The Hidden History of Women in Code - Brenda Romero

The history of women in computing has largely been lost, like the histories of factory workers who built the first cars. Yet, women invented programming, were the original developers for the ENIAC, created assembly language and developed the first compiler (not to mention the term “compiler” and “bug”), and were instrumental to the development of many seminal programming languages. So what happened? It’s a drama that’s equal parts cultural excavation and celebration.

In this talk, Microsoft guest speaker Brenda Romero digs up this fascinating history, explores what happened, and looks at how the artefacts of this legacy still affect computing and its growth today.

Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game director, entrepreneur, artist and Fulbright award recipient and is presently game director and creator of the Empire of Sin franchise. As a game director, she has worked on 50 games and contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon, Dungeons & Dragons and Def Jam franchises. Away from the machine, her analogue series of six games, The Mechanic is the Message, has drawn national and international acclaim, particularly Train and Siochán Leat, a game about her family’s history, which is presently housed in the National Museum of Play. In addition to a BAFTA and a Fulbright, Romero is the recipient of multiple lifetime achievement awards, a Grace Hopper Award, a GDC Ambassador Award, and many of the games she has contributed to have won numerous awards. Romero is CEO and co-founder of Romero Games based in Galway, Ireland.