The document discusses the integration of philosophy and liberal arts into software engineering, highlighting the author's unconventional journey into tech without a formal computer science degree. It emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives and skills gained from liberal arts in addressing the cultural and conceptual challenges within the tech industry. The author advocates for using free resources and networking to build a successful career in software engineering, promoting agility and readiness to seize opportunities.

1. Why Software Engineering
Needs Philosophers
Gregory Kenenitz
@aceofbassgreg (twitter, github, stackoverflow)

2. Education History
• 2006 Bloomsburg University Graduate
• Double Major, Philosophy & English Literature
• 2008 Virginia Tech Graduate, MA Philosophy

3. Employment History
• Admission Counselor
• ESL Teacher, Tongyeong
• Higher Ed Administrator
• Software Engineer

4. ...Software Engineer?
• First computer at 17 years old
• Struggled with Microsoft Word
• No tech-related coursework in college...or ever

5. WTF, NO

6. Ways to Determine Career
• Figure it out in College
• Fall into what you've always done
• Follow Your Passion™

7. Greg's response:
• Didn't figure it out in college
• Had work/study jobs, parlayed into higher ed jobs
• No known career-related Passions

8. Self-knowledge seldom comes by spontaneous intuition...
Real introspection may be required

9. Writers Block
Writers block is a bourgeois
luxury...Thinking of this state as
a "block" is really
counterproductive, pernicious
even: you're not "blocked,"
you're on a detour, and maybe
the sights aren't as pretty, but
they're still really valuable.

10. Missing the Trees for the Forest
Maybe we get so wrapped up in
the concepts like 'Career' and
'Passion' that we cannot step
back and think about what really
makes us happy.

11. What I Wanted in a New Career
• Flexible lifestyle (salary, time off)
• Exciting work
• Sense of purpose
• Lack of bureaucracy
• No additional certifications or degrees

12. Why Tech Fit The Bill
• High salaries, amazing benefits
• Intellectually challenging
• Cutting-edge and worthwhile projects
• Start-ups w/ little to no bureaucracy
• No degree or certification required

13. Liberal Arts FTW

14. Formal logic teaches software's
basic structures & concepts:
control (if/then) statements, loops,
booleans, etc.

15. Frequent paradigm shifting breeds agility.
Liberal Arts students examine the world through
different perspectives and schools of thought.

16. No CS Degree? No
Problem
CS Programs can't keep up with
rapidly changing technologies. A
CS degree in most cases is not
sufficient qualification for a job.

17. Greg's Path to Success
• Start with skills honed by Liberal Arts education
• Free resources & opportunities
• Lots of work
• Lots of networking / learning the culture
• Lots of failure

18. Free Resources Include:
Codecademy, Khan Academy, Coursera, Free
Programming Books, Try Ruby, Learn Code The
Hard Way, Rails Tutorial (build Twitter clone), Local
meet-ups, Open Source Software

19. Tech Culture and You
Software Engineering needs Philosophers and
Liberal Arts graduates to diversify viewpoints,
practices, and the culture of the tech industry.

20. Stay Agile
Understand when
opportunities are
present, and be prepared
to take action.