By: Studio Roosegaarde

In a recent LinkedIn survey of employer’s most sought-after soft skills in 2018, “57% of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills” (LinkedIn). Globalization and innovation have drastically increased the need for cross-functional, diverse teams in tech, which are exactly the types of roles that require individuals with non-traditional business backgrounds and education: queue the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2022, 1 million more Americans will enter the workforce as educators and another 1.1 million newcomers will earn a living in sales. Each wave of tech will create fresh demand for trainers, coaches, managers, and salespeople. By contrast, software engineers’ ranks will grow by 279,500 or barely 3% of overall job growth. According to Michael Chiu, a partner at McKinsey Global Institute, “narrowly defined technical roles will not be the answer for long-term employment growth” (Forbes). If you add up the jobs held by people who majored in psychology, history, English and the like, they quickly surpass the totals for engineering and computer science.