Vviewpoints
DOI: 10.1145/1924421.1924432
historical Reflections
Building castles
in the Air

In ThE EARLY months of 1956, an intriguing series of adver- tisements appeared in the New York Times, the Los Ange- les Times, and Scientific American. Although the ads had been placed by the IBM Corporation, they were not selling any IBM products or services; rather, they were soliciting assistance from the public. Recent advances in electronic computing had created an unprecedented demand for computer programmers, the advertising copy declared, and in bold letters inquired of its readers, “Are you the man to command the electronic giants?” Because computer programming was a “new and dynamic” field, the advertisement argued, “there are no rigid qualifications.” Those individuals who enjoyed chess, music, or mathematics might consider themselves particularly suitable candidates, but the only real requirements were that you had an “orderly mind” and a “ lively imagination.” 5

These 1956 advertisements were
not, of course, the first appeal for com-
puter programmer talent launched
by the IBM Corporation, or for that
matter, by a whole host of computer
manufacturers and users. Already by
the late 1950s the growing demand for
computer programmers was emerging
as critical problem for the industry.
But what makes this particular recruit-
ment campaign significant was its em-
phasis on creativity and imagination.
In fact, the ads were so intriguing as
to attract the attention of the writers
of the “Talk of the Town” column in
the New Yorker magazine. Struck by
the seeming incongruity between the
appeal to both musicians and math-
ematicians, the “Talk of the Towners”
themselves “made bold to apply” to the
IBM manager in charge of programmer
recruitment. “Not that we wanted a
programming job, we told him; we just
wondered if anyone else did.” 3

hIstorIcal docuMent courtesy oF IbM

iBm computer programmer recruitment advertisement circa 1956.