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How Art School Prepared Me for Programming

Anna Rankin on May 22, 2018

At the startup where I work, a lot of my coworkers in the engineering department have great stories about where they came from - organic chemistry,...
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Cat • Edited

I love this:

Dissatisfaction with your work is a sign of developing taste.

I had a conversation with a renowned cartoonist who said

"If you look at what you've done and you're 100 percent satisfied, you've failed as an artist because you aren't growing. But if you take that dissatisfaction and let it fuel you instead of deter you, you'll be able to keep going.
Don't be afraid to fail or revise."

I came from a more art-related background as well!
I'm still a licensed cosmetologist (hair, makeup, skincare--the works) but not practicing. However, I apply what I learned when we were getting ready to work with real clients to design and developer problems and concerns I run into today:

  • Always ask and clarify their wants, needs, and goals
  • Find the balance between their wants and what could be done in reality and present it in an easily digestible manner (i.e. a certain eyeshadow color does not work for their skin, present other shades of color that match closely to the eyeshadow requested, but are more complimentary-- swatch the requested color as well as alternatives.)
  • Give them a realistic timeline for their goals (i.e. acne skin will take a few months to start noticeably clearing up so they would have stick to a regimen)

Wonderful read. Thank you for sharing!

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Anna Rankin

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! That cartoonist has it 💯percent ❤️It's so cool (and inspiring!) to hear how you brought your client-handling and project management skills into your development career.

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Kathryn Grayson Nanz

This really hit home with me! I'm in a similar situation – graduated with a BFA, now doing web dev. There are days when that art degree feels useless – when I feel like I wasted time on it and I wish I could go back in time and study comp sci instead. I try to remind myself that my design education gives me a unique perspective and set of skills that other devs may not have. While not having a formal education in my current field definitely has drawbacks...it does have some perks as well, and this article did a great job of identifying some of those perks. Thanks for the reminder :)

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Anna Rankin

Oh man, I totally feel you on that - my dad is a software engineer, and he pokes fun at me sometimes for getting an art degree... then following in his footsteps anyway 😬Sometimes I wish I'd studied comp sci, but I figure we can always learn more! Then, we'll have the combined benefits of our artistic experience and computer knowledge 💥

GO TEAM BFA GO! 😂

(apologies for the excessive excitement, I've just had my morning coffee 😅)

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Dian Fay

Art-class critique makes an excellent model for code reviews too! Everyone's trying to improve their craft and rigorously analyzing each other's work so they can do the same so it maps beautifully.

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Anna Rankin

Oh my gosh, yes!! That's such a good point! 💯I definitely felt some of the same trepidation that I did in critiques when I put up my first PRs.

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Ben Halpern

I relate to all of this! Artists make amazing devs.

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Anna Rankin

Yay! (I think so too, but I'm super biased 😜)

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Michael Cain • Edited

My background is in music: my undergraduate degree is classical voice and percussion, my masters degree is in jazz studies. I very much agree with the sentiment of this post. There is something to be said about how creating art; taking something from chaos and making order of it.

For me, one of the most useful skills I have is the ability to see patterns in code-where things can be abstracted in a meaningful way. I credit this directly to learning how to orchestrate for ensembles, whether it choir, big band, or symphony orchestra.

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Anna Rankin

That's so cool - Literal orchestration! I love the idea of bringing order out of chaos. Thank you!

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Darrell Washington

“I'm of the opinion that programming is as much an art as it is a science or a utility.” I didn’t even get pass this line. I was stuck on that line for awhile. Like finally someone feels how I feel about programming. It’s a work of art and genius.

I feel it’s like any artwork, in terms of being able to solve multiple problems. Whether it’s emotional, personal, entertaining, or critical it can be solved with programming.

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

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Anna Rankin

I totally agree! The only thing that really sets it apart is medium. Thank you 😁

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Anna Rankin

That's an interesting question! The short answer is "Very rarely." If I made enough sketches of my subject to understand it, sorted out the light/shadow/color palette beforehand and had a good technical mastery of the medium, it went a lot more smoothly - jumping in and trying to complete an assignment the night before was a bumpier ride 😬. I think the challenge is what keeps me trying to depict things to this day.

