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I wish developers would put as much effort into honing their technical communication skills as they do pursuing the latest and greatest new framework or languag

I wish developers would put as much effort into honing their technical communication skills as they do pursuing the latest and greatest new framework or language. This is really good stuff and I wish it was a more common skill set. Whenever a new grad / junior developer asks for advice on what languages/tools they should learn because they are worried they don't know enough, I tell them the biggest lacking skill is project management and communication skills. In the long list of skills that they think they are lacking, these are never included!

7crow 5y ago
Hi, new grad / junior developer reading this. Where do we learn this stuff if we don't already have a job?
- haswell 5y ago
  Start a blog and start explaining things you’ve learned to the world. This isn’t enough on its own, but reframing the knowledge you’ve gained in your own words is something that is worthy of practice, and will help you translate things in a work environment. But here’s the key: pick someone you know who doesn’t have the same knowledge you do. Preferably someone smart but not technical. Write for that person. As you write, try to imagine the questions they’d be forced to ask about the sentence / paragraph you just wrote. Is there additional context needed, or a useful abstraction to help explain the concept? I gradually earned a reputation as an explainer after spending a lot of time blogging for my employer. I wasn’t good at it when I started. This really boils down to: empathy for the intended audience, and a willingness to write not for your fellow developers, but for those hoping to understand you and your fellow developers. I transitioned into a PM role once I could translate things well. It’s challenging but rewarding. I don’t blog very often these days, but credit much of my current success to the things I learned by explaining hard things to a non technical audience.
- RangerScience 5y ago
  Teaching and talks. You can do talks at local groups (or even conferences!). Even if you don't actually get to do the talk, writing the submission and preparing the talk help a lot. Writing the talk lets you practice. Giving the talk lets you get feedback on how effective it was.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  I think hanging out in an IRC or Discord for a popular project or language is good for getting a view of good and bad technical discussion.
Jensson 5y ago
You don't need communication skills to climb the ranks, you can be horrible at communicating information as long as you are great at playing politics and telling people what they want to hear you will be much better off than the people who are good at communicating. Sadly most people mix up the two and think that politicians are great at communicating, but what they are great at is manipulating people not communicating information to people. Trump is a good example of this, he has horrible communication skills but he is great at politics. This is my experience at least, people are equally bad at communicating no matter what role they have, since communication skills doesn't get much appreciation anywhere in any role.

7crow 5y ago

Hi, new grad / junior developer reading this. Where do we learn this stuff if we don't already have a job?

haswell 5y ago
Start a blog and start explaining things you’ve learned to the world. This isn’t enough on its own, but reframing the knowledge you’ve gained in your own words is something that is worthy of practice, and will help you translate things in a work environment. But here’s the key: pick someone you know who doesn’t have the same knowledge you do. Preferably someone smart but not technical. Write for that person. As you write, try to imagine the questions they’d be forced to ask about the sentence / paragraph you just wrote. Is there additional context needed, or a useful abstraction to help explain the concept? I gradually earned a reputation as an explainer after spending a lot of time blogging for my employer. I wasn’t good at it when I started. This really boils down to: empathy for the intended audience, and a willingness to write not for your fellow developers, but for those hoping to understand you and your fellow developers. I transitioned into a PM role once I could translate things well. It’s challenging but rewarding. I don’t blog very often these days, but credit much of my current success to the things I learned by explaining hard things to a non technical audience.
RangerScience 5y ago
Teaching and talks. You can do talks at local groups (or even conferences!). Even if you don't actually get to do the talk, writing the submission and preparing the talk help a lot. Writing the talk lets you practice. Giving the talk lets you get feedback on how effective it was.
squeaky-clean 5y ago
I think hanging out in an IRC or Discord for a popular project or language is good for getting a view of good and bad technical discussion.

Jensson 5y ago

You don't need communication skills to climb the ranks, you can be horrible at communicating information as long as you are great at playing politics and telling people what they want to hear you will be much better off than the people who are good at communicating. Sadly most people mix up the two and think that politicians are great at communicating, but what they are great at is manipulating people not communicating information to people. Trump is a good example of this, he has horrible communication skills but he is great at politics. This is my experience at least, people are equally bad at communicating no matter what role they have, since communication skills doesn't get much appreciation anywhere in any role.