This article is here to help you advance your career and your personal life in general. Besides that, each bite of information presented here will help freshers/newcomers who are just starting to begin their careers in the I.T. industry. Be it a role such as Software Developer, DevOps Engineer, Cloud Computing Engineer, AI/ML Expert, Data Science Engineer, or any other professional designation you have in mind, apply these soft skills without a doubt.
Soft Skills required for Software Developer
Let’s begin with a few basic questions that first pop — up in your mind.
What soft skills do I need besides hard skills to make things happen in my favor?
How to adapt to working in a diverse culture while managing people effectively?
How to keep up with the rapidly changing tech environment?
If you have an answer to all such questions, it is good. But if the answer is a big No!, you need to buckle up and keep reading. This article has some practical observations and thoroughly examined content for you to espouse.
So, let’s start with how to spin your head around hard skills and soft skills.
Well!, the answer lies somewhat in between both, meaning it’s a grey area. Both are complementary to one another. There is no question about your hard skills that are necessary to be there to excel in your domain. But soft skills are equally important to present your thoughts, experiences, and knowledge before people. Being good at soft skills boosts your confidence and keeps your morale high, and also defines your relationships and social behavior with other people. It does not matter what we think personally. It is about being socially aware and behaving accordingly. All over the globe, workplaces follow these standard practices and expect the same from people working with them.
Considered Softskills Today:
Managing your time effectively
Embrace the change
Learning to be a good communicator (both written and spoken)
Learn how to learn new technologies faster
Learn about business processes & how to put yourself in other people’s shoes
Put collaboration and teamwork on your priority list
Do not underestimate LinkedIn
Being able to put yourself before others effectively is what soft skills do. It does not matter whether you are already an experienced software developer or just trying to find a way to start your career; soft skills are the key to stand — out. Here are some of the most valuable skills for you to master yourself. Of course, you won’t need all of them, but it should give you enough idea of what to learn next and improve on.
Manage your time effectively.
Time Management. Does it ring a bell? Of course, it does. You have heard it from almost every sane person who has achieved what you desire. But you fail to do it sometimes. It is natural for you to get distracted in activities that are not serious. Be it binge-watching your favorite movie or show on Netflix or Amazon or spending hours on Youtube to see what’s going on in the comments sections of a video that got many likes and millions of views. Involving in such activities is good only if done for a short period.
Time Management
Today, digital and intelligent distractions are always waiting for you around any corner. Thus, it is essential to keep track of your time. It is always wiser to take on activities that directly concern you and make you confident about achieving the goal.
To effectively manage your time, you can follow below four categories of task — time relationship:
Urgent and vital: Take on these tasks and do them right away.
Essential but not quite urgent: Make a thorough go-throw and decide when to do them.
Urgent but not necessary: Prioritise these tasks and do them if possible.
Not urgent or essential: Put them under the “will do it later” list.
Note: Use your google calendar (or any calendar per se) to mark the categorized task — time relationship to manage time on a long-term basis. Once it goes into your veins and becomes your habit, there is no need to worry about following next. This method effectively avoids higher stress levels that lead to severe anxiety issues.
Embrace the change
Embracing the change (or, say, coming out of your comfort zone) around you is never easy but, it is not impossible. Changing yourself to achieve something better is always good. But to bring a change in others is equally important. To do it successfully, you need to follow the D.I.C.E. factor:
Duration
Before we begin, we need to contradict the prevailing thoughts regarding the long-term procedure. Meaning, the early impetus may peter out the current vision that will fall off when the window of opportunities closes. Because studies have shown, long-term projects reviewed frequently more often succeed, while short-term projects not reviewed frequently will ultimately have higher chances of failure.
Integrity
People love integrity. Even after having so much knowledge and expertise, there is not much in your life without integrity. You can find the most famous trailblazers in a glitch rather than highly skilled managers. For example:
Showing up on time
Dedicating yourself to your job
Admit your mistake(s)
Keep your promise(s)
Give credit where it’s due
Follow the rules
Treat people with respect
Stand up for what is right
Demonstrate flexibility
Be considerate of others
Commitment to work
People may only be able to espouse change when they know the commitment at the top level. Dedication towards your work at workplaces means — how much enthusiasm you can express towards assigned tasks. For this, you should have a strong sense of responsibility for the cause, the mission, and the vision of the organization where you work. For example, let yourself know what you strive for, be honest with yourself and others, use strong work ethics, solve problems honestly, be a student of life, etc.
Effort
It would help if you calculated how much you have to push the limits to embrace change which should be no more than 10% comprehensively. Let’s not keep it less compact!
Learning to be a good communicator (both written and spoken)
Look at the boom in social media; do you still have a doubt? I can’t agree more. The bedrock of soft skills is practical communication skills upon which the foundation of other soft skills firmly stands.
