The days when people working in IT were seen as lonely freaks are long gone. There is a growing awareness that also in typically technical professions you will not get very far without the so-called soft skills. But what specific skills are involved, and what do these soft skills mean?
The fact that soft skills are important in every industry is confirmed by many studies. One of them is Best College Survey which shows that 1 in 3 Americans says soft skills are most important in current job market.
Let’s answer the question, what are soft skills? Probably you have thought of the most popular connotation: communication or interpersonal skills. But there are also skills like:
You may be wondering which skills from this list you could really use the most in an IT job. In our opinion, there are four that you actually use in your daily work.
First, it is of course teamwork. It’s especially crucial in remote work where trust and common goals are an essential part of the project. Second, related to teamwork, is time management which is an obvious skill when you have to do your part of the project on time and not to delay the work for the rest of the project team.
You will also undoubtedly find problem solving and analytical approach useful. Probably when you think about your job after reading this sentence, you notice how much of your daily work is just solving smaller and bigger project challenges.
And last but not least, is that famous communication that translates into all your work. And we don't mean just listening or understanding the project's premise. It also means clear and precise articulation of expectations and feedback. This gives you the assurance that you haven't overlooked anything when completing the project.
As you can see, soft skills are key in complementing your technology capabilities.
