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why Ada Lovelaces’s story still powers women in tech
I’m Miranda, a full stack software engineer and Code First Girls Ambassador. Every day, I’m reminded that technology is about possibility: what we can imagine, we can build. But long before laptops, programming languages, or Silicon Valley, there was Ada Lovelace: the woman known as the world’s first computer programmer.
On Ada Lovelace Day, we celebrate not only her groundbreaking achievements but also what they represent: the courage to challenge conventions, to imagine new worlds, and to pave the way for women in technology.
Lovelace’s Story
Born in 1815, Augusta Ada Byron – later known as Ada Lovelace – grew up in a world where women’s intellectual potential was often dismissed. Her father, Lord Byron, was one of the most famous poets of his generation, but he left Ada’s life when she was just a baby. Her mother, Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke, deliberately shaped her daughter’s education in mathematics, hoping to guard her against her father’s perceived emotional instability associated with his poetic nature. This decision placed Lovelace in a rare position for a woman in the 1800s: able to study advanced science when most women were denied that opportunity.
But what made Lovelace remarkable was how she fused that imagination with logic; possessing a rare ability to see not just the numbers in front of her, but the bigger picture of what those numbers could represent. That talent led Lovelace to Charles Babbage, a mathematician and inventor who designed the “Analytical Engine” – a theoretical machine that many consider the blueprint of the modern computer. While the machine was never built in their lifetime, Babbage called Lovelace “the Enchantress of Numbers” because of her insight into its potential.
Lovelace’s most famous contribution came when she translated an article about the Analytical Engine from Italian to English. She added her own extensive notes, tripling the length of the original paper, in an annotated translation which has since been referred to as “the most important paper in the history of digital computing before modern times”. Among those notes was something extraordinary: the first ever computer algorithm, a sequence of instructions the Engine could follow to calculate complex mathematical functions.
What’s even more astonishing is that Lovelace’s musings on the future capabilities of computing machines included the possibility of composing music and creating intricate patterns, akin to the capabilities of modern artificial intelligence in generating music, art, and language models. Her foresight in this regard has been recognised by contemporary scholars and technologists. For instance, Dr. Patricia Alessandrini notes that Lovelace is credited with the first published imaginings of AI-assisted composition.
Ada’s Legacy
Lovelace’s brilliance wasn’t fully recognised in her lifetime. Like so many women in history, her contributions were overlooked for decades. It wasn’t until the 20th century, when computer science began to flourish, that her work was rediscovered and celebrated.
Today, Lovelace stands as a foundational figure in computing. The U.S. Department of Defense even named its high-level programming language “Ada” in her honour in the 1980s. More importantly, her name has become shorthand for women’s potential in technology: a reminder that women have always been part of computing, even if their stories weren’t always told.
Lovelace’s legacy is twofold. First, it’s technical: she gave us the conceptual leap that computers could be more than calculators. But second, and perhaps even more importantly, it’s symbolic: she broke through the expectations of her time to leave a mark on history, showing that innovation belongs to everyone, not just those society expects to innovate.
Breaking Barriers: Then and Now
Lovelace’s story resonates deeply today because women in tech still face barriers that echo those of the 19th century. While she had to battle Victorian gender norms, modern women often find themselves navigating stereotypes, pay gaps, and underrepresentation in leadership roles.
For example, women make up about half of the global population, but about a third of the world’s tech workforce. Senior technical roles and executive positions are still disproportionately male-dominated. The reasons are complex – ranging from cultural expectations about who “belongs” in STEM, to structural issues in education and hiring, to workplace cultures that don’t always support women to thrive.
And yet, just like Lovelace, women continue to push forward. We are founding startups, driving AI research, leading climate tech solutions, and shaping ethical frameworks for the future. The common thread? Innovation flourishes when barriers are broken.
The parallel is clear: in Lovelace’s time, a woman writing an algorithm was revolutionary. Today, a woman leading a billion-dollar tech company or designing an AI model should be normalised; not seen as the exception. Her courage to imagine something new sets a blueprint for the courage women in tech show every day.
Carrying Ada’s Legacy Forward
At Code First Girls, we believe Lovelace’s spirit lives on every time a woman learns to code, takes her first steps into a tech career, or leads a project that changes the world. Her story reminds us that inclusion doesn’t just happen, but must be built deliberately.
Since its founding, Code First Girls has offered free coding courses that have empowered more than 200,000 women to learn tech skills. They’ve created pathways into industry roles, built communities of support, and partnered with companies determined to close the gender gap. Where Lovelace was one, now there are hundreds of thousands, and counting.
Every Code First Girls student represents more than just a line of code. She represents a shift in culture, a crack in the glass ceiling, and a continuation of the legacy Lovelace began nearly two centuries ago. Each time a woman builds her first app, solves her first bug, or lands her first job in tech, we are collectively reshaping what the future of technology looks like.
Conclusion
Ada Lovelace Day is about creating history, as well as remembering it. When we celebrate Lovelace, we’re celebrating the woman who dared to imagine a world where machines could do more than calculate. We’re celebrating her refusal to be confined by the narrow roles society allowed her. And we’re celebrating the spark she lit that still burns in every woman who chooses to code today.
But her story is also a challenge. Lovelace was a lone voice in her field. Today, no woman should have to feel like the “only one” in the room. Yet barriers still exist, from unequal access to STEM education, to biases in hiring, to the persistent underrepresentation of women in leadership. Honouring Lovelace means tackling those barriers head-on, not just for ourselves, but for the next generation.
And that’s where the parallel comes alive. In the 1800s, Lovelace wrote the first algorithm in a world that doubted women’s place in science. Today, Code First Girls is making sure women aren’t just included, but centred in the future of technology. With more than 200,000 women trained through their free courses, we’re turning her solitary breakthrough into a movement. Where Lovelace imagined possibility, we are building it at scale.
So let this Ada Lovelace Day be a reminder: the code we write today shapes tomorrow’s world. If you’ve ever wondered whether you belong in tech, the answer is yes. There is a place for you, and your perspective is needed. Explore our free courses at Code First Girls, take that first step into coding, and join a community determined to carry Lovelace’s vision forward.