If you end up pushing people (whom you like to the core) away because of poor communication, Don’t wonder and think you are alone! All you need to do is keep your thoughts positive, handy, and do not forget who is real you. Plus, always remember when to talk and when to be quiet. Communication is always two-way, i.e., actively listening to what others have to say. The term associated with it is known as “Active listening.” It is the most sought-after soft skill that someone can master.
Adapt your communication style to your audience
Friendliness
Confidence
Giving and receiving feedback
Volume and clarity
Empathy
Respect
Learn how to learn new technologies faster
Not just to stay relevant but to stay one step ahead, you need to keep abreast of new technologies and learn them quickly. Learn about new libraries, frameworks, new programming languages, or learning about what’s happening in I.T. — space and digital world. It will help you immensely in solving problems efficiently.
If you find yourself in a grey area while understanding something or something that isn’t making sense to you, ask yourself or take help from Google, youtube, or someone who has knowledge and expertise in the field. And do not forget of being stupid while learning new things and remember the quote by Paul Ehrenfest, “Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to appear stupid. The stupid questions are usually the best and hardest to answer. They force you to think about the basic problem.”
Key benefits of learning new technologies faster
Keeps your mind active and your morale high
It puts you one step closer to your goal
It makes you competitive in the highly competitive job market
Learn about business processes & how to put yourself in other people’s shoes
It is not about working for yourself or a company. It is about understanding business processes and how do they work. There is no doubt that without tech enthusiasts, scientists, and engineers, a company cannot be established but can not run without understanding people at its core. That’s where soft skills come in, and you must understand business processes. Learning about them and making yourself aware of all crucial skills will make you stand out from others who don’t give much importance to it or don’t know anything about it.
The importance of soft skills and business processes is always a good thing. But seeing things from the user perspective is very crucial. You have to learn to see things through your client’s eyes. Try to understand what their requirements are. Strong communication and discussion on their needs will always make things easy and allow you to deliver what they desire.
Put collaboration and teamwork on your priority list
Never underestimate what a group of people can do against an individual effort. It is time-saving and an efficient way to complete a project in a short period. Collaboration comes in to picture when there is teamwork by a group of collaborators. It always emphasizes on individual efforts of members of a team. There are many things collaboration can bring:
Increase productivity and efficiency.
Enhance social skills and communication.
Promote common goals.
Provide opportunities to employees to focus on being proactive.
Increase diversity.
Enable creative and informal learning while fostering friendly competition, debrief sessions, and open conversations, among other things.
Do not underestimate LinkedIn
Out of many platforms for job seekers, Linkedin has emerged as one of the must-have online platforms. Linkedin is not just for job searches but is also for entrepreneurs, social media influencers, and business owners alike. With a worldwide presence in more than 200 countries, it has over 722 members. Irrespective of your professional experience, Linkedin is the best way to get hired quickly.
But just having an active LinkedIn account will not help you much. It will probably get tossed in the bin if you do not beautify and curate it based on industry standards and your requirements. Linkedin is more than just a professional networking platform. It gives members opportunities to learn from professionals, connect with like-minded members, and seek out vacancies — whether actively or passively.
Here are a few ways to optimize your Linkedin profile and keep yourself one step ahead.
The Headline
It is one of the most visible portions on Linkedin. This section gives your audience a straightforward and clear impression of what you do and where you do it. Optimizing your headline ensures that you have used the right keywords in it for recruiters to find you easily.
The About Section
This section’s obvious goal is to inform and describe to potential employees who you are, what you do, and what makes you remarkable apart from the millions of other job seekers.
Your Experience
This section is very straightforward. It chronologically lists your previous work experiences, including the position held, name of your company, duration of employment, and the corresponding description of your roles and responsibilities. It serves the same purpose as the “Work History” or “Job Experience” section in a CV or resumé.
Your Educational Background
Listing your educational background enables you to connect with people from the same niche or network.
Your Skills & Certifications
LinkedIn has a pre-made list of skills to add to this section. When adding skills to this section, make sure that these skills are industry-relevant for seeking a job opportunity.
Since skills can be pre-generated, certifications are testaments of professional achievements such as completing training or workshop. Listing certifications can increase your marketability to recruiters and reinforce your drive to develop professionally continuously.
Some additional tips:
Having a broad and diverse knowledge
Strong Technical Skill
Emotional Intelligence
Command on more than two speaking languages and other things that evolve with time.
Final Thoughts!
This article intends to equip you with some crucial information on various skills that a software engineer/developer must have or should develop to catapult a career to the next level. Following the above-mentioned soft skills and ideas will boost your confidence to a whole new level. And if you are seeking professional help to upgrade your technical and soft skills, you can follow Quokka Labs’ recently published articles. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need help with iOS & Android mobile applications, web development and blockchain services, UI/UX design, and others.