The Four Most Neglected Soft Skills (and Why You Need Them)

The amount of software development jobs in the United States is expected to grow twenty-two percent by 2030.

That’s a lot of jobs! But, if you want to be truly successful as a software developer, you need to have the right skills.

Many software developers are so focused on the hard skills, they forget the soft skills. But, soft skills are important for taking your career to the next level. So, which ones should you be working on to take your career to the next level?

These are the top soft skills that software developers need to know.

1. Effective Communication

When you’re a software developer, you need to be good at communicating with staff. You may spend a lot of time with people who aren’t as familiar with your work, like designers or project managers.

You need to be able to explain what you’re doing to them, and why you’re doing it. That way, you’ll all be able to ensure that your work is cohesive.

Communication is also important when you’re working with clients. You need to be able to manage their expectations and talk to them about development timelines. If they’re suffering from common software issues, you’ll need to be able to help them troubleshoot their problem and get back on track. 

If you need to present products, communication will also play a major role. You need to be able to public speak effectively to give demos and presentations, particularly to audiences with a less technical background.

And, communication is necessary for working effectively with others in a workplace generally. When you’re working with other people, you need to be able to give feedback in a constructive manner. You need to be able to listen to others and take their thoughts and feedback into consideration. 

Communication isn’t all about talking, either. You need good written communication ideas to submit product proposals or apply for grants. You’ll need to be able to explain your ideas, communicate why they’re important, and what you need to achieve them. 

2. Empathy

It may sound silly, but empathy is a very important part of being a successful software developer. You need to be able to emphasize with your audience, with their wants and needs and past experiences. 

If you’re working with clients, empathy can help you truly understand what they’re looking for in their products. Empathy is also very helpful for allowing you to work more effectively with others. If you emphasize with where they’re coming from, you’ll be able to take their wants and needs into consideration more easily. 

Plus, improving your ability to emphasize will help your personal growth generally so that you can be more successful in all aspects of your life.

3. Managing Your Time

You could be the best software developer in the world, but if you lack time management you’re never going to succeed. You need good time management skills in order to complete everything you need to do in a day, and to complete long and short-term headlines on time. 

Plus, when you manage your time and get all your required tasks done, you’ll have more time to innovate. That will allow you to truly impress your employers with your new ideas

There are different techniques you can use to improve your time management. You may need to try out a few of these to find one that works for your work style. Some you may want to try out include the Pareto analysis, the Pomodoro Technique, the Eisenhower box, or the bullet journal method.

There are also apps you can use to help you visualize your schedule if you need help organizing your different tasks.

But, you still need to take your work-life balance in mind when you’re trying to improve your time management skills. You don’t want to end up overworking yourself and burning out – that’s also a waste of time!

Instead, take plenty of breaks throughout the day and try not to obsess about work when you’re off the clock. Spend that time working on self-care and spending time with your friends and family. This will help you on your path to becoming the best software developer you can be. 

4. Problem-Solving

While problem-solving is an important soft skill for many jobs, it’s particularly necessary when you work in software development. A major role of software developers is to find problems in the software they’re developing and find ways to fix it so that the software works correctly.

Patience is a major part of learning how to solve problems in different ways. You need to be able to take a deep breath and look for other angles, instead of getting frustrated and giving up.

Try breaking down the problem into smaller sub-problems. Once you solve a few minor issues, you might find a pattern that helps you discover the overall issue.

And, don’t be afraid to work with others. Other people will always have skills and experiences that you don’t. Learning to utilize these resources when you have a problem is a great way to strengthen your software development skills. 

Practice These Soft Skills Today

Learning these soft skills will help you take your career to the next level. So, try and work on at least one of them each day, and you’ll be well on your way to success.

Do you want more career advice? Take a look at some of the other articles in the  in the Mad Dev’s career section.