Mastering Communication as a Software Engineer
This was originally posted on LinkedIn in January 2024.
Clear communication is one of the most important soft skills a software engineer needs to thrive in their career. It’s not easy, especially as an introvert and depending on the environment you’re working in; though employers (and all of us) should strive to create safe teams & spaces for everyone to share ideas with ease, there are also practical things we can do as individuals to improve how we communicate.
As a junior & even a senior engineer, I was terrified to speak during meetings about technical topics or to present my work in front of people. Overcoming that had a significant impact on my career and accelerated my growth.
It started with Toastmasters sessions at work (my ex-Next Jump colleagues will remember that!). After that, I took every opportunity to practice speaking in the tech community with groups like Women Who Code and at work. When it came to speaking up in meetings, I took advice from a mentor to try being the first to say something in every meeting, which really worked; facing the fear at the beginning of the meeting helped settle my nerves for the rest of it and made a big difference over time. Different tactics work for different people, and sometimes, you’ve got to try a few ideas and see what works for you.
Look for opportunities to practice in small steps and find someone you trust to give feedback on your communication. Some ideas:
💡 Daily stand-ups — be clear & concise, convey the important info
💡 Engineering knowledge-sharing sessions, brown bags, all-hands — share tech knowledge with technical people
💡 Sprint demos — present your work and explain technical topics to potentially non-technical people
💡 Code Pairing sessions — clearly explain your thought process whilst coding with another
💡 Community sessions & events — opportunities to present in front of different, bigger audiences
💡 Targeted communication training or meetups — does your company offer communication training, Toastmasters or similar? meetup.com is also a great place to browse
I still find it hard & it’s likely a forever journey, but building these skills over the years helps me face the fear and do it anyway!
What other tips have helped you?