The technology industry needs thinkers and doers. Engineers are doers, liberal arts majors are thinkers. It is true that in order to “do” you need to “think” and in order to “think” you need to “do.”
Books, paintings, poems and performing arts conform to rigid parameters while constantly ideating. For a reader to turn the page in a book there must be something anticipated on that next page, something unexpected, something hitherto unseen, unexperienced. This is the language of liberal arts.
Sarvesh Mahesh, CEO of Tavant Technologies, believes that “liberal arts majors are better suited to anticipate ‘what’ our customers need, the STEM majors are better suited to figure out ‘how’ to build it,” cautioning that “this not to say that there is no overlap/crossovers amongst the two groups.”
With liberal arts hires, companies get people who believe in the freedom to create, regardless of the medium, and regardless of prevailing value judgments.
Given that most liberal arts majors decided to major in fields like calligraphy and fine arts, despite society’s misgivings about their choice, intrepidity and a spirit of innovation are what they render and deliver for companies that have vision.