Kim Worsencroft • Advancing the Computer Revolution

(Computer Software Engineer, retired || CA USA)

“In 1976, I received one of the early computer science Bachelor’s degrees at the University of Utah. I was the only female in my class. When I graduated I was considering seven different job offers, all in the western United States. I turned them all down and headed to the East Coast, knowing I could get a job anywhere software engineers were needed. I took a position at a company where I was working on the database management system for a new machine architecture, which doesn’t make sense nowadays because it’s rarely done anymore. We were inventing the whole world of computers — the hardware, the instruction sets, the languages, the operating systems. There was no software — we had to create everything. You learned about every aspect of computers.

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I earned respect by being good at my job and being a person that’s able to speak up, speak clearly without emotion, and contribute to the conversation like anybody else. I made sure I was just one of the people there, not female or male. The main thing is to be brave and go for what you want to accomplish in your career. Maybe you’re uncomfortable for awhile — so what? Just go and do your passion. Everything else will work itself out.”