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Holiviel Valdez

Wonderful post I love the way you explained how art help you with your career and you touched the main reason I like software development specially the front end, I can represent whatever I have in my mind and create that in like a digital space, thanks for share your experiences.

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Anna Rankin

Thank you Oliviel! I love code as a means of creation 😊

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Andi 👩🏽‍🚀

Oh man does this article hit home...

It took me until very recently to learn how to talk about my non-technical fine arts background in interviews, and how those skills provided any value.

I vividly remember those nerve racking Art-class critiques 😖

But without those experiences I don't think I'd be able to take and give feedback as objectively as I do now. If you can't talk about what you did, why you did it, and how it impacts the system/product/whatever it's difficult to get your ideas sold.

All those formal critiques helped us break down feedback into actionable items. Analyzing that feedback, turning it around quickly into new iterations, without being emotionally attached to the previous concept are skills I wish more people had.

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Anna Rankin

Well put! Also, I absolutely agree - the the ability to give and receive feedback objectively is rarer than I'd like in our field. Thank you!

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Jeremy Grifski

I had a pretty similar background in the arts. Most of my life I would have considered myself a musician. Then, I went to college for Computer Engineering and tried to get a Music degree on the side.

Turns out, Music is really, really hard. Back then, I would have rather taken a Calculus exam than sit through another private lesson. Ultimately, I dropped the Music major, but it's still a huge part of my life.

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Anna Rankin

Oh man, music is so hard. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can even play an instrument - the discipline and work that goes into that blows my mind. Awesome to hear that it's still a part of your life!

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J Beetz • Edited

Great Article.

Being an Art School Grad myself, MASS COLLEGE OF ART '98 BFA Painting.

All these years and different types of jobs later, the big take away is: I'm passionate about what i do and i have the ability to think in abstract terms about problem solving.

Art School taught me how to learn about things and ask better questions. Being forced to consider the questions you created in a drawing or painting can be an introspective and challenging process. That ultimately gave me a way to generate and scrap ideas with out flinching.

In my daily work, i find this is of the greatest value and i cherish it. Thank you for posting this, it helps to read the thoughts and experience's of others.

one other thing: Art School taught me to
'paint until all of the critics leave the studio'
'paint until all of my peers leave the studio'
'paint until my mind has left the studio'

today i spend most of my free time (outside of my wife and kids) coding while everyone is asleep and taking all the free time i can to enjoy it.

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Alex Martini • Edited

Love hearing about others who studied art and are now working as a developer! I switched majors from engineering to art, graduated with an art degree and then went right into web development. The most valuable thing I learned while in school was actually from an intro to drawing class, where the professor would walk around the class saying “remember, general to specific” what seemed like 100 times per class. At the time it drove me crazy, but now every time I get caught up in a tedious detail I can hear her saying “General to specific” and it forces me to move on 😊. Sure, it shouldn’t take a 4 year degree to learn that, but it definitely stuck with me!

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Anna Rankin

Hahaha I know that mantra! I found it annoying at the time as well, but it feels just as applicable today as it was then 😊 Thank you!

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Anna Rankin

Oh, also, one of my big takeaways form art is thinking about breaking things down into simple details and reassembling those pieces. This made anything seem reproducible. Like, I still remember as a kid when I realized that a horizon was just a line across the page. It was a breakthrough.

Omg, absolutely! I love those moments where everything just makes sense. I totally agree - art is a great way to learn how to break it down to build it back up ❤️

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Anna Rankin

Oooo I'd love to know how you like that program! I've been tempted myself 😀And thank you - I agree, it's awesome to have that flexibility 💪

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juliavii

For me, a long time "artist-to-be" and also a developer-to-be, this post was so important for both sides of me. I can not say how this whole thing motivated me.
I am really thankfull :)

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Anna Rankin

Awesome, I'm so glad! 🤗

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rhymes

Thank you, a lot, for this.

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Anna Rankin

I'm glad this resonated ❤ it's nice to know there are others out there