In today’s competitive job market, soft skills are increasingly important if you want to set yourself apart from fellow applicants and advance in your tech career.
These intangible attributes must be (1) strategically and intentionally marketed on your resume and LinkedIn profile, (2) shared during networking conversations and interviews, and (3) demonstrated once you’re on the job.
As a tech career coach, I’ve found that soft skills can often be the decisive factor when it comes to selecting the final candidate. While technical expertise and specific experience are undoubtedly important, employers frequently base their hiring decisions on a candidate’s soft skills and their ability to showcase them throughout the hiring process.
Continue reading to discover the differences between technical and soft skills, uncover the most important attributes needed for a successful tech career, and learn practical strategies for improving in each of these areas.
What Is The Difference Between Technical Skills And Soft Skills?
Let’s begin by clarifying the difference between technical skills and soft skills, as the definitions can vary depending on who you ask.
Technical skills tend to be industry- or position-specific. Within the tech industry, this might look like being proficient in software such as AutoCAD or MATLAB or fluent in coding languages such as Python or C#. Additional examples of technical skills include employee benefits administration for a human resources leader and market research for a product management executive.
Conversely, soft skills are attributes, habits, or personality traits that can apply to many positions and industries. They often involve people and processes and are more subjective.
Put simply, technical skills are industry- or position-specific, while soft skills are transferable.
If you’re vying for an executive position in the tech industry, you can stand out from your fellow applicants by accentuating your soft skills, as job seekers tend to over-index on their technical skills.
Do Soft Skills Matter More Than Technical Skills?
As you climb the tech career ladder, soft skills become significantly more valuable and visible, as your role will likely involve more people and processes.
This isn’t to say that you don’t still need to maintain your technical knowledge, as you need both technical expertise and executive presence to be a successful leader. However, your soft skills can make or break your long-term success in the tech industry.
You can think of technical skills like a toothpaste brush and soft skills like toothpaste. You might be able to get by with just a toothbrush, but toothpaste makes the process more effective and enjoyable and prevents a lot of issues down the line.
7 Soft Skills You Need To Secure A Job In Tech (And How To Strengthen Them)
The following are 7 soft skills worth developing if you want to land a job in the tech industry.
A quick note before we dive in: This list is far from exhaustive, and the qualities you’ll want to hone will depend on the company and role you’re targeting and your seniority. That said, these are some of the most common soft skills tech companies look for in senior talent.
1. Time Management
If you’re unfamiliar with tech, you might be surprised to find time management ranked as one of the top soft skills necessary for securing a job in tech. Those more familiar with tech roles likely understand just how crucial time management is for achieving success in a tech position.
Whether you’re leading large-scale projects or simply trying to stay on top of your own tasks, the way you manage your time can significantly impact your performance.
How To Improve Time Management:
Please know that time management is not an innate skill, and no one is born with the magic ability to seamlessly organize your workload. You must develop your time management skills to get better at organization.
Therefore, don’t be afraid to reach out to colleagues to learn what strategies they use to stay organized and then adapt them to suit your own working style. This might look like implementing a project management software program like Asana or Trello, using your calendar for time blocking, or sticking with a straightforward task list.
Personally speaking, I live or die by my Google calendar and would struggle to function without the dozens of reminders I receive daily from it. However, it’s important to recognize that this strategy doesn’t work for everyone.
The key is to adopt a time management system that works for you and meets your unique needs.
2. Cross-Functional Collaboration
As you progress in your tech career and are trusted to lead projects, you’ll start working with diverse stakeholders across various teams and departments, which makes cross-functional collaboration an essential skill if you want to secure a job in tech.
How To Get Better At Cross-Functional Collaboration:
One of the best ways to gain experience in cross-functional collaboration is to proactively ask your manager for an opportunity to do so. This might involve:
- Participating in or co-chairing a cross-functional initiative
- Joining a committee that spans multiple departments
- Being active in an organization-wide employee resources group (ERG)
Once you’re working on cross-functional projects, you’ll want to understand and adapt to different communication styles and preferences. Consider asking your colleagues how they prefer to communicate and receive updates. For instance:
- Do they prefer holding regular progress meetings via video conferencing?
- Are they more comfortable with informal check-ins through instant messaging platforms like Slack?
- Do they value detailed email updates?
While you can’t always cater to every individual style when working with multiple people, gaining an understanding of their preferences can improve your ability to collaborate.
3. Public Speaking
Being comfortable and confident in your public speaking skills can also set you up for success in your tech career. Whether you’re providing updates to your team, department, or cross-functional groups, effective communication is crucial.
Note: Even if you’re vying for a more technical role in the industry, you’ll likely be expected to actively participate in team meetings. With many employers adopting hybrid and remote-first environments, you need to be comfortable speaking both in person and virtually.
How To Be A Better Public Speaker:
There’s no way around it; becoming a better public speaker requires practice. Fortunately, there are numerous resources available to help you become more comfortable speaking in front of groups:
- Toastmasters: Joining Toastmasters is one way to quickly improve your storytelling skills, especially if you’re uncomfortable speaking to an audience. A silver lining of the pandemic is that there’s been a surge in virtual Toastmasters opportunities, making it easier than ever to join a club.
