Soft Skills every techie should have

Written by: Chigozie Paul

Technical skills are definitely a plus in this time and age. They are currently in high demand and, from the look of things, will remain high-demand skills for a long time. However, as beautiful and lucrative tech skills are, having them alone is not enough.

At some point, as a techie, you would have to work with a team or interact with people, either clients or prospective employers and partners, and to do this successfully, you need to have a good hold on certain soft skills. There are several issues that technical abilities alone cannot solve, especially in a work environment.

This article outlines the six soft skills every techie needs to succeed in the industry.

1. Effective communication skills:

“Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” — Brian Tracy, Canadian-American motivational speaker.

One of the most relevant soft skills anyone can have is the ability to communicate complex technical terms and concepts in the most simplified way. In communicating effectively, it is vital to reflect trust, respect, understanding, empathy, and resolution in your conversations.

Effective communication often eliminates the possibility of misinterpretation or message modification, reducing the likelihood of conflict, and is essential for ensuring that disputes are courteously resolved when they occur.

2. Time management:

Chances are that as a techie, you will be busy often. Managing your time despite this is essential in ensuring productivity and an excellent work-life balance. As a techie, the importance of effectively managing your time and carrying out the required tasks and assignments in the shortest time possible cannot be overemphasized.

Here are some things that can help in learning how to manage time effectively.

• Prioritizing tasks
• Planning and exercising deliberate control over the amount of time spent on particular tasks
• Balancing obligations from their job, social life, family, hobbies, and other commitments.
• Setting the right goals and proceeding to align yourself with those goals.

3. Collaboration:

No matter how skilled you are, some things are easier when done with a team. The ability to ask for help and work together with a group of people to achieve a similar aim or goal when the need arises is a superpower.

Tech roles are intertwined. As a result, you would always need to interface with others. Learning to collaborate early would save you a lot of time and energy and increase your productivity.

Paying attention to details saves lives

4. Paying attention to details:

Another soft skill you cannot do without as a techie is paying attention to details. Paying attention to details saves lives. It is a skill that requires concentration on every aspect of a job or work, no matter how minor.

Excellent detail-oriented people are in the habit of reviewing their work in great depth. What this saves you from is usually the embarrassment of avoidable errors at the expense of looking incompetent.

5. Empathy:

Everyone needs empathy. Empathy is a life skill, not just a valuable soft skill in the workplace. Empathy makes it possible to communicate effectively and understand the needs of your clients and stakeholders.

Emotion researchers typically define empathy as the capacity to perceive other people’s emotions and speculate about what those other individuals could think or feel.

6. Critical Problem-solving:

The ability to solve problems critically is another valuable soft skill. This soft skill frequently depends on great teamwork to function well in the tech industry.

In addition to being analytical and creative, critical problem-solving requires composure and objectivity. It also involves a lot of patience, especially in making vital decisions, keen observation, and the ability to break down issues and research.

For every soft skill highlighted, various available online resources can help hone them. Just like technical skills, soft skills are mostly learned and honed. We do hope you found this article helpful. If you did, clap, comment, and share.

Till next time.