Three reasons a liberal arts degree helped me succeed in tech

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.