It’s no secret that STEM degrees are in high demand these days, and the tech sector constantly laments the lack of qualified new candidates coming out of the educational system. However, these organizations may be ignoring a valuable talent pool: those with liberal arts degrees. For instance, Arijit Sengupta, CEO of BeyondCore, an advanced analytics firm, holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science, a bachelor of arts degree in economics, and very nearly had a minor in dance. He believes that all three have served him well in his tech career. "In dance, if you have to take your partner from your left to your right in a certain direction, you have to think about their movement, their motion and their direction.” He says. “Do you want to block the person's trajectory, and then force them to go to the other way? No! The easiest way to manage a maneuver is to guide the other person's momentum around and reorient yourself to what they're doing. That turns it into a real shared experience.” Soft skills and emotional intelligence such as communication, empathy, teamwork, and negotiation are just as important as the technical skills necessary to succeed in a STEM career, especially in leadership roles.