Soft Skills: Sorting Things Out Once and for All

This article has been translated from its original publication at https://vas3k.blog/notes/softskills/

As I delved into the vast depths of the Internet once more, I stumbled upon insightful posts penned by young IT professionals who, with unwavering determination, unveiled a hidden truth. They spoke of a pervasive conspiracy orchestrated by managers, whose ulterior motive was to divert the attention of these code artisans from their sacred sacrament of writing code to the mere rustle of their customized mechanical keyboards.

With a sense of urgency, I was compelled to refute these claims by sharing a link to a reputable article, only to be confronted with a disheartening realization. A quick search yielded an unsettling result: an overwhelming number of search results were dominated by articles from an "educational courses" website, where copywriters aimlessly rambled about the ambiguous importance of "communication skills," "creativity," and "emotional intelligence" in the realm of future work.

It's understandable why newcomers may feel overwhelmed and confused by the jumble of ideas swirling around in their heads. The influx of lavender coaches and book-smart managers has indeed created a muddled perception of "soft skills" that few can truly comprehend.

However, let's set aside the conventional notions and embrace a no-nonsense approach that cuts through the noise. I couldn't care less about adhering to canonical rules or conforming to established norms. What truly matters is finding a solution that damn well works.

Allow me to present my unfiltered perspective, free from the shackles of traditional discourse. Brace yourself for a dose of raw reality, as I break it down without any sugar-coating.

What Exactly Do These Soft Skills Encompass?

Let's delve into the most important definition that deserves repetition and remembrance:

Soft skills encompass everything that falls outside the realm of hard skills, yet remain essential in the workplace to keep things moving smoothly.

The real world is far from a scripted game where following a predetermined set of actions guarantees victory. It is a complex and ever-evolving landscape, demanding adaptability as the ultimate challenge.

Interestingly, the term "soft skills" wasn't coined by conventional scrum masters, but by resilient individuals in the U.S. Army during the tumultuous '60s.

During the height of the Cold War, when humanity's concerns were not focused on navigating the intricacies of composing a non-offensive tweet, but rather on launching massive rockets to reach the moon by lunchtime, grizzled army officers pored over reports and pondered:

“We have successfully trained our courageous young soldiers to hit a pigeon's eye from 100 yards with an M16 rifle and navigate a Humvee through treacherous deserts. Yet, when faced with real-life scenarios, those who charged like Rambo were swiftly neutralized, while others somehow coordinated with each other, reached their objectives, and survived.”

Despite the best efforts of stern leaders and covert tactics, they were unable to bridge the perplexing gaps observed among equally well-trained teams. It was in response to this challenge that American soldiers, known for their straightforward approach, embarked on the task of researching and categorizing this phenomenon, with the ultimate goal of creating a new manual.

These military manuals were the first to provide a rather broad definition of soft skills: they referred to the skills that went beyond equipment or weapon proficiency but were still crucial for operational success on the battlefield.

As you can observe, terms like "emotional intelligence" or "ability to crack jokes on Zoom calls" didn't make it onto that list.

Interestingly, a significant portion of leadership and project management practices, even within the realm of IT, can be traced back to U.S. Army manuals. For instance, the insights found in ADP 6-22 (yes, that's its real name) surpass the content of ten so-called "New York Times bestsellers" on team management. However, since these manuals can be physically demanding to read and are accessible only to a fraction of the global population (around 0.001%), the "bestsellers" remain unchallenged and popular.

How Can You Know If a Skill You Have Is a Soft Skill?

Distinguishing between hard skills and soft skills is relatively straightforward. Hard skills are typically taught in universities or specialized courses and are assessed through exams or interviews. 

For a programmer, it will be code writing, architecture, quality control, maintenance, debugging, and a bunch of other things they know. For a product manager, hard skills would be identifying stakeholders, writing user stories, assessing priority, and deadlines, collecting feedback, and so on. These hard skills form the foundation of any profession and are essential for success.

