[elblanco]

> The ones I can think off the top of my head are being able to break large problems down to their component processes, being able to foresee the effects manipulating those processes can have, and being able to effectively communicate with others (both technical and non-technical) about your work.

I have an education in CS, but I haven't actively developed software myself for quite a while. However, I've found that this particular point is very true. I find myself working with people, quite smart people, from very different educational backgrounds quite often. The ability to break a problem down the way that C.S. teaches is something that seems like magic to them. In at least two cases, I've been able to make some nice consulting fees simply walking people through this process which seems completely obvious to me.

On a higher level, I wonder how many regular old life problems, like deciding which car to purchase, or allocating employee resources, ones that seen absurdly obvious to people with a similar education/training background, completely stymie folks who haven't had this education. Experience with some of my friends who seem to habitually make absolutely terrible life decisions and one my few advisory consulting gigs tells me it's actually a bigger problem than most people thing.