Did you study Liberal Arts in college? Believe it or not, you can become the next programming star!
Written by: Maria Violeta and IreneMH
Have you spent hours of your life reading masterpieces of literature or brainy essays, memorizing dates or writing long paragraphs about any author or theory? Were most of your exams about writing interpretations about any dense topic? Or do you handle languages as if you were the son or daughter of an ambassador?
In short, do you have a Liberal Arts soul, but feel that programming could also have a place in your heart?
If you feel identified with this, you are in luck. Keep reading to discover 5 great reasons why you, yes you, soul of letters, can be a great programmer.
Communication skills
Programmers are social beings. This may come as a surprise but programmers are part of a very active community and meetups, events and get together are very common. In fact, participation is mandatory if you want to become a part of this world.
Here is when you soft skills, acquired in your art or humanities degree, may come in handy.
Soft skills like empathy and open mindedness are highly appreciated because presentations and talks are part of a programmer life as well as coding.
Your ability to speak in public and communicate will definitely make a difference in your career path.
Written Skills
Programmers are very active on social media, and they will use them as platform for having fun and socialize as well as networking. Blogging, writing articles or participating in forums is a part of who they are as a community so your effectiveness writing content will not pass unnoticed.
Having a diverse background is a strength
We have been living in a world where we were expected to specialize and work in the same field for all our lives, but now having a diverse background is something you can be proud of. For the most part, your colleagues will come from an engineering or technical degree and that is a good thing. Studies show that groups made by people with different qualifications and capacities are more successful and creative.
Languages
If in addition to being good with words, you have learned languages, you are going to find that programming, as a language, is composed of a series of elements that are combined by rules. Just as you learned the syntactic rules of English, German or Chinese to talk to other people, learning a programming language consists on mastering the language to communicate with machines. That is why if you have studied languages and, especially if you are a geek of syntax, you will enjoy programming.
Leader and reference for others
We already know that you have studied a career in humanities, probably by vocation, but for some reason you are considering learning how to program. Imagine that you throw yourself into it and become experienced in this field. What would you have become? You will have become a leader and an example to follow. You are now a polyvalent person, open to new knowledge, who takes risks, initiative and who is capable of overcoming your limits. Someone who is able to make a reasoned reflection about art and a web with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Yes, that is you now. Because if you manage to learn to program you will become someone who has thrown down the stereotype of “programming is too difficult for me, I am a humanities soul”. And this will not go unnoticed either for people from you environment (probably, people from the same humanities background), for which you will be a reference neither for job interviewers, who will value your great motivation and courage for having combined knowledges from such disparate areas. Moreover, if you are a woman, you will become a leader in the programming world, which is mostly dominated by men.
Now, would you like to start your path in programming and contribute to this sector with all the value you bring as a humanities expert? We are looking forward to having you with us! :)
