generally assumed that
coding the computer would be a relatively simple process of translation
that could be assigned to low-level clerical personnel. It quickly became
apparent that computer programming, as it came to be known, was
anything but straightforward and simple. Skilled programmers devel-
oped a reputation for creativity and ingenuity, and programming was
considered by many to be a uniquely intellectual activity, a black art that
relied on individual ability and idiosyncratic style. By the beginning of
the 1950s, however, programming had been identifi ed as a key compo-
nent of any successful computer installation. By the early 1960s, the
“problem of programming” had eclipsed all other aspects of commercial
computer development. As the electronic computer increasingly moved
out of the laboratory and into the marketplace, the centrality of pro-
gramming—and programmers—became even more apparent.
Originally envisioned as little more than glorifi ed clerical workers,
programmers quickly assumed a position of power within many organi-
zations that was vastly disproportionate to their offi cial position in the
organizational hierarchy. Defi ned by their mastery of the highest of high
technology, they were often derided for their adherence to artisanal
practices. Although associated with the emerging academic discipline of
computer science, they were never widely considered to be either scien-
tists or engineers. Neither laborers nor professionals, they defy tradi-
tional occupational categorizations. The ranks of the elite programmers
