A report done by iCIM Hiring Insights insight found that 94% of recruiters believe that employers value soft skills over hard skills. In that same study, recruiters believe that candidates’ soft skills have gotten worse in the past five years.
Soft skills, also known as “people skills”, can be the determining factor of your career success even as a technical professional.
The decision factors for employers often come down to a battle of soft and hard skills, even in very technical roles such as software engineering.
A survey from SMB World found that almost 72% of CEOs believe that soft skills are more indicative of success for their employees than hard skills.
With that being said, employers want your soft skills to complement your hard skills. For example, a software engineer needs to have the ability to communicate IT problems in normal business languages.
10 Soft Skills IT Professionals Need to Have
10. Time Management
Time management can be defined as your ability to use your time in the most effective or productive way. Employers highly value IT professionals with strong time management skills to help you get a higher promotion.
Characteristics of time management include:
- Staying focused
- Being Organized
- Being Persistent
- Staying Focused
9. Work Ethic
Perhaps the most important soft skills is your work ethic. Without work ethic developing a successful IT career is expreamtly difficult.
Characteristics of work ethic include:
- Discipline
- Commitment
- Self-motivated
- Professional
- Teamwork
- Time-management
8. Creativity
Creativity can be described as your ability to use your imagination to solve problems and create new orgicall ideas. Creativity for IT professionals is critical when solving problems. For example, writing new code or creating a custom automating to help you innovative solutions to problems sequence for your company. These soft skills help you innovative solutions to problems at work.
Types of creative skills include:
- Inspiration
- Imaginion
- Reframing
- Mind mapping
- Design
- Experimenting
- Innovative thinking
7. Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills is the ability to communicate and interact with other individuals both verbally and in writing. This soft skill is critical to networking and working in teams.
Some skills for great interpersonal skills included:
- Empathy
- Humor
- Mentoring
- Networking
- Polernace
- Positive reinforcement
- Diplomacy
6. Working Under Pressure
Working under pressure can be defined as meeting difficult demands in which time, space, resource and/or expectation are difficult to complete on time. All IT professionals have experienced pressure to finish a project on time. Your ability to handle this pressure is a highly sought after soft skill.
Characterics of working under pressure include:
- Motived
- Proactive
- Positivity
- Flexible
5. Problem solving
Problem solving is the ability to find solutions to difficult problems. As an IT professional, solving technical problems is a big part of your job. Whether it is fixing bugs in your code or developing new applications systems, problem solving is routed in your everyday life.
Characterics of problem solving include:
- Analysis
- Lateral thinking
- Logical reasoning
- Initiative
- Persistence
- Brainstorming
- Decision making
4. Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is the ability to work out issues with your goals. As stated earlier, the information technology industry has seen a significant growth in teamwork. IT professionals must have the ability to work out issues with their colleagues.
Some great conflict resolution include:
- Maintaining a calm tone
- Don’t take it personally
- Compromise and collaborate
- Active listening
3. Adaptability
Adaptability and flexibility are skills that are all about embracing and rolling with change. If you aren’t adapting in job environments and upgrading your skills set, your skills will become outdated, therefore making it harder for you to get a job promotion.
Some characteristic example include:
- Curiosity
- Self-management
- Decision-making
- Calmness
- Optimism
- Open-mindness
2. Team-Work
Team work can be defined as the combined action of a group of people toward a specific action and/or goal. According to Monster.com, information technology is a leading industry working within a team. Therefore, it is imperative that you know how to work in teams in a highly effective manner.
Some great team-work skills include:
- Conflict resolution
- Decision making
- Reliability
1.Communication
Communication can be defined as the ability to deliver information very quickly and accurately. An example would be explaining complex code to a junior developer. Communication has grown in importance in the IT industry since working in teams has become increasingly popular.
Some great communication skills include:
- Constructive feedback
- Listening
- Empathy
- Respect
- Clarity