Most movies and TV shows depicting IT sector employees have one theme in common, i.e., showing these workers lacking people skills. From The IT Crowd to The Big Bang Theory, you’ll have software engineers struggling with basic communication skills and networking capabilities.
Now, these depictions may not be universally accurate, but they do have a hint of truth in them; they correctly portray how people in tech often suffer from career decline merely because they are not a people person.
Any recruiter worth their salt would tell you that soft skills and hard skills go hand in hand in the job market today. In fact, over 8 in 10 managers and execs believe that soft skills are essential for employees. You may wonder why so many IT sector folks lack soft skills. Some reasons may be:
- They find a lack of solitude triggering and distracting.
- Thinking in binary terms – true (right) and false (wrong) – can give them a rigid mindset that others find challenging to appreciate.
- They may have normalized the usage of jargon that alienates non-tech folks.
- The fear of miscommunication may be too embarrassing for them to even initiate conversations.
In this article, we’ll discuss why people in tech must work on their people skills. You’ll learn a few amazing reasons to hone your communication skills for proper networking and career advancement.
8 Reasons Why Tech and People Skills Go Hand in Hand
Are you interested in coming out of your shell? Even introverted IT workers can get better at public dealing with proper learning. Let’s say you want to get promoted and turn into a team lead. For that, you should consider enrolling in higher academic programsto gain the much-needed skills for climbing the ladder to success. When discussing people skills, HR is a domain that is well-known for it. If you’re already in the HR field and plan to secure senior leadership positions, people skills become even more essential. Pursuing a master’s in HR will prove worthwhile here, specifically an online one. Look up the keyword online masters degree human resources on any search engine to learn more about it.
Now, let’s go over some compelling tips on why tech and people skills complement each other:
1. Better Communication
Balancing communication skills with tech skills will help you convey complex technical information to any audience, no matter its background. It’s like learning to speak the dialect of the people. Non-tech folks make up your clientele, colleagues, supervisors, customers, etc. So, you have to ensure that they are kept in the loop and understand their roles and responsibilities.
It reduces misunderstandings and lets you finish a project successfully. That’s how famous tech geniuses in the world – take Wozniak, Bezos, Gates, Jobs, Musk, etc. – are good communicators.
2. Good Collaboration
An organization isn’t made of merely the IT department or tech workers. It’s composed of different departs all working together to make sure that the product is made and delivered to the clients successfully.
Now, imagine the roadblocks if your non-tech colleagues don’t understand the specs of the product they are making. Tech workers who excel at teamwork/cooperation help their non-tech colleagues make sense of tech jargon.
3. More Empathy
In the TV show Silicon Valley, they showed the main protagonists creating a video-compression tech. They later released a tech version to the public, celebrated by fellow tech geniuses but disregarded by end users. The CEO of the tech – named Pied Piper – sits down with these users to better understand why they don’t find this software beneficial. It helps the CEO improve the product and increase its mass appeal.
That’s what happens when you develop empathy for your eventual customer. It helps you come up with user-centric solutions to current market problems and release marketable products.
4. Conflict Resolution
Conflicts often arise in workplaces, and resolving them is necessary for the company’s long-term success. If you want to advance in your tech career, then you should focus on developing this one crucial skill. It’s the hallmark of every successful manager. With conflict resolution skills, you can:
- Survive high-pressure tech environments
- Navigate workplace conflicts easily
- Address workplace issues proactively
- Maintain team morale and productivity
5. Networking Skills
Most experts claim that software engineers are often found to be introverted. However, career advancement in the world of tech comes from networking with like-minded people. That’s why all tech workers must balance their tech expertise with this one critical soft skill. It will help them:
- Discover new career opportunities
- Introduce themselves to the people in the know
- Collaborate with others on projects of mutual interest
- Increase salaries by jumping ships cautiously
6. Higher Emotional Intelligence
Don’t forget about EQ or emotional intelligence, a key skill that helps you be the master of your emotions. When you start crushing EQ, it will eventually let you manage your emotional state easily. Also, you’ll be better at understanding other people’s emotions.
Higher EQ lets tech workers navigate workplace dynamics and professional relationships successfully.
7. Adaptability to Change
The tech world is changing rapidly; one day, you’re working from home, and the next day, your boss asks you to show up at work in person. Trends come and go in a snap. New technologies appear and become out of fashion a few months later. Thriving in this fast-paced niche can be exhausting.
That’s where this critical soft skill comes into play; if you master adaptability and learn how to balance it with your IT expertise, you’ll find yourself existing peacefully in every environment. This skill will show you the subtle art of adjusting your style of work and communication based on the circumstances. That’s how you can be a decent player in all settings, capable of thriving no matter where you end up being employed.
8. Fostering Innovation
Most importantly, tech workers must work on their creative skills. There’s no Bezos, Jobs, or Zuckerberg in the world without this one essential soft skill, i.e., out-of-the-box thinking. It helps you to:
- Collaborate better and excel at idea-sharing
- Start seeing things from diverse perspectives
- Discover unique solutions to make your product stand out
That’s why innovation is the most important soft skills for all workers out there.
Nobody can climb the ladder of success in the corporate world today with tech and coding skills alone. You have to be a people person. That’s because career advancement requires dealing with non-tech folks and networking with people from diverse backgrounds. A degree in HR will guide you on your journey to hone your people skills and combine them with your tech expertise successfully.