{"id":40855,"date":"2022-03-09T16:58:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T16:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=40855"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:41:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:41:14","slug":"translating-liberal-arts-educations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2022\/translating-liberal-arts-educations\/","title":{"rendered":"Translating Liberal Arts Educations into Tech Sector Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Translating Liberal Arts Educations into Tech Sector Careers\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Three Bachelor of Humanities alumni return to campus to share advice with current students<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Erin Wai<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three graduates of Carleton University\u2019s Bachelor of Humanities<\/a> program returned to campus last fall to talk to current students about opportunities in the tech industry post-graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was hosted on November 19, 2020, at the College of the Humanities lecture hall, with students in attendance both in-person and online via livestream<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong>Amanda Hadi (BHum ’10) \/ Photo credit: Yuli Scheidt<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The panelists were Amanda Hadi (BHum ’10)<\/strong>, a senior talent scout at Shopify, and Ian Hartlen (BHum ’10)<\/strong>, a senior operations specialist at Shopify. The panel was moderated by Douglas Soltys (BHum ’17)<\/strong>, the founder and editor-in-chief of BetaKit. The three said they hoped to empower current students to embrace the exceptional skills the Bachelor of Humanities program teaches them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecognizing that you are something now, rather than focusing on what you need to become to be accepted in society, is a strong message that I would want to underscore,\u201d said Soltys. \u201cWe want you all to feel like you can pursue anything you want because you\u2019ve had the education and training to literally go and do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bachelor of Humanities (Great Books) program is a holistic four-year liberal arts degree in which students study primary texts in their entirety \u2013 chronologically, from ancient to modern society \u2013 and explore literature, philosophy, history, art, music, political theory, and religion to understand the evolution of thought and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soltys explained the skills that the Bachelor of Humanities teaches are foundational and easily transferrable. Among the skills all three panelists highlighted are writing, strong research and reading comprehension, communication, critical thinking, and the ability to pick up new concepts quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ian Hartlen (BHum ’10)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Bachelor of Humanities at Carleton is a small program that fosters a tight-knit community among its students and faculty. According to the panelists, that community-oriented aspect of the program gives its students natural opportunities to network and connect with their professors and with their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most valuable part about this program is that it attracts these weird, interesting people,\u201d said Hadi. \u201cThe friends you make and the connections you make in the College are super important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Hadi said she has stayed friends with her classmates over the past 10 years and they have all helped each other find jobs and further their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the point of liberal arts is that it is explicitly not about job training \u2013 and that\u2019s actually the beauty of it,\u201d explained Soltys. \u201cI think we\u2019re saying that becoming a human in this program, and a well-read one does actually make you an interesting person in the job market and you can use those skills to go and do things that you might want to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hartlen agreed that having a unique path through the liberal arts to his career in tech is in part what helped him achieve the success he has found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI try to lead with the fact that I have a philosophy degree,\u201d said Hartlen, who combined his B.Hum with an Honours in Philosophy. \u201cBeing well-read and having a bit of a different background and a different perspective makes you an interesting candidate for people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Douglas Soltys (BHum ’17)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the job market is changing, especially in the tech field, humanities programs give graduates the ability to adapt with that evolution. According to Hartlen, companies \u201cwill need people who can put context around what they do technically to communicate that to the rest of the world and everyone here in this room (i.e., humanities students) is capable of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soltys advises that \u201cwhere you want to be is pushing the emerging conversation around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), because companies in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere are realizing that they\u2019ve maybe over-indexed in specific skill sets, and the people they need to manage their teams of engineers are those with soft skills and training from the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three alumni echoed the advice that a career path is not a straightforward line, but rather an accumulation of skills from one job to another. A humanities program teaches students to be adaptable, to learn well and engage with what they are learning, and those skills are transferable to any job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pressure that I think society puts on students \u2013 from your high school teachers, your parents, whatever \u2013 to be<\/em> something when you graduate is [\u2026] something you should let go of to experience different career paths and different potentials,\u201d said Dr. Shawna Dolansky, interim College of the Humanities Director and organizer of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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