In 1995, I graduated from the University of California at Davis (Go Aggies!) with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations (IR). I then proceeded, despite that "handicap", to go out and forge a career as a developer, architect, and (now) manager/CTO. During that time, I spent a lot of time in interviews and casual conversation "defending" my choice of a liberal arts degree, rather than something more traditional for the industry (a la a Computer Science degree).

Twenty years after my graduation, I can now proudly and successfully claim that my International Relations study and training made me a better programmer than those of my peers who studied Computer Science. Fortunately, these are all things that anyone--even a science major--can pick up. Pull up a chair, let's sift through history, politics, economics, social science and a little philosophy, and I'll tell you what I've learned from IR that you need to know to be a better developer.