You Are Not Paid to Write Code

Written by vinib | Published 2018/02/09
Tech Story Tags: careers | software-development | tech | technology | programming

TLDRvia the TL;DR App

Being a software developer is much more than just writing code. With the ascension of startups, a soft skill culture was made and it's here to stay.

What Are Soft Skills?

First of all, we need to define hard skills. Hard skills are, mainly, the technical skills of your role. Software developers must know how to code, and that's a hard skill.

In the other hand, soft skills are attributes related mostly to the social area. Every soft skill is related to one of the hard skills of your job in some way. These are a web developer soft skills:

  • Communication: the most important soft skill for a developer. You must know how to express yourself and have communication skills to talk to your team with ease
  • Critical thinking: in a code review, this is the skill you look for. Question everything and go after the answers
  • Adaptability: technology changes every day. New frameworks, new products, new team workers… new! You have to readapt yourself by studying new languages, libraries and be ready for changes.

So, I'm Not Paid To Write Code?

Definitely no. You are paid to solve problems. Coding is just the tool you use to solve them.

Programmers soft skills are becoming more important every day. As a software developer, I learnt I have to know what I'm coding, what I'm delivering and what is the value proposition of the product I'm writing.

You were hired to solve a business problem using your expertise. Business problems are product problems. The only responsibility of the product is to deliver value, so is your job.

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Written by vinib | Product-focused software engineer. Generalist in love with Elixir. Christ follower. Theologian. Musician at heart.
Published by HackerNoon on 2018/02/09