Soft Skills to Look for in a Software Programmer

How often do you face situations when a seemingly perfect candidate suddenly can’t keep up with his/her responsibilities? Or, maybe, the motivation of a newly hired employee has abruptly decreased although he/she came to the company with glowing eyes?

If the mentioned situations sound familiar, you should understand that it is not enough for a business to hire a professional who only has hard skills. A great emphasis is put on personal qualities, like sociability, creativity, and empathy. In fact, there is a report by Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends, which mentions that 92% of the respondents put soft skills on top of other priorities.

It is a forward-looking decision to hire a person who can take responsibility, lead the process, is able to communicate with a team, and listen to the interlocutor. Notably, in 2017, Google has decided to conduct research related to the mentioned topic to define the best teams inside the company. Eventually, it turned out that the employees of the most productive teams were the people who have had high levels of soft skills.

Thus, now you have a great example of how a software engineer’s soft skills can affect the development and perspectives of your business. It is pragmatic to look up at best, Google, in this case, so we have decided to create a list of the most valuable soft skills for a software programmer to which you should pay attention during the interview.

Communication

This skill is about negotiation, presentation, the ability to find compromises, and work in a team. A software developer should know how to interact with people in different situations, including conflicts, and tactfully refuse without causing the interlocutor’s negative reaction. It can be divided into five components, including:

• Verbal communication. It is the ability to speak clearly, competently, and succinctly.
• Non-verbal communication. A software developer should be able to “talk” without words by using one’s body language to show attitude towards the surrounding environment and other people.
• Written communication. A professional should complete reports and text documents following business communication rules.
• Visual communication. It is about conveying the information by using pictures, schemes, and other visual images.
• Active listening. This skill is essential for maintaining effective relations with colleagues, clients, narrowing disagreements, and achieving mutual goals.

Self-management

Any business owner would want to work with an employee who could take responsibility for one’s actions and comply with the objectives. In other words, it is when the programmer is his/her own supervisor. If a person obtains this skill, he/she won’t have to be continuously monitored and won’t distract other people too. When there are several projects at once, a software engineer should be able to devote sufficient time for each of them and understand how to distribute one’s resources. In general, this skill consists of several key elements, including:

• The Ability To Set Goals
• Capacity For Planning
• Time-management
• Emotion And Stress Control
• Self-motivation
• Flexibility

Problem-solving

When the deadlines are approaching, and the client demands to add changes to the project, it is often when the team members start to panic. Therefore, you need a cool-headed person who can work under pressure and find solutions for any issue. It also comes down to seeing prospects, options for addressing situations, and utilizing the existing experience to make decisions.

Leadership

There are formal and informal leaders in the company, so you should have some of the informal leaders as your allies to inspire, guide, and supervise other employees. Usually, team members have closer relationships with each other than with the managers. Thus, if one of them knows how to influence them and meet their requirements, the performance indicators will increase several times.

Effective thinking

This soft skill enables a person to manage one’s own thinking process and make the performance more productive and structured. Usually, it involves the following capacities:

• Analytic thinking. The process of finding the finest solutions while utilizing memory, external resources, and logic.
• Divergent thinking. It can be compared to brainstorming when there is no single right decision.
• Critical thinking. This competency helps to analyze the information and offer reasonable assertions.
• Creative thinking. Although a software developer is not the most creative person, he/she should be able to look at the tasks from another point of view and find alternative solutions.

Summing Up

Thus, if you aim to have a person who would perfectly fit into the team and effectively solve the objectives, mind his/her soft skills. Surely, the list might be adjusted per your requirements and the ever-changing IT world.

If you would like to learn more about software developers skills and how to hire the best software developer — read this article.