[blueflow]

Back when people bought their punched tapes to the computers, being that computers operator was a social job, comparable to a secretary.

Look at jobs like optician, where the reverse happened: It used to be a crafts job when glasses were hand-manufactured. Today glasses are produced automatically, so the consultation and sales part has taken over and it changed from a men-dominated domain into a women-dominated domain.

No badness involved, either.

[stjohnswarts]

It was also much easier to "get into" it without a degree, unlike now when they want 5 years experience in CS as soon as you leave college.