What are the top 3 soft skills every software engineer should master?

#productivity #discuss #question

As a software engineer Hard skills are so important for our career. However, a lot of software engineers don't focus on Soft skills.

So What are the top 3 soft skills from your point of view?

Top comments (5)

Stephanie Morillo • Jul 7 '20

Here are two that I can think of:

Written and verbal communication Both are a must and in both cases, they're about understanding who you're speaking to and tailoring your message for the recipient. (For example: the level of detail you'd give a software engineer you're pairing with on a project is different from the level of detail you'd give a product marketing manager who is working on the business side of the house.) Additionally, these skills are useful whether you're staying in an engineering role or moving up. There's always a need for better internal/external documentation, training materials, and people who communicate effectively and can speak to the engineering team's work across teams.
Project management In some cases this ties into communication, but any engineer that can manage their own work effectively (including providing updates as needed, escalating as appropriate, and offering suggestions for process improvement) greatly benefit their entire team.

Ridae HAMDANI • Jul 7 '20

Thanks for your opinion Stephanie. I think we should add also the presentation skill cz it is highly important to express our thoughts in the form of visually appealing diagrams.

Aron Johnson • Jul 7 '20 • Edited

Open-Mindedness - Sure, there is often a common/standard way that engineers solve particular problems, but being dogmatic about doing it the "correct" way just ends up stifling personal/company growth.

Patience - None of us know everything and are good at everything, so we all need patient teachers.

Valuing team success over personal success - The latter naturally follows the former. If that is not the case, find a new team!