When people ask me what I do, I tell them I work in tech and they
frequently assume I’m a software engineer with a background in STEM. I
correct their assumption, explaining that I’m a product manager and I
don’t write code. I work together with developers, designers, and
stakeholders who come from a variety of backgrounds and act as a bridge
between these parties to ensure a product’s success. I’m responsible for
the strategy and development of the product.
At my last job before Thoughtworks, I encountered some student workers
and interns who were keen on getting into tech. Several of them were
studying at specialized colleges, others at university. I noticed one
trend though: many of these people were majoring in “agile software
development,” “software engineering management,” or other very specific
majors like this.
As someone with a liberal arts degree and having worked in tech for
over ten years, I find it distressing that the number of people with
liberal arts degrees is
declining.
My degree in international studies, with a focus on film and the German
language, has nothing to do specifically with tech, and yet it has
everything to do with it. Having a liberal arts education created a solid
foundation for my professional life where I’ve gained skills that are
invaluable in a fast-changing world, especially with the ubiquity of AI
technologies accelerating.
Why should we in tech encourage students to study the liberal
arts?
Here are three reasons why we should value people with liberal arts
backgrounds more in our industry:
Critical thinking supports better decision-making based on facts.
Whether it was a history or literature class, one common thread
across all my courses was thinking critically. Looking at historical
events or understanding the meaning in a novel, I learned not to take
things at face value. For example, watching Fritz Lang’s film M is not
just a thriller about a serial killer whose victims are children; when
digging deeper, the film’s message of protecting children against
murderers can be extended to protecting children against Nazism, which
was on the rise when the film came out, or against the trauma of World
War I, which was still fresh in the audience’s minds. Within the context
of history, there are elements in the film that can be interpreted as
such. Generally in a liberal arts education, understanding the value of
primary sources compared to secondary sources and corroborating primary
sources with others was always key.
As a product manager, I want to talk directly to my users and
understand the problems they have. I don’t want to just get requirements
from internal stakeholders that think they know best. I want to
understand beyond what I see what’s in front of me and ask questions to
see the overall problem. For example, I once saw a trend in my user
research sessions that users didn’t understand how we were displaying
the data in a graph. Our internal stakeholders thought that the graph
was fantastic and that everyone had to understand it. I found supporting
data in our analytics that corroborated what a handful of users were
saying. In the end, we didn’t use the graph and saved ourselves the
effort of developing it because we didn’t just implement what key
stakeholders wanted.
With genAI on the rise, critical thinking is becoming even more
important. Where is the AI getting its input? How can I trust it? What
is the data set that serves as the basis? Are there biases that I think
could skew the answers?
Understanding the importance of primary sources is no different in
product management than it is when writing a paper. I want to gather
enough objective information before I formulate my opinion in a course
or before I decide how I want to solve a user’s problem in my product.
For software developers, critical thinking when using genAI is no
different; you want to understand how the AI is helping you write code
and you still need to consider if the output is valid or not.
Clear communication is critical to successful stakeholder management.
When you’re thinking critically, you need to be able to express those
thoughts clearly. Writing is a big part of that and I honed my skills at
university, writing numerous papers every semester which culminated in
my bachelor and master’s theses. As a product manager, I might not be
doing as much in-depth writing as one of those pieces, but the point is
that I learned to write clearly, concisely, and persuasively. Succinct
communication is critical to be successful in tech; regardless of role,
you need to express yourself and get other people who may not have as
in-depth knowledge in a specific area as you to understand your ideas.
Developing the same understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve
comes through communication on several levels, and communication skills
should not be undervalued.
In addition to writing, speaking is something else that I developed
in my liberal arts education. Debating with other students on various
topics, giving presentations, or thinking quickly on my feet when
discussing something orally are all skills that I also use in my daily
work. Just replace “students” with “stakeholders.”
There are two aspects why clear communication is important when it
comes to genAI. First, using AI will only be good if you are able to
concisely express what you need. Critical thinking and writing are
important because the AI’s output is completely dependent on what it’s
told. Second, being able to write well could mean that you are able to
evaluate the output too. Is the AI’s output clear and understandable? Is
it concise and to the point?
Connect the dots between things to find more meaning.
Another integral part of a liberal arts education is the broad
foundation that comes from many different disciplines. In my particular
degree, I had to take courses that covered history, politics, language,
the arts, and literature. So although my focus was on film and media
studies, I understood film from all of those points of view and how each
discipline impacted film.
This balancing of several seemingly disparate areas into one
discipline is the basis of a liberal arts education. Product management
is exactly the same because it sits in the middle of tech, business, and
users, and brings everything together into one discipline. It’s about
understanding how history may have an impact on film when I studied; in
product management, it’s understanding how limitations from the business
may impact technology and vice versa.
Although software developers are not looking at connecting the same
dots as product managers, it’s still a necessary skill to understand how
new technologies and current problems fit together. Solving problems can
be done in many ways, but understanding the current situation and where
the software is going can have an impact on how the solution looks.
These are just three reasons how my liberal arts education created a
solid foundation for me to work as a product manager. I’m grateful that
I had the opportunity and privilege to study because I understand that
it’s not within everyone’s reach to do so. I also believe that there are
other ways to create a solid foundation to become a product manager or
generally getting into the tech industry aside from studying. However, I
think the direction that I saw with many interns and students going
towards extremely specialized degrees is not the right one. Technologies
and methodologies will come and go, but people with adaptable skills
that can be used to solve new problems are more likely to be successful
in the long term.
The skills learned in a liberal arts education can be extrapolated
and extended to software development. Right now agility is all the rage
and it seems to work for now. But what will happen in the future? How
will technology change how we work? The rise of genAI is shifting how we
work, and being able to adapt our ways of working and thinking are
already crucial to standing out in the crowd.
The liberal arts have endured centuries of ups and downs for good
reason. They equip students with skills that can be adapted to the
times, and this is precisely why I will continue to advocate for anyone
wanting to get into tech to get a liberal arts degree.
