When it comes to a successful career in tech, it's not just about technical skills. Non-technical skills are just as important, if not more so! Some examples of non-technical skills that can help you succeed in tech include:
- Communication
- Leadership
- Time management
- Collaboration
- Critical thinking
What other, maybe less obvious. non-technical skills do you think are important for a career in tech? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Latest comments (25)
Be it professional life, social life or personal life, many of these soft skills are needed. The list is long and may not be complete:
If I think I may add a couple more skills to this list recalling from my experience.
Learn from books
I have null social skill and i don't have leadership.
I am surprised I missed this discussion! PATIENCE! Patience, patience.
Time management is huge. One of the things I have to do so I don't get bogged down in constant meetings is block out time on my calendar every day specifically for work -- at least two hours. I do this on the first or second day of a new job, and I defend that time viciously. I'll outright reject meetings during that time, unless it's my boss, in which case, I'll propose a new time. But I don't back down from it. During that time, my headphones are on, my IDE is open, and I'm pounding out work. I find that when I'm interruption-free, I can get more done in those two hours than I can all week when trying to squeeze in time around meetings. (Also, definitely don't go to a place that has a meeting-heavy culture.)
Curiosity: Be curious about your users.
Try to understand how they do their job. What are the challenges they face with the current approach?
What would an ideal solution look like from their point of view?
Sometimes, you get the chance to sit down with your (potential) users and ask them all these questions.
But even if you're not in contact with them, try to make the effort, for instance by reading support emails or ask to work on the support team once a week to have these conversations.
Gathering this first-hand knowledge opens doors. First of all, you get to see the problem from the user's point of view.
Additionally, your users might lead you to a solution you haven't thought about before.
Discipline, and being open-minded for my taste :)
is personality development important as a non-technical skill for a career in tech?
imo, patience and listening... and the humility to question my own assumptions...
Thanks for your sharing. Add life-long learning skill here 👉How to Boost Learning Efficiency-9 Tips You Should Know
Self confidence
Endurance
Open-mindedness
Salesmanship
( not sure if that counts as skills or if it’s just personality traits that are good to possess )
For various reasons: frustration tolerance
Some things will be hard to understand and require you to try it multiple times until you get it.
Documentation will be bad or even non-existent.
Higher ups will want you to do things you think are a bad idea.
etc.
I've been told there's many times when you moralistically and individually will have to place yourself aside for the greater good of the companies you work for. I know this from non-technical standpoints, but imagine it doesn't change much in the technical field. Especially if you're a er...peppery person =P!
Something that isn't noted here but i think it is important.
3 things:
1) communication;
2) communication; and
3) communication
All the rest (including collaboration) follows from that.
Listening and paying attention to what others do an say will help you boost many soft skills at once. I talked about it on this article (Sorry for the self promotion)
Estimating the amount of time a task will take (I am terrible at this). I feel like I always say "a day or two most likely" and never anticipate weird things that make tasks take longer than expected.
I've heard always pad things with extra time. Now how you do that? I couldn't tell you. Just heard it as sound advice.