Fundamentals of Software Engineering

Chapter 13. Mastering Soft Skills in the Tech World

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.

Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends & Influence People

Every skill you learn has a shelf life, something you should consider when allocating your precious time. You’ve probably figured out by now that technologies are constantly changing; APIs evolve and are replaced, approaches that were best practices in a previous version of a language are obviated by a new feature. If it seems like something becomes irrelevant just as you start to understand it, you’re not wrong. And you’re not alone.

Regardless of your path to becoming a software engineer, you probably focused on developing your technical skills. After all, they are fundamental to the field; it’s pretty hard to write code if you don’t understand programming languages. To progress in your early career, your focus tends to be on growing your technical toolkit, learning more frameworks, becoming proficient with a cloud provider, and staying on top of the latest advancements in your programming language of choice.

However, one set of skills will last you your entire career: the soft skills many engineers tend to ignore. Learning how to work with others and communicate clearly is just as important to your success as mastering the next language or framework. Human beings don’t change as quickly as technology; it takes millennia to update our operating system. That’s why ...