The world of software is changing fast. There are advancements in languages, tools, and computing platforms (web, mobile, and cloud). With all these changes, as a software developer, you’ll have to quickly adapt and learn new skills constantly. Although you’ll be learning new skills some core skills don’t change and are transferable in any situation and those are related to emotional intelligence.
What Is Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence comprises of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation, and social skills. Looking at this list, you might think to yourself that those are traits that you either have or don’t. However, that’s not the case. These skills can be learned, but it is not easy.
If you’re wondering that emotional intelligence sounds familiar… it’s just like soft skills. We’ll you’re right. Soft skills are a subset of emotional intelligence.
Good Communication
Software has gotten complex nowadays. Building software is now a team sport and of course, with any team sport communication is crucial. There will be a mixture of technical and non-technical people that will be involved with a software product. And guess what? As a software developer, you’re probably going to have to talk with those that are non-technical – oh the horror.
Good communication skill is vital for your career as a software developer. Unless you plan to be just a software developer for the rest of your life, you’re going to need good communication skills to move up.
People Skills
Where ever you go, you’ll be dealing with people so it makes sense why having good people skills are important. You’ll be surprised how important it is to just be likable by others. When you’re likable, people would want to work with you not dread it.
A simple question to ask yourself is, would you want to be that person others don’t want to work with?
Empathy
A big component of emotional intelligence is empathy. Empathy allows you to put yourself in the shoes of another person. You’re able to see things from their perspective and be able to understand how they feel. This ability allows you to build better software and understand the people around you better.
Self-Awareness
To be able to improve yourself, you’ll need to be able to identify your shortcomings. You can either be told what your shortcomings are or realize it yourself. Being able to realize your shortcomings is the most reliable because not everyone is going to tell you negative things to your face. Who would want to risk doing that? So, if you’re able to be self-aware then you’ll be able to improve yourself.
I hope this post was helpful to you. If you found this post helpful, share it with others so they can benefit too.
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