Software Engineers: The Modern Typists

The following is a campaign to convince you to learn [at least a basic level of understanding in] software engineering. The analogy that will be exhaustibly driven into the ground will call upon workers in the early 1900’s, and their resistance to learning how to use a typewriter. The typewriter was a phenomena that revolutionized business and everyday life, though many people did not see the value in becoming familiar with it. Today, people treat writing lines of code the same way pressing fingers onto lettered keys were neglected a century ago, but it might not be long before programming is essential to being functional in any office setting as well. We may soon look at the person who is terrified of the command line through the same lens we look at those who type using only their middle fingers.

Don’t be that person.

The Conception of the Typewriter

In 1867, Christopher Sholes reengineered a machine he was working on that was intended only to automate the numbering of pages in written books. He did so after being shown an article in Scientific American featuring an early typewriter, dubbed The Pterotype, invented by John Pratt in England. Sholes’ version borrowed from concepts used in pianos, and in early models even used actual piano keys to press inked characters into sheet. A few years later, investors purchased Sholes’ patents for $12,000 (about $237,000 today) and signed a contract with Remington (yes, the gun manufacturer) to develop Sholes’ invention into the first practical and commercial typewriter. The first retail typewriters were shipped to American consumers in 1874.

Approaching the end of the 1800’s, typewriters became norm rather than exception, with Remington alone selling over 100,000 units before the turn of the century. The world was forced to recognize that someone with significant typing skill could record words to paper far more efficiently than hand and pen. The device, and ability to use it, was here to stay.

The 20th Century Typist

“A cissy job for men; a nice job for girls”

- Women Shorthand Typists in London by Teresa Davy

As the need for typists became essential to business, men in the work place began to hire middle class women to fill the need. These women were forced to prove they had a need for employment and income. These women were segregated to an area secluded from the other departments. These women were fed lunch through an actual hatch in the wall (seriously). Okay, that last part is more about sexism than resistance to learning how to type, but you get it. Proficiency in operating a typewriter was in demand, yet the average worker refused to learn the trade.

The individuals who stepped into that gap did so because workers already in those environments would not. They did it out of necessity, both for themselves, and for the needs of the companies they found themselves in. People did not want to believe that the skill was worth learning because of the way they thought about it, even once their organizations were completely dependent upon it.

Don’t be that person.

The Modern Typewriter

Enter the modern typewriter: The Computer. A device which ironically, for all intents and purposes, has an entire typewriter build directly into it (let’s leave phones and tablets out of this for the sake of that epic opening line). An object that you probably — scratch that; almost certainly — use every day of your life. A tool that you will be noticeably disabled when using if you suck at typing. A bridge that borrows the typing ability of our past generations to fuel the engineering ability of the next; and a crystal clear illustration of just how important that ability became, despite being neglected by the vast majority in its infancy.

Early stage computer manufacturing was even driven by typewriter companies in many cases, with our old friends at Remington (after a merger and a few acquisitions) serving as one of the biggest producers of computers in the 1950’s. Like the typewriter, the computer was also here to stay, and soon organizations would find themselves unable to operate successfully without them. The capability that this hyper-evolved typewriter rewarded to humans has embedded itself deeply into our society. So deeply, that if you cannot type with some level of proficiency at this point, you might as well be sharpening stones into arrowheads.

Don’t be that person.

The Modern Typists

Finally we have arrived at the namesake of this article, the modern typists: Software Engineers. This is not self-righteous ploy to heap praise on people who have the ability to write code. I’ve worked with a lot of these people, and some of them are assholes. But asshole or not, they are all people who saw the value in becoming familiar with this beast. They took the time to understand how it works in order to borrow its power and accomplish things they would have never been able to otherwise. They stepped into the gap before they were forced to, and they are reaping the benefits.

Whether they’re the most senior back end engineer who structures scalable applications from the database up, or the sales rep who learned to write simple automation scripts for their manual tasks, they see that becoming more familiar with the code only helps them.

From the first mass produced typewriters in 1874 to over one hundred years later in the 1980’s, you STILL see masses who continue to be unacquainted with a keyboard. Why did it take so long for an increasingly important skill to become normalized? People did not want to believe that the skill was worth learning because of the way they thought about it, until one day they woke up and it was so integral to their life that they were forced to.

Don’t be that person.

Where This Analogy Breaks — But Still Works

I understand most people learning to code are not in the professional position of women in the late 1800’s. That most developers are not being oppressed in the way initial typists were by their employers. I understand that learning how to program is an exponentially taller order than typing. Even grasping fundamental ways to think about building software requires far more time and brain power than the physical repetition of simply pressing keys… but hear me out:

People do not want to spend the time learning to program because it causes them to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or even uninterested. People did not want spend the time learning to type because they felt it was unimportant. People do not want to believe that the skill is worth learning because of the way they think about it (see paragraphs 5 & 10).

Don’t be that person.

Do not wait for your own necessity. Do not wait for the necessity of companies. Recognize the technical power of this skill set, and the staying power it yields in our world. Put your hands to this typewriter and learn to type. If you choose not to, an army of people who do will rise up under you, stepping into that gap as the typists of one hundred years ago did. They will fill that need while you tell your kids of a time where most people didn’t know a thing about coding…

And they will laugh.

TL:DR

• Workers/people did not want to learn how to type, even after the typewriter became an important fixture in work and society.
• Today, typing on a keyboard is a common part of most people’s day to day life.
• Workers/people do not want to learn how to code, even though it has become an important fixture in work and society.
• Soon, knowing how to code on a basic level may be as important as knowing how to use a keyboard. Realize that it isn’t going anywhere, and empower yourself to learn it now.