Why Are Soft Skills For Software Engineers More Important Now Than Ever?

“Soft Skills”, the buzz word

Whereas 20 years ago, coding was only for the passionate of computer science, today software engineering became a career that is accessible to everyone. With the rising number of developers on the market, acquiring soft skills can be an important competitive edge that will make you stand out from other candidates. Equally, with awareness of mental health, soft skills became a mandatory tool for a team’s wellbeing and for a company’s growth. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize how important soft skills are for their career — it’s up to you to start developing them today.

🧐 What is it?
Soft skills are the ability to communicate effectively, collaborate with others, solve problems creatively and think critically about issues that may arise in your company or industry.

💎 Why is it important?
Whatever your level of expertise as a software engineer is, you will be working within teams, with managers and with juniors. Soft skills are important because they teach you how to interact well in any given situation.

🎯 What will you achieve?
Get promoted / Be hired for a higher position.
Fast growth in your career.
Better working environment for you and your surroundings.
Reach your career goals.

Technical skills VS soft skills

As a software engineer, your tech skills are definitely the most crucial one to kick off your career, find your first job and continue as an individual contributor. You can be an expert in Elixir, in React, in Python or in JS and it would make your profile attractive to employers depending on the characteristics they look for. But what about growing within a company and getting hired for a management-oriented position? This is when soft skills come into play.
At Napice, we have seen two main scenarios that software engineers consider challenging:

1. Scenario 1: A developer with very strong tech skills gets promoted to engineering manager because he is the best in the team. When they get into the new role and have to manage people more than they have to code, they realize that they don’t have the required skills and mindset to be a good leader.
   Their day-to-day challenges: How do I deal with conflicts within the team? How do I assess each team members? How to efficiently assign tasks to each team member? How to maintain the positive company culture? How do I optimize 1:1s with my team members?
2. Scenario 2: An intermediate / senior software engineer has been in the same role for a quite a while and is eager to make it to the next level. They apply to job openings outside their company and to get promoted within their company.
   Their day-to-day challenges: I can’t seem to get promoted to a better role. I feel stuck in my career. I’ve been in this role for too long. I’ve been rejected a few times although my technical skills are on point.

Software professionals from intermediate to managerial levels are often focused on how to be a good developer and rarely on how to be a good team player, a supportive manager and a great leader.

This is the importance of soft skills VS hard skills. They are complimentary skillsets. One without another is not viable.

Soft skills became a competitive advantage

Soft skills have become a competitive advantage in today’s ever-changing tech job market. Within the high presence of coding bootcamps, career transitions are made easy and software engineering became an accessible career. You will therefore find colleagues of yours who worked as doctors, as bankers, as hotel managers, as waiters and who all learnt how to have technical skills as good as yours. What these peers have and that you didn’t learn in your computer science degree is the soft skills they acquired during their previous careers.

These abilities push them beyond technical knowledge and help them develop a strong presence within the company through teamwork, communication and leadership skills.

Soft skills helps individuals stand out from their peers when applying for jobs or being considered for promotions.

Mental health awareness made soft skills an important characteristic

In the past, mental health awareness was not taken seriously and was perceived as a weakness. However, with the rise of social media and open discussions on mental health issues, this perception is starting to change. Today’s employers are increasingly recognizing the importance of having workers who are mentally healthy and happy at work; this is because it leads to increased productivity and an overall better workplace environment.

The ability to build relationships with other employees allows you to share experiences with each other and help each other through difficult times (e.g., stress, heavy workload). This can lead to improved self-awareness about one’s own emotions, thoughts and behavior patterns. Improving one’s communication skills will then result in better problem solving abilities, as well as building trust among coworkers. You and your team must feel comfortable voicing concerns about wellbeing without fear of judgement or repercussion from management. Soft skills helps avoiding going down a road towards burnout or depression.

How to acquire soft skills

Soft skills — such as communication, leadership, and time management — can be learned. You may have noticed that soft skills are not a matter of nature; they are acquired through experience and practice. Soft skills are a combination of personality traits and social behaviors, which can be developed over time by learning from others and here is how:

🚀 Attend soft-skills oriented Programs & courses — upcoming Communication Program.

🚀 Watch targeted videos on Youtube — management-oriented videos on our channel.

🚀 Get mentorship from a tech leader — 1:1 coaching available at Napice.

🚀 Attend webinars and workshops — community exclusive events on our platform.

Conclusion- Soft Skills Are Important For Your Career Success

Soft skills are an important factor for every career, especially if you want to be a successful software engineer in a leadership role. You need to know how to sell yourself, manage teams efficiently and establish a good communication with your coworkers. Having good soft skills will help you achieve success on the workplace and increase your chances of getting promoted. To reach a high success within the tech industry, you will have to start building-up your soft skills as soon as possible.