Women in Tech
Do we know that some of the most crucial elements of the IT we use today were developed by women? Or are some of our most used social media platforms led by women?
Here, we spotlight some of the female figures who made, or are making waves in IT.
Lovelace is best known as the first ever computer programmer. She contributed to the development of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, the first general computer. She thought carefully about how this machine would carry out calculations and detailed applications that are related to how computers are utilised now. She is commemorated annually on the second Tuesday of October as Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating the women in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industries.
Wilkes is regarded as the first home computer user and helped develop what is now considered the first personal computer. She was a programmer and instructions author who worked on the LINC computer, for which she wrote its operating program manual and programmed its LAP6 operating system in her parent’s home.
Computer scientist Goldberg is well known for creating the design for the modern graphical user interfaces. She created some of the most well-known computer languages in the world, including the object-oriented Smalltalk-80. The majority of our contemporary programmes, like apps, are written using object-oriented programming languages.
Since 2014, Wojcicki has served as the CEO of the website YouTube. She previously held the position of senior vice president of advertising and commerce at Google, where she suggested acquiring YouTube rather than keeping Google Video in competition. How did she end up working at Google, then? Wojcicki let the Google founders use her garage as an office space before joining the company as its 16th employee and first marketing manager. She contributed to the creation of Google Books, AdWords, and AdSense.
The founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, Saujani has spent more than ten years promoting women’s economic empowerment and attempting to eliminate the gender wage gap in the tech industry. Girls Who Code provides a variety of services, such as books, clubs programmes, summer programmes, college and career programmes, and internet resources.
Sources:
Amanda Stevens (Techtarget) – https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Top-9-most-influential-women-in-technology
Rachel Kraus (Mashable) – https://mashable.com/article/unsung-women-in-tech
Purdue University Global – https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/information-technology/history-women-information-technology-6-female-computer-science-pioneers/
