Wrapping Up

While it may be difficult to realize when you’re just starting out, poor communication skills often contribute to programmers plateauing in their career. As a programmer in a senior position, you will lead technical projects and mentor younger developers. To continue on the trajectory to staff and principal engineering roles, you’ll need to learn how to build support for your ideas and work cross-functionally with nontechnical people across your company. And if you choose to go down the managerial path, good communication skills are even more critical, as you’ll be managing projects and people constantly.

Complex software systems cannot be built by one person alone. Modern-day software solutions require multiple people, both technical and nontechnical, to collaborate and deliver products that meet evolving customer needs. Successful teams consist of a broad set of people with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, and the ability to connect, collaborate, and solve real problems with different people is a rare skill that is often overlooked by programmers.

Once you reach a certain technical level, everyone will have the necessary skills to solve the problems at hand in some way, but not everyone will have the communication skills to convey their ideas and gather feedback when they need to. The bottom line is that the higher up you advance in your career, the more you will stand out if you are an excellent communicator. The best programmers communicate with empathy and listen to what others have to say, and those who communicate the best will be the first to advance when it comes time for a promotion.