On the other hand, determining the authenticity and relevance of soft skills requires introspection. To differentiate between a genuine soft skill and mere "bullshit that nobody wants," you need to ask yourself three fundamental questions:

1. Is this something I engage in during work hours?
2. Does it relate to my hard skills and professional expertise?
3. If I were to stop doing it, would it significantly impede my team or project, potentially leading to slowdowns, failures, or confusion?

If you find yourself answering YES to all three questions, then congratulations! You've likely identified a soft skill.

Now, it's up to you to decide what to do with this newfound soft skill. You have a couple of options: you can nurture and expand it, transforming yourself into a well-rounded and versatile senior professional or teammate with a T-shaped skill set. Alternatively, you may choose to disregard it, focusing solely on honing your specific hard skills, envisioning a future where you awaken one day as a genius akin to Linus Torvalds. The path you take ultimately depends on your goals and aspirations.

To illustrate this, let's consider a specific example. Meet Oleg, a typical mid-level programmer working in a product company.

Let's take a glimpse into Oleg's typical workday. He starts off by diving into writing code, enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Throughout the day, Oleg also tests new features, conducts code reviews for his colleagues, participates in team syncs, and even takes a break to do 10 pull-ups on the bar for a quick burst of energy. Additionally, he engages in discussions with his team lead about upcoming features and enhancements.

While this list is simplified, it serves as a starting point to apply our three questions and identify the type of skills involved.

1️⃣ "Writing code," "testing," and "reviewing code" are undoubtedly hard skills. These are the core competencies that one learns at university or through courses, essential for a programmer's role.

☕️ "Making coffee" and "doing 10 pull-ups" fall into the realm of off-the-job skills or personal hobbies. While they may not directly contribute to Oleg's programming expertise, if he were to stop engaging in these activities, it would unlikely affect the overall productivity of his team.

These can be considered as regular skills or hobbies outside the scope of work.

🤝 "Attending syncs" and "discussing features with the team lead" are more interesting. They fulfill all three criteria of our soft skills test. 

If Oleg were to stop participating in team syncs, valuable information could be missed, leading to duplicated efforts and potential conflicts among team members. In such cases, his absence could negatively impact the team's efficiency and progress. These skills demonstrate Oleg's ability to collaborate, communicate, and contribute to the team's success.

Recognizing these soft skills as valuable and not a “waste of time”, Oleg has the potential to grow into a senior role. It may inspire him to further his development by reading books, seeking personal growth, and achieving excellence in his field.

You can undertake a similar mental exercise to evaluate your own workweek activities. Make a list of tasks you perform and then assess each one based on the three questions mentioned earlier. This process will enable you to identify your specific soft skills.

By doing so, you're likely to uncover a meaningful list of skills that goes beyond generic terms like "communication skills" or "emotional intelligence."

Soft Skills in One Profession Can Be Hard Skills in Another. And Vice Versa

It's fascinating how the second insight in the coffee-making example can be deduced as a logical extension of the first. It highlights the inherent relativity of hard and soft skills.

This relativity becomes particularly amusing when witnessing young individuals in the field of information technology vehemently demanding an official catalog of all the soft skills required. They proclaim, "Give me the definitive list, and I'll master each one! If you can't provide it, then you must all be liars!"

Oh, the enthusiasm of youth! The burning fire in their eyes is undeniable.

Now, let's revisit the concept of coffee. For someone like Oleg, a programmer, making coffee may not be considered a relevant job skill, as we previously established. However, for a barista, it becomes the paramount hard skill in their profession.

Let's take our exploration further and imagine a scenario where "making coffee" can be considered a soft skill.

Picture an American salesman renowned globally for his exceptional ability to brew coffee from his own home roastery. Remarkably, this talent directly translates into a 20% increase in successful deals with clients. In this unique case, coffee-making becomes a soft skill for our salesman, even though it may not have been his initial intention.

Even One Person on Two Different Teams May Need Different Soft Skills

Our programmer Oleg possesses the ability to produce code of the same high quality for a given REST API. However, transforming that code into a final product requires different soft skills depending on the team involved. And this can be quite surprising.

