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Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

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Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#171

Post by oblio »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #71
MattGaiser wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shift is from tarpit to unemployment. A Jira ticket processing dev still has use. Probably not for much longer.

Doubt we'll see that in the short term. Long term, possibly, especially if you add a financial crisis. Truth is most larger software development organizations could have even before LLMs downsized significantly and not lost much productivity. The X formerly known as Twitter did this and has been chugging along on a fraction on its original staff count. It's had some brand problems since its acquisition, but those are…

The thing is, Twitter is stuck. It's not growing, most likely it's shrinking. We also have no idea if it's profitable or not.

Twitter had a lot of engineers on its payroll to look for the next big thing.

If you give that up and keep a skeleton crew, sure, that works.

Most businesses don't want to become husks of their former selves.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#172

Post by oblio »

throw-the-towel wrote: post #104
Animats wrote: post #97

It won't help. LLMs are good at soft skills, too. There's a whole "AI girlfriend" industry, and it's quite successful.

LLMs are not good at soft skills, just the girlfriends you can get in this society are even worse.

Speaking of skills:

> girlfriends you can get in this society are even worse

Skill issue.

Also, unrealistic expectations. People are both afraid of doing the hard work to have meaningful relations and filtering out duds and also want the world from another human.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#174

Post by sandeepkd »

lolive wrote: post #19

Be careful, engineers, when interacting with soft skill experts not to join their reality distortion field where it’s all about coordination, alignment, bizness strategy, clever planning. Whereas the real stuffs are just implémentation details, quickly solved. In the end, they might convince you that 2+2=5.

Its never about the soft skill experts being able to convince the engineers, the challenge if any, is always about them being able to convince the "leadership"

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#175

Post by willhslade »

JohnLeitch wrote: post #156
sporadicism wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of my peers would rather work with brilliant jerk than a friendly average person I worked with one of these. Every interaction was miserable and stomach-turning. He slowed the project down in a number of ways. A friendly average person would have been a net gain.

What was his role? How did he slow the project down? I ask because quite often, the value of "soft skills" is exaggerated. In almost 20 years of software engineering I have met some of the worst personalities imaginable. Yet, I cannot think of a single time somebody's personality got in the way to such an extent it slowed the project down. Some problems can't be solved by average people. In such cases, bad social ski…

Not OP, but I did work for a boss once that was technically very strong, but not as strong in terms of planning and scheduling work. It was a very difficult process, because I couldn't deliver what they wanted, as what they wanted changed both during and after delivery. Most things I delivered, which were what we agreed upon before delivery, were rewritten as they did not envision or plan work in advance. Technical skills are not a panacea; professionalism is a multidimensional skill matrix.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#176

Post by ssalazar »

appplication wrote: post #162
Havoc wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best to also avoid people with LSP and debugger addiction.

I think this tongue in cheek comparison would make more sense if it were possible to spend more than 50 cents on an LSP or debugger over the course of a lifetime.

Many people who get into software development before 2010 or so have easily spent hundreds of dollars on dev tools of a similar nature.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#177

Post by durandal1 »

I've had a long career in software and my conclusions is that if soft skills are valued over hard skills, the organization is already captured by talentless engineers and leaders. There are holdouts in the world, where execution is king, find those places and run away from soft skill fortresses. This is more true than even with LLM-amplified productivity.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#178

Post by 9rx »

steve1977 wrote: post #145
9rx wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> otherwise what's the point of their job? Who else is going to move a box from one column to another?

Claude?

It could be Claude. Or Sally, Joe, or Sue. Whatever name the PM goes by is immaterial.

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#179

Post by [deleted] »

appplication wrote: post #162
Havoc wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best to also avoid people with LSP and debugger addiction.

I think this tongue in cheek comparison would make more sense if it were possible to spend more than 50 cents on an LSP or debugger over the course of a lifetime.

[deleted]

Re: Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills

#180

Post by _ea1k »

durandal1 wrote: post #177

I've had a long career in software and my conclusions is that if soft skills are valued over hard skills, the organization is already captured by talentless engineers and leaders. There are holdouts in the world, where execution is king, find those places and run away from soft skill fortresses. This is more true than even with LLM-amplified productivity.

+1 - I think this really needs to be emphasized more. Just like any relevant skills, soft skills are useful. It is great to build strength here.

It is never a sign of health when they become the main thing.

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