What's more important for a programmer – soft or hard skills

Soft and Hard Skills
A person engaged in any activity, whether it be programming, teaching, or cooking, has a set of professional skills and personal characteristics. The combination of skills and human qualities determines whether they are a good or bad employee.

  • Hard skills are specific skills that a person uses in their profession. For example, the ability to program in Python, knowledge of English, etc.
  • Soft skills are personal qualities that help a person work effectively. For example, the ability to communicate, negotiate, avoid conflicts, plan, work in a team, etc.
What should modern IT specialists focus on developing first: soft skills or hard skills? The experts at Magenta Favorita Portugal explain what soft skills and hard skills are, why they are needed, and why they are important.
What is more important?
Which skills are more necessary and important? This is a matter of debate. Without hard skills, you are automatically useless at work. But these skills can be developed and mastered, even if it takes a lot of time.

In the case of soft skills, it is more difficult. After all, a person is shaped by many external factors throughout their life that they cannot influence. For example, temperament, upbringing, psychological problems, etc. It is also possible to acquire soft skills, but it is extremely difficult. And in some cases, a person will have to literally break themselves.
Ideally, there should be a balance between soft skills and hard skills, according to experts at Magenta Favorita IT company. After all, modern IT development is not about individualism, it is about teamwork. If a person is able to communicate effectively with colleagues, this will contribute to the development of professional skills. For example, a novice programmer does not have a large amount of hard skills. However, developed soft skills will enable them to develop quickly through interaction with colleagues. In addition, developed soft skills will help them to take on responsibility, occupy leadership positions, become a manager, a leader, etc.

Therefore, if you have developed soft skills to at least some extent, work hard on your hard skills. If you do not have soft skills, start developing them right now. Developing them from scratch requires much more time and effort. Learn to ask questions, communicate, master communication ethics, etc. You will have to step out of your comfort zone. And it is better to start as early as possible. You will be pleased with the result. After all, overcoming yourself is one of the greatest victories in life.
Balance and harmony
As the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with someone else. Overall, this characterises modern development, according to Magenta Favorita. Developers are people, and people are social creatures. There's nothing you can do about that.

Soft skills are about productive interaction with people and effective organisation of your life. You must be able to listen and hear other people, and, very importantly, be able to make yourself heard. It is important to be able to organise your own work, and if you can organise other people's work as well, that's even better.

In today's world, you need to be able to adapt quickly and be flexible. Soft skills are much more important now than they were, say, 30-50 years ago. But if you don't know anything, don't have any skills, and aren't capable of learning, then having only soft skills, even if they are highly developed, won't help you achieve success. That's why you need to develop in a harmonious and balanced way.
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