The #1 Required Skill In Software Engineering
From HR to Sales, from lowly PM to top flight CTO, there’s “one thing” you need to develop to 1,000% rockstar your career! Etc.
First of all apologies for the slightly clickbait title, but it does fit in extremely well with the general theme of the article — that of the necessity of taking on board¹ a nauseating somewhat even soft skill just to get through a standard day in the Grand Game of Software Engineering.
You may imagine it’s something like being able to listen properly², to speak up in a meeting to get your voice heard, or be a silent whirring and “productive” cog by coming into the office, opening the doors for managers, and making sure there are no crumbs down your hoodie when in another unmissable important stand-up.
If you did, then you’d be wrong.
I’m talking about a skill that you probably already practice from time to time in your actual life outside of the Game (there is one, honestly) and that’s the skill of trying very hard not to look completely bored.
You do it in the queue at Gregg’s³ when someone’s counting out the coins (remember those?) or ordering a dozen steak bakes and various hot beverages on a meal deal for a building crew working across the road, you do it in the company canteen when some random management droid asks you how things…
