5 ms·

Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley htt

Also see “Steve" Shirley, she build a company of coders, women only [0], from the '60s on with remote first :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shirley [0] She hired all the female IBM coders who couldn't make a career at IBM

buovjaga 3y ago
Recent discussion on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527
rsynnott 3y ago
Wait, how did remote first work in the 60s? Did they post in punchcards? TTYs weren't really much of a thing at that stage, were they?
- dws 3y ago
  Coding forms, accumulated until someone had access to a keypunch. Turnaround time could be days, which encouraged being very scrupulous when coding.
  - EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
    I remember our group of students would chip in on flowers and chocolates for the girl who was punching the cards. Every mistake meant manually cutting new holes and mask taping the extra holes to arrive at the correct character.
- 5555624 3y ago
  Write the program down on paper, then type it in or punch cards. Since I'm old, I remember writing FORTRAN -- it was all caps back then -- programs in my dorm room and then going down to the computer "room" and accessing the Dartmouth Time Sharing System to type it in and run it.
  - beachy 3y ago
    We had a single apple II at our school. It was responsible for me failing most of my classes and getting into programming. Since there was only a single machine, mostly we had to submit our code on cards. Not quite punch cards with chads but an optical equivalent when you marked the hole with a sharpie.
- Stratoscope 3y ago
  I don't know what methodology Shirley's company used. But yes, Teletype machines were very common in the mid-1960s. For example, Tymshare, where I worked for several years, was founded in 1964. Their customers used Teletype machines at their own locations, dialing into a Tymshare mainframe and paying by the hour. There were a number of similar timesharing companies in that era. Call Computer and Dial Data come to mind, along with Transdata where I worked in Phoenix before moving to the Bay Area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter I had an office at Tymshare's Cupertino headquarters, and a Teletype at home to work remotely. This proved handy one year when the company was doing some final acceptance tests on the Xerox Data Systems (XDS) Sigma 7. The problem was that all of us preferred the competing DEC PDP-10. So the company really wanted those tests to fail. My manager called me into his office one day and said, "This conversation is strictly between you and me. You are our best Sigma 7 expert [I'd worked on the similar Sigma 5 at Transdata] and even you like the PDP-10 more. But at this point the only way we can get out of the Xerox deal is if the acceptance tests fail." I took the hint, and the acceptance tests mysteriously started going haywire! Eventually I failed to cover my tracks well enough, and Xerox spotted my username in a core dump. Back to my manager's office. "Xerox figured out what you were doing, and we had to tell them we would fire you. So, you're fired. But you still have your Teletype at home? And you have plenty of other work to do on the PDP-10, right? Can you work from home unofficially and keep track of your hours? Just stay away from the Sigma 7. After this all blows over, we will re-hire you and pay you that back pay." So I did, and they did!
  - xyst 3y ago
    Back when the word of your boss or manager actually meant something. Today, have to get that in writing otherwise risk getting hung out to dry in court or worse.
    - zer00eyz 3y ago
      No, you just need a boss you can trust. You need to not be a clock puncher of an employee. You need to be present (in an office) for these conversations to happen. This sort of thing still goes on all the time. If your not part of it your either in "Giant Corp" or the wrong company, or you have the wrong boss, or you are the wrong person.
- sriram_sun 3y ago
  I guess everything was "remote". My dad had to mail his code (punch cards) from (IIT) Madras to (IISc) Bangalore. He did say it was a pain though. * IISc - Indian Institute of Science * Madras, now Chennai was probably an overnight drive in the late 60s.
- xyst 3y ago
  I tried finding a source on the work environment at the time. But nothing describing the work setup. Might be hidden in some biography though. Speculation: maybe they mailed in their punch cards to main office. Or called it in over the phone.
  - KingOfCoders 3y ago
    I found something in German which has a little bit in it, but sadly interviewers where not tech managers and didn't ask the right questions in several interviews I've read. https://www.manager-magazin.de/hbm/eine-firma-ohne-bueros-a-de8f9303-0002-0001-0000-000029861758 https://www.manager-magazin.de/hbm/eine-firma-ohne-bueros-a-...
blacklion 3y ago
Until Act which (supposedly) was approved to help fight sexism stops this "women only".
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dang 3y ago
Related: A woman named "Steve" – IT pioneer, entrepreneur, philanthropist (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 - March 2024 (123 comments) All-female distributed-team software startup goes big in 1962 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6861666 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6861666 - Dec 2013 (0 comments, but worth reading the article) A Woman's Place - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5692271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5692271 - May 2013 (1 comment)
garius 3y ago
Rest assured Steve is very much on my long-list! If Every commission 'season two' of this series, then I'll likely focus on figures from the software side of Silicon Valley. Steve makes that list in a heartbeat.

