>It is a stock element in narratives of 1950s computing to distinguish between programmers and coders, the latter considered a "lowly technician" ....
Actually I think the article is using modern terms, but seems right.
From what I remember from the early days, you had "System Analysts", "Programmers" and "Key Punch Operators". Key Punch and Programmers were considered Low-Level and was not paid much more the the US average salary, Programmers a bit more than Key Punch people. System Analysts was where the money was. But seems during the 80s, the 3 jobs merged into one.
By then, I use to program and work directly with the Business in the 80s and 90s. Sometimes the Business person would be sitting next to me while I showed then the changes and how it worked. Changing the program based upon their comments while they were there. Fun times, and yes even did this directly in production :)
Then it seems in the late 2000s, they started to split again giving us Business Analysts (BA) and Programmers (Coders).
Actually I think the article is using modern terms, but seems right.
From what I remember from the early days, you had "System Analysts", "Programmers" and "Key Punch Operators". Key Punch and Programmers were considered Low-Level and was not paid much more the the US average salary, Programmers a bit more than Key Punch people. System Analysts was where the money was. But seems during the 80s, the 3 jobs merged into one.
By then, I use to program and work directly with the Business in the 80s and 90s. Sometimes the Business person would be sitting next to me while I showed then the changes and how it worked. Changing the program based upon their comments while they were there. Fun times, and yes even did this directly in production :)
Then it seems in the late 2000s, they started to split again giving us Business Analysts (BA) and Programmers (Coders).