Important Softskills for a Programmer
Does a programmer just need to learn programming languages? No! Discover the important softskills for a programmer here!
What’s up programmers! Do you know what other knowledge is important besides frameworks and libs? The softskills! Would like to know more about them.
First of all, it’s good to define what softskill is, isn’t it?
These are knowledge that are not linked to what you do exactly, programming, but they directly influence the success of your career.
All technical knowledge, such as: languages, frameworks, libs and etc, are considered hardskills, that is, the tools you use to work
Examples of softskills are: communication and teamwork, you know?
Communication
Certainly one of the most important softskills, even more so because of the developer profile who is shyer and also introverted
You need to train communication to avoid disasters such as:
- Duplicate tasks being done;
- Conflicts in the code;
- Change a part of the code by mistake;
Among others, but realize that all this can generate rework for you
For a simple lack of conversation you can get hurt
When in doubt about something you are doing, ask your leader or teammate, or try starting a more technical conversation to get their opinion on which way to go in difficult situations.
Of course it’s a muscle to work, you won’t become ‘Silvio Santos’ in the first week, but what counts is that you try
Yet, speaking of communication: learn to listen to your colleagues, it is very important that in addition to starting a conversation, you also listen to their suggestions or problems
Finally, which may seem strange, beware of interruptions!
Losing focus is terrible, you may need 10 minutes to get back to where you were in your analysis
Don’t break your colleague’s reasoning for questions you can solve on Google, for example
Team work
Another weakness of the programmer is his sense of hero
Wanting to solve all problems alone, and thinking that their solution is better than others
But therein lies the danger, it could be that they are altering something that someone already mastered in the project, and wasting a huge amount of time just because of someone’s unshakable confidence.
And here we are not talking about agreeing with everyone or asking for the opinion for each if you give in the code.
But to bring richer discussions about the direction of the software, which can really impact in several areas, for example
Remember: you will be more productive working as a team!
Patience
You will come across beginner programmers, perhaps who shouldn’t even be programming professionally yet.
And the rock stars of programming, who believe they are the new Mark Zuckerberg of Brazil
What happens is that you will have to be patient to teach the apprentice, as you once were too
It’s no use trying to be the new rock star in your industry, it won’t get you anywhere, it will only distance you more and more from the team
And when dealing with the rock star, try to be understanding too, he probably has some problem out there that he needs to take this out on in order to come out on top.
And why is that?
It’s noble behavior to be patient with both arrogant people and beginners, you have more career chances acting this way than being an asshole 🙂
Listening To Others
Due to the extra knowledge that some programmers have, they tend not to listen to others and do everything their own way.
Even so that a programmer who usually makes a lot of mistakes and his delivery is below average, this guy doesn’t exist in the world of rock star programmer
The problem here is that he throws many years of free experience away, because of a silly prejudice.
Be willing to listen to silly or bad ideas too, of course if this is a recurring behavior and this person is doing it for a purpose other than helping, you can take action about it.
But whenever possible, keep an open mind to your teammates, especially those outside the area.
Because they are the ones who are most likely to think outside the box, in a way that you are not seeing at that moment because you focus too much on the problem and not on a macro view of solving it
This happens more often than you might think!
Time Management
Time management is one of the important softskills for a programmer that we have to take care of
This in order not to get lost in the deadlines, as this is what the programmer usually sins constantly.
Or give unrealistic deadlines for less or for more
It is difficult for a programmer to really get the time it will take to develop something
And why is that?
Because they don’t plan and analyze the problem beforehand, the answer comes from a decision of guesswork
To solve this problem your best friends are pen and paper.
Write down possible cases, implications, technical difficulties, in short, everything that can get in the way of the deadline
And then given the deadline, of course mentioning all your analysis, so that it makes sense for the leadership
Do you want to learn more about Dev Career? Click here!
