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Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

improveyoursocialskills.com

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Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#11

Post by Carpetsmoker »

etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company.

Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about having a girlfriend, it's about effective communication with the people you work with.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#12

Post by collyw »

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #11
etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company. Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about hav…

I am coming to the conclusion that social skills are probably more valuable than coding skills. I don't think I am especially productive in my current job due to a lot of context switching, but I think they like me for my attitude.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#13

Post by ShteiLoups »

collyw wrote: post #12
Carpetsmoker wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company. Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about hav…

I am coming to the conclusion that social skills are probably more valuable than coding skills. I don't think I am especially productive in my current job due to a lot of context switching, but I think they like me for my attitude.

"Engineering is a team sport" - me

You need to be able to work with others to produce things, unless you always work alone. Social skills are a very important part of that.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#15

Post by christiansakai »

etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

I have a wife, I code, exercise, play weekend music gig, do aquascaping, and read various theological books and random books in random topics.

. . . . . .

Too bad I suck at all those above, and still suck in my social skills.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#16

Post by Carpetsmoker »

collyw wrote: post #12
Carpetsmoker wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company. Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about hav…

I am coming to the conclusion that social skills are probably more valuable than coding skills. I don't think I am especially productive in my current job due to a lot of context switching, but I think they like me for my attitude.

Clearly you need both; I've also worked with really sociable and nice people who were a great laugh but couldn't program their way out of a paper bag if the survival of the human species depended on it.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#17

Post by christiansakai »

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #11
etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company. Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about hav…

On the other hand, my colleagues talk a lot. Like, almost half of their day (i.e, 4 hours) is spend talking about random topics like weather, food, gossipping etc and nothing job related. They aren't that skillful coding wise. But I wonder, is this more acceptable than having hard coding skills? Serious question.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#18

Post by United857 »

etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

Once you get past a certain point in your engineering career, in order to grow more you'll need to take on more responsibility than one person can reasonably do. Then it's more about leading and influencing others and getting them to jump onboard, even if you're an individual contributor.

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#19

Post by rmbryan »

christiansakai wrote: post #15
etagobla wrote: post #2

I feel like this is anti-progress. My industry's success depends on me sitting in my room coding and not having a gf.

I have a wife, I code, exercise, play weekend music gig, do aquascaping, and read various theological books and random books in random topics. . . . . . . Too bad I suck at all those above, and still suck in my social skills.

aquascaping sounds interesting. is there an online community you recommend?

Re: Basic Social Skills Guide (2012)

#20

Post by tekkk »

collyw wrote: post #12
Carpetsmoker wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the worst and most ineffective coworkers I've ever worked with were intelligent, knowledgable, skilled, and severally lacking in the social skills department. In some cases I've seen the more abrasive and toxic variants of these people completely crush morale for the rest of the team or company, and destroy any success. They were a net loss to the company. Yeah, social skills matter. A lot. It's not about hav…

I am coming to the conclusion that social skills are probably more valuable than coding skills. I don't think I am especially productive in my current job due to a lot of context switching, but I think they like me for my attitude.

If by valuable you mean they keep you employed despite not doing anything, sure. They are valuable for career progress and such, but when faced with real technical difficulties, you are not going to talk yourself out of it. Or maybe you can, delegate them to some poor bastard. What a wonderful world we are living in.
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