Elsie Shutt
Elsie Shutt | |
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| Born | Elsie Goedeke 1928 (age 96–97) |
| Education | Goucher College (BA) |
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Elsie Shutt (née Goedeke, born 1928) is an American technology entrepreneur. She founded Computations Incorporated (CompInc.) in 1958.[1] She was among the first women to establish a software business in the United States.[2][3][4]
Early life and education
[edit]Elsie Shutt was born Elsie Goedeke in New York City. She was raised in Baltimore, Maryland[1] by her mother and maternal grandfather.[1] Her father died when she was four years old.
She attended Eastern High School in Baltimore and graduated at the age of 16.[1] At the age of 20, she graduated from Goucher College as a math major with a minor in chemistry.[1] After receiving a Pepsi-Cola fellowship for graduate school, covering full tuition and partial living expenses, she continued her math studies at Radcliffe College.[1]
Career
[edit]Shutt learnt to program on the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) under Dick Clippinger during a summer job at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.[3][5] In 1953, Shutt was hired at Raytheon, an aerospace and defense manufacturing company, where she worked on software for the Raycom computer.[3][6]
In 1957, Shutt married and had a baby.[7] She subsequently left her job. She worked as a freelance programmer from her home, and in 1958 she founded Computations Incorporated.[1]
Shutt's founding of Computations Incorporated (CompInc) was a development for gender equality in computer science–a historically male-dominated field. According to Janet Abbate, author of Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing, Shutt was among the early pioneers who showed that women could work in programming and systems analysis while also managing family responsibilities.[3]
CompInc created software solutions for major clients such as Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force.[8][1][9] Shutt led CompInc for more than 45 years. She frequently employed women who sought flexible programming jobs to balance family responsibilities.[3] CompInc also offered additional training programs to employees with limited experience.[3] The company provided systems analysis and design, along with programming help, for primary clients.[3][9]
CompInc emphasized “desk-checking” between employees, during which they reviewed each other's code. At its peak, the company entered into contracts with Minneapolis-Honeywell,[9] Raytheon,[9] St. Regis Paper Co.,[9] Harvard University,[9] The University of Rochester,[9] and the United States Air Force.[9][10]
Shutt later commented that “It really amazed me that these men were programmers, because I thought it was women’s work!”.[3][11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h "Oral-History:Elsie Shutt - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". Ethw.org. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ "Episode 576: When Women Stopped Coding". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Janet Abbate (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01806-7.
- ^ Janet Abbate (21 October 2014). "The women who shaped the computer age". Theweek.com.
- ^ Thompson, Clive (13 February 2019). "The Secret History of Women in Coding". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ Eliana Keinan (2017). "A New Frontier: But for Whom? An Analysis of the Micro-Computer and Women's Declining Participation in Computer Science". Scholarship.claremont.edu. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ May, Eira Long (7 March 2019). "Women's Work: An Interview with Clive Thompson on the Secret History of Women in Coding". Jama Software. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
- ^ "Recoding Gender". MIT Press. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Mixing Math and Motherhood". Business Week: 86–87. March 1963.
- ^ Betty Friedan (1998). It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement. Harvard University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-674-46885-6.
- ^ Bindi, Tasnuva (2015-02-24). "Women didn't just recently start coding, they actually STOPPED coding decades ago". Startup Daily. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
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