Why I Want to Become a Computer Programmer

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Recommended: History of computers

History and Origins:

When computers started coming out, computer companies need people to program operating systems and programs for them. Seeing that you sat at a desk all day, it was seen as a easy career choice, but with little pay. So computer programming as a career, was dominated by women in the 60s. Soon though, men dominated the field through discrimination and needs for a job. The Job field was getting paid more so companies wanted to hire “higher quality” employees, and that meant men, in that time men were seen as better workers, because they didn't have to deal with children. Also as programming became more complex, a math degree was needed. Because women had less rights then it was harder for women to get into college, it was easier for men to get the job and thus programming became a man’s or a “nerds” job.

The first substantial computer was the giant ENIAC machine Created by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator) used words of 10 decimal digits instead of binary ones like the previous automated calculators/computers. ENIAC was also the first machine to use more than 2,000 vacuum tubes, It used nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes. And storage of all those vacuum tubes and the machinery required to keep the machine cool took up over 167 square meters (1800 square feet) of floor space. Never the rest, it had punched-card input and output and arithmetically had 1 multiplier, 1 divider-square rooter, and 20 adders employing decimal "ring counters," which served as adders and also as quick-access (0.0002 seconds) read-write register storage.

Function:

Computer programmers write code to create software programs. Programmers turn the pr...

... middle of paper ...

...puter screen and the chatter of many co-workers, but you may get paid more for the larger firm.

Detailed Budget:

Money In or Out

Other Expenses

Total

WWU

-$9172/year

-$5596/year

-$14768/year

Part time job

+$8000/year

+$0/year

+$8000/year

Possible Scholarships

+$14000

+$0/year

+$14000

Total:

+$14000 then -$6768/year

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. "The History of Computers - Computer History Timeline." About.com Inventors. About.com, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 12 May 2014.

"Computer Programming Used To Be Women's Work." Smithsonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

"History of Computers." History of Computers. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.

"Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

"What Does a Computer Programmer Do?" About.com Career Planning. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

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