Companies succeed better with specialists who have soft skills: HR explain why IT specialists need soft skills

Soft skills are skills that help you solve life problems and work with other people. Soft skills (or in Russian - flexible skills) are useful in any field, they are formed in childhood and are associated with emotional intelligence. Why are they so important at work? Yes, because they help to discuss and negotiate, convey your opinion and promote ideas for implementation, and much, much more. In 2017, Google conducted an internal study to determine the most productive teams within the company. The researchers found that their best teams were mixed groups of employees with strong soft skills . Further research showed that improved communication, empathy and leadership skills influenced job success. Scientists from Harvard, Stanford and the Carnegie Foundation have found that soft skills account for 85% of a person’s success in a profession, hard skills account for only 15%. In this text, the HR and recruiter will tell you why and what soft skills are especially important for IT specialists today. And if you thought that soft skills are the lot of project managers and team leads, then you are mistaken. Nowadays, any IT specialist will need friendliness and the ability to adapt. Olga Zhukova, HR manager at JavaRush, and team leader of the EVO IT recruiters team Yulia Ternova answer the main questions about soft skills.

​​Why are many companies looking not just for good specialists, but also for good specialists with soft skills?

Because the labor market has changed globally. Trends in the direction of applicants (employees) have supplanted the ability to dictate to employers, and now by good working conditions they mean a pleasant psychological climate in the team. And in order to maintain a favorable atmosphere, you need to hire people who also have good soft skills, who will appreciate and respect the corporate culture, and will be environmentally friendly colleagues. I don’t even remember when I met the stereotypical IT specialist who was previously talked about: closed, uncommunicative, wearing glasses. An IT specialist can no longer be distinguished from a specialist in almost any other popular field. Over the past years or even ten years, the approach to IT has changed significantly. Now the situation looks like they are looking for not just specialists with a good technical background, but specialists with a good technical background and developed soft skills. In the product development or support life cycle, a lot of horizontal and vertical communication occurs between employees. It seems to me that this is the main reason why soft skills have become so important - if they are not developed in one or more participants in the process, the entire development can suffer.

Why are soft skills so important when hiring?

Olga Zhukova:

Because there is healthy competition among IT applicants. Now being an IT specialist is fashionable, popular, attractive, and financially profitable. There is competition among the vast majority of IT vacancies, and the employer can afford to choose not only a good specialist, but also a pleasant person, a team player with whom everyone will feel comfortable working. Companies are also more successful with such people: whatever one may say, a high level of professionalism is usually associated with high intelligence, part of which is developed emotional intelligence. Soft skills are also important for passing interviews in general. After all, an acquaintance - whatever it may be - due to work, personal circumstances, will always be crowned with success if some people like others. Therefore, it is very important not only for the applicant to show his strong soft and hard skills, but also for the employer to create a comfortable environment, win over the interlocutor, interest him and, ultimately, create a desire for fruitful and long-term cooperation with a real company.

Yulia Ternova:

A particular person can be a true professional in his field, but he cannot “sell” himself at all. At the same time, he may worry, his hands or voice will tremble, he will be lost in the answers. The selection team will not always delve into what is happening with the candidate - they may consider him unprofessional and reject the candidacy. Therefore, when a candidate prepares and develops his soft skills, he will be able to behave more confidently at such a stage as an interview and definitely reveal himself fully.

What soft skills does an IT specialist need?

Olga Zhukova:

The most important qualities, in my opinion, in our time are the following: flexibility, sociability, friendliness, openness, quick learning, open minded thinking. And the last thing is perhaps the most valuable. When people easily reconsider their position and views, they are open to new ideas and proposals, without getting hung up on their life and professional experience. This is the most current model of consciousness, which is perceived by employers one hundred percent.

Yulia Ternova:

My top 4 are:

• Communication skills (ability to listen, give feedback, negotiate). The results and progress of the project depend on the effectiveness and quality of communication.
• Skill to work in team. In most cases, several specialists work on a project and the ability to unite to achieve a common goal is also an important thing.
• Ability to solve problems.
• Willingness to learn. Everything in the IT industry is developing very quickly. To be in demand and to implement modern technologies, you need to constantly learn.

Is it possible to “improve” soft skills if a specialist is bad at it? Or are these the default settings?

Olga Zhukova:

I think it's possible. But it's very difficult because often people don't want to admit it. The point is simple: I need to become more sociable, I go to training and develop this skill, or I need to be softer, not so categorical, then I go to a psychologist or coach and work on this point. Or my colleagues complain about me that I’m picky - the mechanism is the same. In general, soft skills can be corrected, just like a person’s character or habits. But you need to know about your weaknesses, recognize them and want to strengthen them, and do it. More often than not, these judgments remain at a subjective level, and the person does not recognize them, but changes companies or teams (that is, an environment where his qualities remain unnoticed, or he is simply comfortable there). Even now it is important to be who you are, to force others to put up with your uniqueness and natural unsociability, for example. But here you need to decide: what is more important to whom? Stay as you are or change because you need to (first of all). To discover “toxic” or weak areas of your development, you need to work with specialists, listen and hear feedback about yourself, and always strive to become better :)

Yulia Ternova:

Soft skills are flexible skills. Compared to hard skills (professional skills), they are a little more difficult to develop, because they are associated with our personality, character, which has been formed throughout life. I believe that if you work on yourself, then any skill or competency can be developed. There are no clear and uniform instructions for everyone; everyone must choose their own individual method. What do you think: do programmers need soft skills? We are waiting for your opinion in the comments ;)