buovjaga 3y ago

Recent discussion on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527

rsynnott 3y ago

Wait, how did remote first work in the 60s? Did they post in punchcards? TTYs weren't really much of a thing at that stage, were they?

dws 3y ago
Coding forms, accumulated until someone had access to a keypunch. Turnaround time could be days, which encouraged being very scrupulous when coding.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
  I remember our group of students would chip in on flowers and chocolates for the girl who was punching the cards. Every mistake meant manually cutting new holes and mask taping the extra holes to arrive at the correct character.
5555624 3y ago
Write the program down on paper, then type it in or punch cards. Since I'm old, I remember writing FORTRAN -- it was all caps back then -- programs in my dorm room and then going down to the computer "room" and accessing the Dartmouth Time Sharing System to type it in and run it.
- beachy 3y ago
  We had a single apple II at our school. It was responsible for me failing most of my classes and getting into programming. Since there was only a single machine, mostly we had to submit our code on cards. Not quite punch cards with chads but an optical equivalent when you marked the hole with a sharpie.
Stratoscope 3y ago
I don't know what methodology Shirley's company used. But yes, Teletype machines were very common in the mid-1960s. For example, Tymshare, where I worked for several years, was founded in 1964. Their customers used Teletype machines at their own locations, dialing into a Tymshare mainframe and paying by the hour. There were a number of similar timesharing companies in that era. Call Computer and Dial Data come to mind, along with Transdata where I worked in Phoenix before moving to the Bay Area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter I had an office at Tymshare's Cupertino headquarters, and a Teletype at home to work remotely. This proved handy one year when the company was doing some final acceptance tests on the Xerox Data Systems (XDS) Sigma 7. The problem was that all of us preferred the competing DEC PDP-10. So the company really wanted those tests to fail. My manager called me into his office one day and said, "This conversation is strictly between you and me. You are our best Sigma 7 expert [I'd worked on the similar Sigma 5 at Transdata] and even you like the PDP-10 more. But at this point the only way we can get out of the Xerox deal is if the acceptance tests fail." I took the hint, and the acceptance tests mysteriously started going haywire! Eventually I failed to cover my tracks well enough, and Xerox spotted my username in a core dump. Back to my manager's office. "Xerox figured out what you were doing, and we had to tell them we would fire you. So, you're fired. But you still have your Teletype at home? And you have plenty of other work to do on the PDP-10, right? Can you work from home unofficially and keep track of your hours? Just stay away from the Sigma 7. After this all blows over, we will re-hire you and pay you that back pay." So I did, and they did!
- xyst 3y ago
  Back when the word of your boss or manager actually meant something. Today, have to get that in writing otherwise risk getting hung out to dry in court or worse.
  - zer00eyz 3y ago
    No, you just need a boss you can trust. You need to not be a clock puncher of an employee. You need to be present (in an office) for these conversations to happen. This sort of thing still goes on all the time. If your not part of it your either in "Giant Corp" or the wrong company, or you have the wrong boss, or you are the wrong person.
sriram_sun 3y ago
I guess everything was "remote". My dad had to mail his code (punch cards) from (IIT) Madras to (IISc) Bangalore. He did say it was a pain though. * IISc - Indian Institute of Science * Madras, now Chennai was probably an overnight drive in the late 60s.
xyst 3y ago
I tried finding a source on the work environment at the time. But nothing describing the work setup. Might be hidden in some biography though. Speculation: maybe they mailed in their punch cards to main office. Or called it in over the phone.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  I found something in German which has a little bit in it, but sadly interviewers where not tech managers and didn't ask the right questions in several interviews I've read. https://www.manager-magazin.de/hbm/eine-firma-ohne-bueros-a-de8f9303-0002-0001-0000-000029861758 https://www.manager-magazin.de/hbm/eine-firma-ohne-bueros-a-...

blacklion 3y ago

Until Act which (supposedly) was approved to help fight sexism stops this "women only".

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deleted 3y ago

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dang 3y ago

Related: A woman named "Steve" – IT pioneer, entrepreneur, philanthropist (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585527 - March 2024 (123 comments) All-female distributed-team software startup goes big in 1962 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6861666 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6861666 - Dec 2013 (0 comments, but worth reading the article) A Woman's Place - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5692271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5692271 - May 2013 (1 comment)

garius 3y ago

Rest assured Steve is very much on my long-list! If Every commission 'season two' of this series, then I'll likely focus on figures from the software side of Silicon Valley. Steve makes that list in a heartbeat.