Soft skills of IT-specialists that are important for HR

We have always paid close attention to assessing the soft skills of developers, this has always been an important part of both the interview and onboarding of employees. For many years, based on real scenarios and examples from our own practice, we have compiled a list of qualities that in our company significantly affect the quality of the developer’s work, the timely implementation of complex projects, as well as the ability of our employees to develop from development both horizontally and and vertical. Conventionally, these are only three main qualities that can be decomposed into skills that, to one degree or another, demonstrate the presence of these qualities in any employee, not only a developer.

The most important soft skills:

mindfulness

1. The ability to clearly and structuredly express their thoughts orally and in writing. If you are able to structure and systematize your thoughts, this allows you to achieve a high-quality result.

2. The ability to formulate the reasons for choosing a particular solution, describe the algorithm for solving the problem and the sequence of steps to achieve the goal. If you make a decision on the basis of a conscious choice and know how to justify it, your solution is more likely to be optimal.

3. The ability to look into the future beyond the delivery of the project – that is, the realization that you are responsible for how the product of your work will continue to “live” after the completion of the project. For example, this means a willingness to carefully document the work done, pay attention to code design and testing – so that later it can be effectively maintained and developed further.

4. Ability to be responsible for promises and results. At the same time, it is more important not to strive to “break, but to do it”, but to adequately assess the forces, resources, situation, analyze the requirements, give adequate assessments and ensure that the results correspond to them.

openness

It is important for a developer to remain open – to other team members, to new approaches and technologies, to alternative opinions, to goals and objectives outside of the code.

1. Willingness to dive into the subject area. If you really strive to figure out what exactly you are writing code for, then this will help you solve even new and unfamiliar problems. A person whose goal is solely to issue a code “in a vacuum”, strictly according to a template / by analogy / according to instructions, ”can only be a performer of mechanical work.

2. Willingness to prioritize what the team and the company needs, and understanding the final goal of their work. It is important here to be able to find a balance between the research vein that is always present in techies, and the desire to find the most effective (and sometimes most realistic) way to implement and further support the project by the team. New tools and interesting technical solutions are good, but this should not become an end in itself.

3. Ability and desire to continuously learn and improve, while finding a balance of development and implementation of current tasks.

Sociability

Contrary to generally accepted stereotypes, developers must be able to communicate and have / develop communication skills – this is the key to successful teamwork, which is necessary to achieve the best result in a timely manner:

1. The ability to defend and justify one’s point of view – logically and without unnecessary emotions – and the ability and desire to listen and understand the opinions of colleagues.

2. The ability to respect and accept the team’s decision, even if it contradicts one’s own, and not be toxic at the same time.

3. Willingness to share plans and best practices with colleagues and positively accept constructive criticism.