Hacker News Reader

> I've never used stuff I did in my PhD, but time and time again, continuously (and I use the work correctly, I don't mean continually) I've used the stuff I learned on the way that enabled me to do my PhD.

One of the best software engineers I know has a law degree and says exactly the same thing. So I suspect that the same is likely to be true for anybody else who's gotten a PhD or other advanced degree.

View on HN

But law, maths, computer science, and weirdly, classics all appeal to the same minds. Are there examples of people with English Literature or History degrees who say the same?

I would have thought they would be more useful for the sorts of things that programmers are bad at, like dealing with, or in, lies and half-truths. And not be so good for the 'long chains of precise reasoning' type problems.

Of course, you might equally say that being able to handle the political side of life 'makes you a better programmer', but I don't think you'd mean it in the same way.

Ideally you'd want both.

there's a big difference between "appeal to the same kind of mind" and "you should study this subject to become a better programmer"

and yes, I do mean that being able to handle the social side of life (including politics) makes you a better programmer in the same way.

agreed that you want both.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com