Historians are trained to think in ways that will help tech companies thrive.
What does history have to do with working in tech? How do you use your PhD in your current work? Does your PhD help you in your current job?
These are the most common questions I get when people find out about my career path. I think people find it strange that someone would go from focusing so deeply on the past to jumping headfirst into an industry that is oriented so thoroughly toward the future.
It’s a fair point.
The intellectual and research skills people gain by doing PhDs in general are well known. I wrote about some of them in another article: synthesis, empathy, and the ability to learn new things quickly are like gold. While these have certainly helped in my career transition, they are also skills that can apply to a lot of jobs.
But what about the match between history and tech specifically?
There is one that sticks out in my mind. The skill and experience of thinking carefully about change over time.
History is a much more dynamic field than people outside of it typically suppose. The field isn’t just the study of “the past” as some static subject waiting to be dug up. It’s about studying the evidence to understand what changed, why it changed, and — just as importantly — why it matters that it changed.
Historians reading this might be getting flashbacks to their graduate methods courses, and that’s kind of the point! Being trained to think rigorously about how things change from many perspectives — class, race, gender, politics, technology, culture — is a tremendously valuable skill for future-looking technology companies. It is without a doubt one of the reasons I’ve been successful in tech-focused leadership and strategy roles.
Let me put it simply: We tend to understand instinctively when looking at history that what came before influenced what happened next. We don’t always extend that same logic to our present moment and often privilege the impact of individual will above other factors.
It makes sense. People want to be the sole authors of their own futures, after all.
But that’s not a good way to think if you want to change the future. It’s especially not a good way to think if you want to change the future in a way that actually makes the world better for people. And let me be clear, almost everyone I meet in tech sincerely wants their work to make the world a better place.
Tech companies are often laser focused on change and transformation. It stands to reason they should hire more people who are trained to think about and understand those very things.
So, I will end with two appeals.
First, to my former colleagues considering careers outside academia: don’t undersell the value of the way you’ve been trained to think, analyze, and argue. You’ll need to build up some new subject matter expertise — but the good news is that you’ve already proven good at doing that when you need to.
Second — to my current colleagues working and hiring in tech: find creative ways to recruit and bring in people trained in the field of history (and frankly others in the humanities and social sciences). The problems we are trying to solve are highly complex and they will help your organizations think through and plan for the future more effectively.
To state it in no uncertain terms: they will help amplify the success and growth of your business.
