5 Non-Technical Areas for Software Developers to Focus on
Skill development makes us competent, but soft skills make us unstoppable.
Do you ever wonder why your business peers are making more money than you? Have you watched colleagues advance while you remain chained to your desk?
You may not like the answer, but engineers lack soft skills. All that coding has a way of dropping your EQ.
Here's the truth. Software developers overlook the human part of their careers by prioritizing skill development alone. They’re immersed in tutorials and frameworks.
Their proficiency lies in staying up-to-date with the latest trends by following social media. Click and likes dictate the tools they choose.
Focusing on technical skills alone is like showing a quarterback how to throw without teaching them the game. You need a playbook to win. Your career deserves it.
We must understand other aspects of our craft to survive in this industry. Skill development makes us competent, but soft skills make us unstoppable.
To make yourself more valuable, focus on these five areas.
Improve communication
Engineers neglect communication. They avoid it like the plague. This approach causes them to overlook the language of business elites — value.
CEOs and investors speak this tongue. Worldwide power players wield communication like a weapon. Startup founders gain capital with stories. Salespeople plant ideas with inception. And writers share ideas with words on paper.
Dopamine-fueled engineers focus on skills. Programming languages, their sword, new techniques, their shield. These warriors advance through learning.
But many engineers cower behind Slack. They’re conversational wallflowers afraid to dance. Awkward engineers watch from the sidelines while colleagues waltz with words.
You see, improved communication means side hustles take flight. You can raise money, inspire people, and attract talent. Profit from your ideas.
Here's a wild notion to chew on: communication separates a senior engineer from a CTO. Words mean tens of thousands in salary.
Words secure equity.
Learn to negotiate
Negotiation's subtle. Business is simple. Maybe you didn't know you needed it until later in your career, like me.
Every chat's a barter. Salaries negotiated. Ideas exchanged with colleagues. Sometimes, you need to persuade the boss to change direction.
No negotiation, no career growth. You're stuck while others pass you by. Others get raises; you wonder why you don't.
Romanticize negotiation much? Two well-dressed people meet. They exchange a suitcase. One flies away in a jet, and the other drives away in a Maybach.
The truth is, ordering coffee is a negotiation. Same with promotions, vacation time, buying a house or used car, or just getting the kids to do their homework.
I learned by observing, then hired a coach. He taught me how my tone and posture matter, even the position of my hands. But the critical skill? Listening. It's a secret key to people's minds. Repeat back, rephrase, and watch body language for queues.
Use these skills to craft a tasty business sandwich. Feed it to them one bite at a time, and enjoy the results.
An executive coach taught me the "gift of gab," how to structure emails, and how to role-play for big meetings. We planned for victory.
Engineers are disadvantaged. We possess technical skills, but words evade us. Talking's harder than coding, and saying the right thing is harder than doing it. Practice helps, talk to yourself in the mirror, and score free coffee at Starbucks.
Then, get the salary you want.
Present well
Engineers hear "present," and we envision glamour. We believe mastering PowerPoint is presenting ideas. We picture a captive audience, pointer in hand, with graphics and glitz as the way to persuade.
But truthfully, ideas are conveyed by emotionally compelling people, delving into their minds and unearthing the business value in their hearts.
This is what I mean by a presentation.
Changing minds is about storytelling. It doesn’t matter if you use stick figures, hand movements, or a series of shapes on paper. You're not presenting an idea; you're shaping their minds.
Your presentation breadcrumbs guide them to an aha moment.
I once saw a renowned CEO use a coffee cup, a straw, and paper towels to present to a business mogul. The mogul nodded, signaling his approval.
His body language clearly showed the communication master wove a tale of money, garnering $15 million in 20 minutes, all in a Starbucks.
Watch the greats like Steve Jobs, and make it your own.
Understand business value
For engineers, the business value is like a Yeti. They've heard of it but never experienced it for themselves. Engineers tend to sit at their desks, turn off the lights, turn on the lava lamp, and code. They wait for a business person to feed them a task like a doggy snack.
But the best engineers in the world work backward from business value. Top-notch people know how to describe features qualitatively and use stories to describe architecture.
Instead of "tech debt,"; use revenue loss or risk. Don't say "architectural rewrite"; talk about shaping the future of architecture and rapidly modernizing technology.
Business value is about what matters to the business. It's the thing a customer pays for with a smile. Mastering value earns you a seat with CEOs and board members at the decision table.
It puts you in the future, sitting at a table with a mogul in a Starbucks, using a coffee cup and a napkin to tell your story.
Whatever you're working on, write a paragraph in layperson's terms. Describe the value and outcome, not the tech.
Shift your mindset
Think like a consultant or a business owner, as the saying goes. Many Engineers may dismiss this as sales talk meant to deceive, but the truth is adopting an owner's mindset can be advantageous.
What do owners genuinely desire? It's not merely revenue or profit but taking their business to the next level. By thinking like an owner, you gain an advantage over your colleagues. Viewing employees and projects through an owner's lens can help you comprehend the reasons behind scope creep.
It can also aid in your understanding of the sales funnel and enable you to see things from their perspective. Ultimately, your job is about helping your company and its ownership. It's precisely what you would want if you were running your own business with employees like yourself.
New tools may explode, but soft skills separate midrange salaries from top earners. You don’t learn communication and negotiation in boot camps or computer science courses.
With AI knocking on our doors, soft skills and the ability to think critically are more important than ever. We sell thinking, not just typing pretty code in our favorite editor.
It’s all about soft skills.
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