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Comment by tkahn6 | Hacker News Reader

Are any Humanities Ph.Ds under the impression that they can actually do anything with their degree (besides teach)?

A Ph.D in CS is not, as I understand it, a prerequisite for success in a technological field, but PG was able to make use of it to start Viaweb. Could a Humanities Ph.D do anything like that?

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I dropped out of a Ph.D. program in History in 2003 after getting the consolation MA, got an entry-level customer support job at a dot-com on the strength of some BSing and the school I came from, and accidentally found out my history degree was pretty useful for product management. Attention to detail, understanding source material and translating it into other languages (translating sales-speak is easier than working with Old Church Slavonic), writing skills, etc. Co-founded my first start-up in 2008.

I found this article by Rands very relevant when I read it:

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2006/09/06/russian_his...

In my experience it's not that humanities Ph.D.s can't do anything with their degree - in general, these are smart, analytic people - but that they don't want to.

In college we had a joke:

Those who study engineering learn to ask "how does that work?". Those who study the sciences learn to ask "why does that work?" Those who study account learn to ask "how much will that cost?" Those who study liberal arts learn to ask "do you want fries with that?"

This is a bit self-serving, it having come from an engineering school (where I was a CS student), but there's some truth in there.

Not everyone has the mathematical intelligence, willpower, mental health, and emotional stability required to make it through an engineering, science, or even business degree. In addition, many students feel they have to go to college just to get a job. For those reasons (and others) many students end up studying for a liberal arts degree. What should those students be doing instead?

There are lots of trade jobs and civil service jobs that pay very well. "Many paths can lead to riches, few in sunlight, most in ditches."

We had the same joke at the liberal arts college I went to...

Could a Humanities Ph.D do anything like that?

Of course--but that same person could do it without the Ph.D.

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