Allow me to provide you with two personal examples from teams I have worked with.

The first team operated within a traditional, synchronous, scrum framework, situated in a stunning office on the 48th floor of a large corporation. In such an environment, essential soft skills revolved around efficient information exchange during morning standups and maintaining composure when repeatedly addressing seemingly mundane queries from colleagues.

On the other hand, the second team was geographically dispersed, relying solely on asynchronous communication. Daily synchronous meetings and story points for each task were impractical due to time zone differences. In this scenario, different soft skills took precedence, such as the ability to independently plan and prioritize tasks to avoid unnecessary delays and effectively resolve queries within an asynchronous chat system.

Remarkably, I have witnessed individuals who excelled in one team environment struggle significantly when transitioning to the other. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the challenges faced by traditional companies as they shifted to remote work. Many of these organizations, including their leaders, grappled with the nuances of working asynchronously.

Indeed, they fervently clung to the notion of "morning standups" during virtual meetings, oblivious to the concept of time zones. They failed to grasp that while the head office in the US was awakening, Europe was already indulging in beer, and Australia was immersed in its third dream.

I vividly recall posing my meticulously crafted, tactically numbered questions in the chat room, only to receive a dismissive response in the morning: "Oh, hey, it's late where you are. Let's discuss tomorrow during the standup." It elicited a bemused chuckle from me.

This serves as a prime example of an individual who boasted an impressive "emotional intelligence" score but lacked the essential soft skills required for asynchronous work. 

The manager in question eventually faced the consequences, ultimately being terminated. As for me, I left earlier. 

When I refer to soft skills, I specifically mean the precise skills without which one would struggle in a particular team. These are not abstract notions like "stress tolerance" or "communication skills," but rather tangible abilities that are indispensable within a specific context. 

What About Interviews?

Indeed, interviews, to some extent, serve as a test of an individual's soft skills. It is rare for a team to seek a brilliant programmer who struggles to collaborate effectively with others unless they are being considered for a mascot role.

However, in certain interview scenarios, there is a peculiar emphasis on "checking the soft skills." Typically, this can be attributed to one of two reasons:

• The interviewer is a recruiter or an inexperienced engineer tasked with evaluating soft skills based on a predefined checklist. Their understanding of the subject matter may be limited, and their main objective is to tick off the desired points that they may not (yet) be familiar with.
• The interviewer is a team lead or someone attuned to the team's dynamics, aiming to assess how well you align with the team's "vibe." They possess a keen sense of this vibe, while you may not (yet) have a clear grasp of it.

As you can see, in both cases, there is an element of uncertainty and chance involved.

Developing the ability to discern the nature of the interviewer and adapt accordingly is a skill that comes with experience. Interviews can be likened to a game, and playing this game proficiently is itself a soft skill.

It is important to note that the approach to interviews should align with your own goals and aspirations. In highly sought-after companies like the FAANGs, the first scenario is more likely to occur. Consequently, be prepared to showcase your amiability and communication skills to impress the seemingly disinterested interviewer on the other side. It is the price one must pay for the lucrative compensation packages offered by such organizations.

In contrast, in the realm of startups, the dynamics can often be the opposite. Tentative and nuanced answers like "well, it depends" are more likely to elicit a callback, while dismissive responses such as "yeah, that's some bullshit, whatever" may lead to a job offer. As someone who conducts around 50 interviews per year and has been a part of the hiring process, I have personally witnessed both scenarios. The outcome often hinges on the specific team and project at hand.

From my perspective, this topic isn't a matter of black or white; there are no absolutes. Different projects require different individuals who can effectively collaborate within their respective teams. It's crucial to recognize that not getting hired shouldn't be a source of distress.

In fact, I can assure you that if you had been hired under the wrong circumstances, you likely would have found yourself struggling to fit into the project and eventually becoming a disgruntled figure on Twitter, venting about the IT industry.

Ultimately, it's all for the best!