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Elsie Shutt

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Elsie Shutt
Born
Elsie Goedeke

1928 (age 96–97)
EducationGoucher College (BA)
Occupation
Known for“The excitement of designing a system: . . . finding out what the problem is; analyzing it; designing something that will make it work; doing it; seeing it work, and having a client who is happy with it. That’s very satisfying.” - Elsie Shutt, 2001

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

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Elsie Shutt was born Elsie Goedeke in New York City and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.[1]

Her father died when she was four years old.[1] As a result, she was predominantly raised by her mother and her maternal grandfather.[1]

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 graduate fellowship for graduate school, which covered full tuition and some living expenses, she continued her math studies at Radcliffe College.[1]

Career

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Early years

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Shutt learned 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 left her job after she got married and had a baby, in line with labour laws of the time.[7] She started working as a freelance programmer from her home, and in 1958 she founded her company Computations Incorporated.

Computations, Incorporated (CompInc.)

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Elsie Shutt's founding of Computations Incorporated 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 excel in programming and systems analysis while also managing family responsibilities.[citation needed]

CompInc became renowned for its software solutions, which were provided to major clients such as Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force.[8][1][9] Shutt led CompInc for more than 45 years. Preferring to hire women with young children, Shutt worked to increase women's chances of obtaining programming employment; for software solutions.[10] CompInc also offered additional training programs to low-experience employees.[10]

The company used systems analysis and design along with programming help for primary clients.[10][9]

Computations, Inc. also emphasized “desk-checking” between employees, manually reviewing each other's code. At its peak, her 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][11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Oral-History:Elsie Shutt - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". Ethw.org. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Episode 576: When Women Stopped Coding". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  3. ^ a b c Janet Abbate (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01806-7.
  4. ^ Janet Abbate (21 October 2014). "The women who shaped the computer age". Theweek.com.
  5. ^ Thompson, Clive (13 February 2019). "The Secret History of Women in Coding". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "Recoding Gender". MIT Press. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h "Mixing Math and Motherhood". Business Week: 86–87. March 1963.
  10. ^ a b c Janet Abbate (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01806-7.
  11. ^ Betty Friedan (1998). It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement. Harvard University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-674-46885-6.