- Improv classes: If you struggle to think on your feet, learning improvisation can help you become a more confident impromptu speaker. Following the COVID pandemic, many improv classes have moved online. These online programs are particularly beneficial in helping you prepare for hybrid and remote tech jobs that rely heavily on video conference meetings. (Here is a program many of my clients have completed and highly recommend.)
- Practice Regularly: You can seek out opportunities to practice your speaking skills, both in your workplace and beyond. This might include leading meetings, delivering presentations, or even starting a podcast on your favorite topic.
- Request Feedback: Develop a practice of regularly asking colleagues and mentors to provide you with constructive feedback on your public speaking skills and style. Ask them what you did well and what might need changing moving forward.
[Read: 5 Proven Tips For Executives Who Want To Master Storytelling]
4. Influencing Without Authority
Projects within the tech industry often involve stakeholders from many departments whom you may not have direct authority over. Therefore, you will want to get comfortable in your ability to influence without authority.
Learning how to manage up, down, and sideways requires you to build trust and be comfortable adjusting to various communication styles.
Without this skill, you’ll likely struggle to drive projects forward and deliver against goals in the collaborative framework of the tech industry.
How To Influence Without Authority:
You can request to be included in meetings where you can observe how more experienced leaders interact with colleagues. Pay close attention to how they successfully influence others:
- What techniques do they employ effectively?
- Where do they struggle to influence without authority?
- How might you adapt their strategies to fit your own communication style?
As you practice influencing without authority, be sure to request regular feedback from colleagues and managers to refine your approach and improve your skills.
Additionally, stay flexible and strive to adapt your communication style to suit the various personalities and situations you’ll come across in the tech industry. Remain open to compromise and find win-win solutions when possible.
5. Conflict Resolution
Whether collaborating with executives, peers, or direct reports, conflict is bound to arise when you work in the tech industry. Learning to navigate these challenging situations effectively can enhance your work performance and reduce your career-related stress.
How To Strengthen Your Conflict Resolution Skills:
You can begin to improve your conflict resolution skills by practicing active listening. When a colleague speaks, are you truly hearing them, or are you simply waiting for your chance to respond?
Next, lean into empathy—which isn’t the same as sympathy, though the two often get confused—when navigating workplace conflict. You want to really understand your colleague’s feelings, which requires the initial step of active listening.
Additionally, looking internally at how you tend to approach and respond to conflict, as well as identifying your potential triggers, can also be helpful when navigating these situations. The Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory is an especially valuable tool for learning how you tend to approach difficult situations with colleagues and ways to improve your communication in stressful situations.
6. Creativity
Many companies actively seek out talent who can offer fresh perspectives and will think outside the box to solve their most pressing challenges. However, despite its importance, I’ve found many tech professionals tend to overlook the practice of nurturing their creative skills.
How To Boost Your Creativity:
Please remember that enhancing your creativity doesn’t have to start from scratch, as there are many existing resources on the topic. One of my favorite books on creativity is The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (yes, the record producer for the Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, and LL Cool J).
Meditation can also be a powerful tool for tapping into your inner creativity. Apps like Insight Timer offer a plethora of free guided meditations to support you in cultivating your mindfulness practice and unlocking your creative potential.
You might try “free writing,” the practice of taking pen to paper, or hands to a keyboard, and writing continuously for a set amount of time without stopping. This technique helps you move beyond mental blocks, allowing your thoughts to flow freely and your creativity to emerge.
7. Adaptability
Lastly, challenges are inevitable in the constantly evolving tech industry, so learning to remain adaptable is crucial for career success, fewer headaches, and some semblance of work-life balance.
How To Increase Your Adaptability:
You can improve your adaptability skills by surrounding yourself with people who offer you different perspectives and challenge your thinking. Over time, this exposure will help you learn how to more quickly reframe your viewpoints when faced with challenges. If you’re new to the tech industry, recognize that you may have to look beyond your current organization for a community of support.
Furthermore, invest in mentorship. Better yet, intentionally develop a diverse “personal board of directors” from dissimilar backgrounds who encourage you to step outside your comfort zone.
Beyond mentorship, executive coaching is a great tool for stretching yourself and learning how to remain flexible in the face of uncertainty. A skilled coach can support you in not only learning to be more adaptable in the workplace and life, but also in building your confidence and authenticity along the way.
How Do I Communicate My Soft Skills?
Effectively communicating your soft skills to prospective employers is crucial if you want to land a job in today’s saturated job market, especially in the tech industry. You have several opportunities to communicate your soft skills throughout the hiring process, including in your career documents, during networking conversations, and in the interview process:
- Your Resume and Cover Letter: Consider including a brief testimonial from your LinkedIn profile in your resume or cover letter to demonstrate your soft skills in action.
- Networking: Networking is a fabulous opportunity to demonstrate your soft skills. From the moment you initially reach out to request a coffee chat or informational interview, your communication style and interpersonal skills are on display.
- Interviews: Job interviews are about so much more than just answering the questions you’re asked. Interviewers are observing your communication skills, executive presence, and overall personality.
On a final note, if you’re struggling to identify and articulate your soft skills, or simply want the support of a coach to improve them, please don’t hesitate to reach out or schedule a consultation. I’m here for you! You’ve got this!
