Hiring isn’t an easy process in any profession, especially when hiring software developers.
Why?
Because the market is global, competition is everywhere, and everyone is looking for the best developers across the globe.
On the other hand, globalization and the rising popularity of remote working is an advantages since there are many developers you can choose from for hire. However, finding top talent is still a challenging job.
Hiring the best talent by default means finding someone with excellent technical skills, but to hire a developer who will move your company forward, they also must have great soft skills.
In this article, we will see the top 8 soft skills you should consider when choosing candidates.
Creativity Is the Core of Being Successful
Source: betterteam.com
Creativity is the core of being successful in almost any profession, but it’s essential regarding software development. The need for creativity is important since when complex requirements from clients appear, your developers have to find the most creative development solutions to keep them satisfied.
And that’s not all since creativity also boosts teamwork, so searching for soft creative skills when hiring your next developer is more than necessary if you want someone who will drive your projects forward. Your future developer might know the perfect Laravel tutorial to use the framework correctly, but this won’t mean anything if they aren’t creative in solving challenging issues.
Critical Thinking Is Necessary
Another crucial soft skill every developer must possess is critical thinking.
Why?
Because it proves whether they can make well-thought decisions according to analytical skills, understand what’s happening in difficult moments and make improvements, use deductive reasoning, etc.
That’s why critical thinking is more than necessary for developers because your employee must know how to assess complex user and client requirements, think of various answers to many issues, and solve problems from every possible angle. There is no benefit if they have studied the best Node js tutorial if they can’t in a critical way about each possible outcome.
No Teamwork, No Success
Being a team player is also one of the essential soft skills in the development industry all across the globe.
Teamwork is vital for software development, and even though technical skills are necessary, they won’t mean a lot if your team of developers can’t make the best out of each situation without great teamwork. Don’t ever forget that you must foster excellent teamwork in your company’s environment, but in order to do it successfully, you need to hire developers who are willing to work as a team that finds solutions together.
If a candidate for your developer job position doesn’t have the necessary teamwork skills and the ability to work together with other team members, then there is no point in hiring such a person. A developer who isn’t a team player is just a rotten apple that will destroy the team, which will lead to no success.
Excellent Time Management
Source: nutcache.com
Maybe the most important soft skill is time management in the developing world since it means having the quality to understand task planning, prioritizing, and execution, but also reflecting on previous tasks.
Your new developer must have an excellent sense of time management because time is vital in the software development process. In short, what is the point of knowing how to code and do extraordinary technical things if they don’t know how to organize their time properly to satisfy the needs of all your clients?
Communication Skills
Communication skills are also important when finding the best developers since great communication isn’t just about knowing how to talk to clients; it’s also about knowing how to listen to their requirements.
Your developers need to have good communication skills because they need to communicate with clients. Still, they must also communicate well with other team members, colleagues, and other company employees. The main reason is that some of them don’t understand coding, so your future developer must know how to explain technical concepts in the simplest way possible.
Problem Solving
Problem-solving is one of the core soft skills a developer has to use throughout the whole development process. From finding the correct answers via brainstorming to seeing critical problems, the development process is often extremely complex and challenging, so the best way to solve issues is by having a skill like problem-solving.
In addition, problem-solving is what a developer does most of the time, so if they don’t possess this soft skill, all their technical expertise won’t have value. The reason is that they won’t be able to do the best work if they don’t know how to solve problems each time they appear, and we all know that they will definitely appear during the development process.
A Sense of Empathy
Source: bydrec.com
Well, you may be surprised to see empathy as a soft skill on this list, but you mustn’t underestimate the power of empathy.
In essence, empathy is the ability to share and understand the feelings of others – hence why it’s vital for taking tasks and challenges by understanding the clients and the users.
Also, empathy is highly beneficial since it helps developers collaborate with everyone and relate their concerns in order to get and give support to the team. In addition, a sense of empathy always boosts better teamwork since, without empathy toward colleagues, there is no real teamwork.
Good Work Ethic
Last on the list, but equally important is having a good work ethic since both professionalism and success come from possessing a proper work ethic.
If you find a developer with an excellent work ethic, they will have the motivation to study, learn, become the best, follow new software trends, and help your business grow. In short, having many of the soft skills listed above can not be possible if one doesn’t have a work ethic as one of their essential values.
We are at the end of the list, so here are the top 8 soft skills you should consider when hiring a developer. Just one last piece of advice – don’t waste much time starting the hiring process through a global talent network since your competitors barely wait to hire the best candidates!
