Besides the most well-known and famous software engineers (namely, Bill Gates and Elon Musk), there are a number of self-taught and self-made software engineers who have made an impact on how software is used and developed in the tech industry.
1. Ada Lovelace
Considered one of the first computer science engineers, laying the foundation of what we now know as software engineering, Ada Lovelace was also the first tech visionary of her time. Born in 19th century London, Lovelace was daughter of famed romantic poet Lord Byron, but was raised by her mother, By removing Lovelace from her father’s influence, whom she never met, educating her daughter logically is important to her.
Ada, as a result, was afforded a more advanced technical education than most girls her age, yet was never taught at the same level as men in the scientific and mathematical field. In spite of this, she rose to the top of expectations for women in her position. Teaming up with another brilliant mathematician, professor Charles Baggage, Lovelace assisted in creating one of the first computation machines, the Analytical Engine.
While not technically defined as a software engineer by modern standards, we wouldn’t have the level of computation in machinery that we do today without Ada Lovelace and her gifted, mathematically poetic mind.
2. Charles Baggage
Born in 18th century England, Baggage was the son of a banker and was self-taught in mathematics as a child, though certainly having numbers run in the family was a help. Continuing on as a child prodigy, he was far more advanced than teachers in mathematics, founding an analytical society that greatly improved the department.
As a mathematician in profession, Baggage was deeply interested in analytical computation, laying the foundation of software engineering with his young protege, and eventual partner on equal footing and even of more advanced capabilities, the aforementioned Ada Lovelace. He invented the basis of the Difference Engine, later advancing onto the Analytical Engine with Lovelace. Considered one of the first computers ever, despite being inherently flawed and never a fully-fledged programming success, the machine laid down the foundation of what analytics could do in mechanized form.
3. The Scheutz Brothers
While often overlooked in the history of software engineering, and history in general, Georg and his son (not, as one would assume, his brother) Edvard Scheutz were impartial to the design and build of Lovelace and Baggage’s Analytical Engine. Not trained or educated as mathematicians or scientists, the brothers embody the entreuponeral and driven spirit of modern self-taught engineers.
Printer by trade, George Scheutzdabbled in other fields beyond publishing. After helping build what he knew would be a world-changing machine, he went on to build other such machines commercially, selling the Stockholm engine with his teenage son, Edvard. Unfortunately, neither made much of a profit from likewise inventions, leading to their eventual financial ruin but nonetheless imperative in the historical lexicon on self-taught software engineers and inventors.
4. Alan Turing
Speaking of Charles Baggage, the Charles Baggage Institute, College of Science and Engineering. In the University of Minnesota offers a publicly transcribed interview in which the intertwined mathematical theories of the great Alan Turing and John Von Neumann is discussed. Turing, a gifted cryptographer in World War II, was later convicted as a criminal in a time where his brilliant mind was tragically overlooked for the “crime” of homosexuality.
While later proving his salt as a mathematicians and one of the early founders of software engineering. Turing didn’t do well in school. He got bad grades and aggravated his teachers. He was truly a self-made man, assisting Allies in the defeat of Axis powers in WWII by cracking the German “Enigma” coding machine.
3. John von Neumann
Like Turing, John von Neumann was born in the early 20th century, moving from Europe. In the 1930s to teach at Princeton University in the United States. He trained as a mathematician in Budapest, Hungary. At a time when being of Jewish descent earned the ire and discrimination of his peers, and later studied both chemistry and mathematics before being invited to lecture in the U.S.
Von Neumann was one of the self-taught mathematicians who worked on advancing the electrical components of computation machines. Applying analytical theory to research the vast scope of what these machines could one day achieve. Including hypothetical theories on how to engineer the software capabilities (particularly the mini-max theorem and von Neumann-Morgenstern theory) that we now use on a daily basis.
6. Frances “Fran” Allen
Inspired by her math teacher in high school, Allen pursued a teacher’s degree in mathematics at university. But after teaching at the secondary level realized she’d need to continue on to a master’s degree for her full teacher’s license. Allen decided, instead, to take a course in IBM programming, later taking on a job at IBM with the intention to pay off student debt and go back to public school teaching. Instead, she wound up working for the company for another 45 years, teaching herself and others how to further advance IBM’s pivotal role in optimizing software transformations.
Allen was the first women to become an IBM Fellow in 1989, later being awarded the prestigious ACM Turing Award in 2006.
7. Margaret Hamilton
How can we write about self-taught software engineers without including Margaret Hamilton? Born in the late 1930s in small town Indiana. Hamilton is another mathematician whose specialty moved not from teaching arithmetic in school. Having a math degree was thought to be the best career choice for women at the time. But to making landmark advances in software development.
Hamilton not only analyzed theories and wrote about them — she sent a rocket to the moon. Leading a team of software engineers at MIT. Hamilton developed the code that historically launched Apollo 11 into space in 1961, landing humanity on the moon for the first time.
8. Edsger W. Dijkstra
One of the most fascinating self-taught software engineers. Dijkstra opted not to become a theoretical physicist despite his discipline focused in that field. Instead, he worked as a programmer at Mathematisch Centrum’s Computation Department for three years at Leiden University. Eventually combining the two fields, among others, in a way that altered the path of software engineering forever.
Self-described as not suited to software engineering. Specifically in programming, Dijkstra nonetheless taught himself how to look at his role in computer engineering in a novel light. He invented an algorithm that would pave the way to directional calculations. How to find the shortest path from one destination to the other. His work won him numerous awards and achievements (including the ACM Turing Award) throughout his lifetime. As he continued to invent, research and philosophize about the intricacies of mathematics, analytics and programming.
9. Grace Hooper
Another great female mind apart of influential software engineers, Hooper expressed interest in engineering and mathematics at a young age. While Hooper earned a Masters and PhD in Mathematics from Yale University. She left her post teaching at the local college and joined the Navy in 1943. Having a mind for math and engineering. Hooper was recruited into the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University during the second world war. Early prototype of an electronic computer (Mark I) developed as part of the development of a calculator (Mark I).
After the war, Hooper continued to work in the Navy in programming and software languages. She earned both recognition for her distinguished career in the Navy and her role in advancing computer science. In 1987 she was awarded with the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. Then was recognized as a distinguished fellow of the British Computer Society in 1973.
10. Donald Knuth
Another recipient of the prestigious ACM Turing Award, among other accommodations, Knuth is known as the “Yoda of Silicon Valley”. A captivating and gifted storyteller as well as computer programmer. His ability to write and speak about software engineering in an accessible and interesting manner has made him famous.
Beginning in 1962, Knuth began writing (and is still writing) a series of books well-known. And beloved throughout Silicone Valley; The Art of Computer Programming (or TAOCP for short). That is still widely read by accomplished and aspiring software engineers.
11. John Carmack
Like Knutch, Carmack is one of the more modern examples of self-taught software engineers. Growing up in middle America in the 1970s and 80s, Carmack lived and breathed the culture of arcade. Then console then finally PC, gaming of his generation. Like other tech giants of Silicone Valley fame. Carmack opted to drop out of the University of Missouri and freelance in programming instead. Finding his niche in programming video games. Notably, Carmack revolutionized gaming algorithms, giving way to classic games like the Doom and Wolfenstein series, among others. He continues to research other avenues of programming, such as AI projects. And is one of the successful examples of modern self-taught software engineers.