Hi, I'm Paulette Poulton, I fell in love with computers back in 1980 when I saw a robot deliver the mail and tea at IBM UK!
That's why field trips are great for schools - you never know what someone will see and how it will affect their life. I also remember on that trip asking what a few women were doing with blue caps on to cover their hair - I was told they were programmers. Even more cool - so women could be programmers! It wasn't until 1980 when my high school got a Mac and I could't get any time on it because the boys took over that I began to wonder - are computers are for boys?
Ada Lovelace is known the first programmer. My grandmother was also a programmer - she made her own knitting patterns. She used knitting code and included variables and looping! So coding was always a girl thing! :)