How the Liberal Arts Can Make Us Better Software Developers
One of the defining characteristics of Westmont College—and, by extension, the CATLab—is a commitment to the liberal arts. In its philosophy of education, Westmont writes that it works to shape students into “certain kinds of people, not mere repositories of information or mere possessors of professional skills.” In an article exploring the connection between computer science and the liberal arts, Henry M. Walker and Charles Kelemen write that “a liberal arts education is to be an education for life, not some short-term vocational preparation.”
Liberal arts institutions operate based on the idea that students benefit from exploring a broad range of disciplines, not just the skills and theories directly related to their field of study—but how does this lofty ideal play out on the ground? We decided to talk to some members of our team who had really invested in the spirit of the liberal arts.
Sophia: The Art of Learning Languages
Sophia, our team lead this summer, graduated from Westmont earlier this year with degrees in both Computer Science and Spanish Language and Literature. While she knew from the beginning of college that she enjoyed analytical thinking and wanted to pursue either math or computer science, after taking some Spanish classes to fulfill general education requirements, she found that she “really enjoyed having something to counterbalance all of my math and computer science courses.” Her interest then grew into a second major.
In spite of the variety her coursework offered, Sophia also found considerable overlap: “The kind of obvious answer is that they’re both languages.” In learning modern languages and programming languages, she said, you have to have a “base of memorization” in order to be able to work with them. On the other hand, “you don’t just memorize everything... At the end of the day, you’re learning to use the tools that you have” to achieve your goal—whether that’s communicating with others or building software. They also both require a level of inventiveness: “Sometimes I kind of think of programming as my art projects because I get to be creative,” Sophia shared.
Sophia said that the joy she gets from Spanish is the ability to connect with people; but some of the skills she developed in delving into literature also apply directly to programming and problem-solving. When confronted with a problem, Sophia said she is often tempted to dive right in and “get stuff done,” even though she knows the value of taking time to step back and learn. Studying Spanish, she said, taught her how to “slow down, read, and do thorough research.”
She freely admitted that she’s still finding out how her liberal arts education has equipped her for her job. She did, however, share a story from her first few weeks of working at Outside Open, a mid-sized technology company based in Santa Barbara. After she’d given a presentation on something, one of her coworkers approached her and commented, “Oh, Westmont students are just so good at presenting. It just comes so naturally to you guys.” The compliment made Sophia grateful for the ways her Westmont education helped her develop far more than technical skills.
In their article “Computer Science and the Liberal Arts: A Philosophical Examination,” professors Henry M. Walker and Charles Kelemen note that one of the key advantages to the breadth of education found in liberal arts is that it prepares students for group- and team-based projects and activities, which are increasingly important to software development.
Hannah: Curiosity and Interconnection
From the beginning of her time at Westmont, senior developer Hannah knew that she was interested in a lot of fields, but that she didn’t want to have to be a fifth or sixth year senior in order to accommodate her interests. Fortunately, at Westmont she was able to celebrate her curiosity to the fullest, double-majoring in Philosophy and Mathematics as well as double-minoring in Religious Studies and Computer Science. The fact that she was named the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in Mathematics shows that she didn’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
The main benefit she named was getting to see how different fields connected. “No discipline really stands on its own,” Hannah said. A liberal arts education, she explained, involves “applying thinking skills in different contexts.” As an example, she shared that a philosophy class in formal logic had been “pivotal” to her ability to understand some of her math classes. Recognizing this interconnection, according to Walker and Kelemen, is another practical advantage of having breadth, not merely specialization: “Although research arises from pushing current techniques and ideas further, breakthroughs in research often arise when a person connects different ideas in creative ways.”
Additionally, computer science is harnessed by a variety of disciplines, meaning that students benefit from learning “the terminology, concepts, perspectives, and insights of multiple disciplines,” say Walker and Kelemen. And when computer science is applied to a problem, “the common language for a project comes from the application, not from computer science.” Thus, Walker and Kelemen conclude that it’s important for “computing professionals” to be comfortable working within other fields.
The Employer Perspective
So for students like Sophia and Hannah, the liberal arts preserves their commitment to curiosity by providing the opportunity for them to pursue authentic passions, not just a list of skills. But why should a liberal arts degree appeal to employers, particularly in the tech industry?
An article from the Spring 2005 edition of the Westmont Magazine— “The Sciences as Liberal Arts?”—argues that “employers want to hire people who can think clearly, adapt in a rapidly changing environment and transfer skills and information from one situation to another that is completely different.” A liberal arts education produces just such people. In a comment that resonates just as loudly today as it did 15 years ago, professor of philosophy and director the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts Dr. Chris Hoeckley remarked:
“As our American society and world culture become more and more complex, we need citizens, policy makers and leaders who are flexible and able to meet the demands, opportunities and dangers with well-rounded backgrounds that enable them to make informed decisions that lead to peace and justice for all.”
In their article, Walker and Kelemen emphasize that, in most fields, undergraduate degrees are meant to provide the foundation upon which graduate studies or professional experience build. Therefore, undergraduate studies are a little early to begin intensely specializing. A liberal arts education, meanwhile, “provides students with highly developed, transferable skills such as critical thinking, effective communication and creative problem solving,” says Dr. Hoeckley.
On a similar note, we recently had a conversation with Lisa Klock, director of Finance and Operations in Letters & Science Information Technology, UC Santa Barbara and co-founder of several student initiatives—including a CATLab-inspired set of IT internships. In an interview with Daily Nexus, she shared that the goal of the new program was to create “a potential pool of future employees” by giving students practical experience working in IT. In our conversation with her, she broadened her focus from technical skills to a holistic view of employability. She wanted to build a program that makes its interns as desirable as possible. After some asking around, she found that employers primarily sought “well-rounded” people.
When we did some interviewing of our own last summer, we asked some local tech companies to share what they appreciated about interns from Westmont. Forrest Cook, Manager of Business Systems at AppFolio, Inc., said that a prominent lesson from his career is that “attitude is one of the most important things.” Cook elaborated: “You can have somebody who’s really, really smart and really good at their job, but with a bad attitude they’re not gonna be able to collaborate and work with the team.” At Outside Open, CEO and CTO Greg Lawler shared that having interns “brings a great energy to the office.” The tech company’s small team is made of “very talented individuals who have a passion for serving people and solving problems.”
Attitude, energy, and passion—all three of these descriptors indicate that employers are looking for a kind of person, not a set of skills. In a rapidly changing world, we need people who can solve ever-shifting problems. A liberal arts education prepares a person to embrace the process of learning. As Hannah expressed it: “The liberal arts gives you a lot of practice in stepping into unfamiliar territory from a posture of humility and curiosity, being able to ask questions and learn and not let the failures and the mistakes keep you from moving forward.” What Hannah truly loves about the liberal arts is the way it promotes a perspective of “curiosity and wonder”:
“For me, that’s pretty much all of what coding is about—it’s kind of stepping back and saying, ‘Okay, maybe I don’t know or don’t understand everything that’s going here. What questions can I ask to better position myself to understand? Who can I ask? How can I keep learning to be better and grow?’”
Technology as an industry depends on constant innovation and change. Thus, the habits of lifelong learning that a liberal arts education cultivates provide an excellent foundation for anyone pursuing computer science and software development.
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