Careers in IT Wouldn’t Exist Without These Pioneers

Careers in IT have come a long way over the past few years. When you consider how these careers in technology - that we take for granted - came to be then it is important that you take a look back in history and learn more about the pioneers who had a hand in making computers so vital in our daily existence.

There are a number of people that helped to create the computers and electronics that we use today. Here is some useful information on several of them, as well as what they did to help contribute to what we enjoy in the modern world:

John Atanasoff created the very first digital computer in 1939. It was known as the Atanasoff-Berry computer; however, it was not Turing-complete or programmable.

Charles Babbage designed the analytical engine between the years of 1822 and 1837. He also created a prototype of a mechanical calculator - the forerunner of the technology that we use in our careers in IT on a regular basis today.

John Backus conceived FORTRAN, which was the first high-level programming language that has practical uses. This was created between the years of 1954 and 1963.

Without the work that Backus did on FORTRAN we would not have all of the computer programming careers that we have today; without the work of Backus we certainly would not have half of the technological advancements that we are so fortunate to take advantage of on such a regular basis.

Jean Bartik was one of the very first computer programmers to work on an early vacuum tube computer known as ENIAC in 1946. Rather than type code, like we do today, Bartik would have had to actually rewire the machine in order to 'program' it.

Jean worked with John Mauchly on BINAC in 1949, as well as on EDVAC in 1949 and the UNIVAC in 1951 in order to develop some of the earliest stored program computers - a technology greatly used today in many careers in IT.

George Boole formulised the Boolean algebra which was the basis for most digital logic that we use today as well as a lot of computer science between 1847 and 1854.

Nikolay Brusentsov helped to build the temary computer, Setun in 1958.

Tim Berners-Lee was responsible for inventing the World Wide Web with Robert Cailliau in between the years of 1989 and 1990. They sent the very first HTTP communication between a client and a computer server. These pioneers were very important to all types of careers in IT as well as many other types of careers; they effectively created something that helps people get on with their lives. The world of IT would not be anywhere near as advanced without the help and the great advancements that have been made on the Internet in the last decade or so.

These and many other pioneers have helped to shape the information technology world, and in one way or another helped to create many of the careers in IT that many of us hold today.

Computers are taken for granted on a regular basis; many people are unaware of the pioneers who helped to make them what they are today. This article details the pioneers that helped to create the technology used so much by people with careers in IT.