The reason you have a hard time with it is because often the skills acquired through disciplines in the arts are less tangible then something technical.

If nothing else, you might be more interesting to work with, have a clearer communication style, better taste in evaluating what "looks good", etc. etc.

These aren't a substitute for skill, but past a certain skill threshold other things start play more significant roles.

Edit: I really don't understand this pattern of down voting comments without offering a rebuttal of any kind. What exactly about this comment was against HN guidelines? Last time I checked, disagreeing with a comment wasn't grounds for down voting.