Top 10 Soft Skills for a Developer
By: Daniele Fontani
Tags: Self Improvement, Development, JavaScript, Software Development, Programming

Top 10 Soft Skills for a Developer

Technical skill matter less than you think, learn why

When I started as a developer, I thought that technical competences were all in our job. So, I continue training myself, trying to become every day a better developer. What I missed at the beginning it that our professional background doesn’t need only to be technical. It’s clear that if you want to play machine learning, you have to master python, Keras, TensorFlow, and all the other cool stuff we have nowadays. These are your tools. This is your playground. These are your hard skills. What you miss probably, is to focus also on soft ones. Soft skill helps to work better with others, get results easier, give more value on what you do. And if you think that soft skill doesn’t produce working software, read this article. I thought the same, but I boost my career only when I started to look at the whole professional, not just to the technical part. In this article, you will find ten skills that are important to become a better IT professional and some suggestions that will be useful for improving them.

created with ❤️ by me

Communication

Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

Writing good commit comments is essential, but not enough to have a brilliant career. In most companies, IT professionals work together with non-technical people. Many consultants work directly at the customer office, or some developers still work in small groups and are directly in touch with the business committee. In these cases, but always in life, the capability of explaining complicated things (technicalities) in easy terms is fundamental for having a good career. It helps the day you will ask for raise or to be understood during the daily routine by non-technical. My suggestion is to use always a language that can be understood, using analogies for things that are outside of the listener’s background, remembering about explain each piece of the story they miss.

Communication works for those who work at it. — John Powell

Flexibility

Photo by Rawan Yasser on Unsplash

Accept what is needed to do, embrace the change. This doesn’t mean to be a passive man and do what they ask without making answers. What flexibility means it the knowledge things are not perfect. So things can change, and this change is welcome. You will work to be ready to shift technology stack, architecture, or adapt your software to different specifications if needed. Anyway, on the other hand, you will try to prevent rework or adverse changes. In nature, the individuals that are more responsive to the change and adapt to the environment has many changes to survive. Accepting the change makes us more conscious about what we will be the opportunities and give us the chance to drive the change in the right direction. Fighting the change is just like postponing the inevitable.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

― Albert Einstein

Listening

Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash

Technical or not, you must listen to each person is telling you something. Listen doesn’t merely mean let it speak and wait until he finishes. What we have to improve is our active listening capability. Active listening means trying to understand what others tell us, making questions if we don’t figure out why the other is saying that, or simply asking to explain some part that is not clear for us. There is no way to become a good teammate and a communicator without have developed a powerful listening attitude. When people talks, listen completely.

There is only one rule for being a good talker — learn to listen. — Christopher Morley

Creativity

Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash

Most people think that working in the IT field doesn’t require inspiration. Yes, most of the job is covered by procedures, tools, and requirements — some very dull and repetitive things. The matter is that for mastering this set of things, you need to think a lot. And during problem-solving or designing a new solution, you must be creative. Creativity is something they don’t teach at school, but in front of a problem, you need it. So, don’t be afraid to speak outside the ideological boundaries and find unique solutions. We work every day to improve our procedures and standardize each part of the job, but when the situation so requires, we have to throw out the rabbit from the cylinder.

Creativity is intelligence having fun. — Albert Einstein

Teamwork

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Developing is an activity that you usually do alone. There are you, your keyboard, and maybe a cup of coffee. Your focus is the code. The matter is that, nowadays, complete a project alone is a considerable effort. The verticalization needed to master each technique for completing a web application. The number of man-days required to finish the work is so huge that you will understand why we do not need individuals, but teams.

If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.

Anyway, work in teams is not easy. Each member of the group may not agree on working in a team. Maybe the team already has another team and not you. You may do not agree with the team’s decision. Possibly with all these problems, it would be better to work alone? I think no, if you don’t want to bring your PC during holidays in case you need to fix some bug in production.

Negotiation

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

Some times, different people in the team have a different vision. People are not all time-aligned. People may have different interests or constraints. When things are not black or white, you have to find the right point of grey. For a developer or a technician, it is easy to fall to a situation where he is overwhelmed. Just think about task deadlines, project deadlines, or functional requirements. Or just some technical decision took by your boss. In such a situation, you have to find a solution that can satisfy both parties. During this negotiation, you have to put the other’s shoes. You have to understand the reasons behind the position of others. Only doing this, you can separate the egoistic motivation from real motivation. Maybe your PM is setting the deadline so close because the customer didn’t allow any negotiation, so you are in the same boat. Or perhaps he is trying to save some budget days to get better results. This overview lets you know on which point you have to be uncompromising and where you can let it go.

In each negotiation, find the solution that maximizes the other’s profit without giving up with your goals is the best option — read it not only in the economic meaning.

Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance. Claire Danes

Presentation

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

As a technician, we are so focused on doing that we often overlook the presentation phase. It is like we finished all the energies in the most crucial point. Doing is needed, but an excellent presentation of your output is what you need to give it the right value. I’m not telling you to exaggerate, but just be honest. The matter is not the content, but how you can present. Doing a good presentation, articulating ideas, and fact to others, what you have done has more chance to be understood and correctly valued. This is valid for explaining concepts, showing a task you have done, or simply telling what you are doing at the coffee machine. Before trying to sell your thought to others, sell them to you.

Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell. — Seth Godin

Mentoring

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

The team is the solution that allows many people of different skills to produce as if all were like the best one. Maybe you may be brought to think that spending time helping junior colleagues is a loose of time. I understand your point of view. You are busy, full of problems, so why waste time helping others? You need to focus on the word “waste,” that’s the problem. Replace it with “invest,” and you probably will focus more on the benefits than on costs. If you train a junior, if you make that he learn the procedure, next time he will be autonomous. He will finish the task himself, with no consequences for your work. You will be able to start delegating.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. — Michael Jordan

Determination

Photo by Frank Busch on Unsplash

The path to the project competition is long. Don’t give up. Difficulties will come along the path, but you have to solve it. As a professional, you must continue. Some times there will be a need for an extra effort to see the project ended. You will need to wake up every day and start working on your goals. It is not a war. It’s life.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. — Thomas A. Edison

Leadership

Photo by Perry Grone on Unsplash

What is leadership? Leadership has nothing to do with the job title, seniority, or culture. Leadership doesn’t merely mean say to people what to do. It is not related to management. Leadership is the attitude to lead people along the path.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality — Warren Bennis

In a team, you are not the only player. Each player needs to do its best to win the game. As a leader, you have to delegate the right task to the right people, coach each one following people’s attitudes. You have to forget your productivity as a team leader. You have to focus on team productivity. This will need strong delegation capability and excellent communication skills. You will have to be a good listener, negotiator…. but all these skills were already mentioned.

How to get these skill

Perhaps these soft skills cannot be learned with an online course. Like most things in life, you need to train it every day. Train means to understand what you want to improve, then focus every day on how you can do better.

Life is a big retrospective session, where you work on the most important project of your life: YOU.

Said that, once you understood on which aspect you need to work, you can find many self-help books that can support your growth. I could write here the ones that worked for me, but I think that it is better to find them by yourself.