Soft Skills as an Investment in your career

In the modern world of information technology, where everything is changing at an incredible pace, technical skills are important, but not enough for success in the IT field. More and more employers are looking for employees with good soft skills, who will allow them to work effectively in a team, solve problems, communicate with colleagues and customers.

Soft skills are non-technical skills that are necessary for successful job performance.

They include such skills as:

• Communication skills - the ability to communicate clearly and concisely in both written and oral form; the ability to listen and understand others; the ability to communicate complex ideas in simple terms.
• Emotional intelligence - the ability to understand your own emotions and the emotions of others; the ability to manage emotions; the ability to build relationships with others.
• Positive thinking - the ability to find the positive side even in difficult situations; the ability to maintain optimism in stressful situations; the ability to see opportunities in any problems.
• Critical thinking - the ability to analyze information, make informed decisions, identify errors, and make independent conclusions.
• Self-organization - the ability to set goals and plan their achievement independently; the ability to manage your time and resources; the ability to be disciplined and responsible.

Let's look at some simple examples of how soft skills can help:

• A developer who can clearly and concisely explain complex technical concepts to colleagues or customers will be more effective in their work and more valuable to the company as an employee.
• A technical support employee who is able to empathize with users and understand their needs will be better able to provide them with quality support.
• A team leader who understands the emotions of their subordinates will be more effective in motivating and coordinating their work.
• A specialist who is able to cope with stress and remain positive in difficult situations will be more productive and less prone to errors.
• An employee who is able to see opportunities in problems is able to think more innovatively and develop new solutions.
• A tester with a high level of control over their emotions, when finding a serious error that could lead to data loss for users, is able to report the error without causing panic.

Soft skills are important for all IT professionals, regardless of their role or level of experience. Because they not only help employees be more efficient at work, but also make an employee more valuable to an employer. 

So don't be afraid to develop your soft skills - they will make you a better person and a more valuable employee.