Soft Skills are the Hard Skills: Lessons Learned as a Junior Dev

Soft Skills are the Hard Skills: Lessons Learned as a
Junior Dev Mariah Hanson That Conference 2017

@_mleah Welcome! • I’m Mariah • I’m a developer at
Detroit Labs in Detroit, MI • I am a graduate of the DL apprentice program • Thank you for joining me today!

@_mleah Soft skills are HARD

@_mleah Soft skills are HARD VERY v

@_mleah Soft Skills are Important

@_mleah These are the lessons that I have learned

@_mleah How to… Communicate well Have empathy Be patient Have
grit Be adaptable Gain self-conﬁdence

@_mleah Communication The act of exchanging information from one person/place/group
to another

@_mleah Communication Why is it important?

@_mleah Communication Why is it important? Minimize misunderstandings and clearly
set expectations

@_mleah Communication Why is it important? Inﬂuence how you think
about yourself and others and how you learn

@_mleah Communication Why is it important? Communication affects your relationships
and how you interact with the world

@_mleah Communication What does it look like?

@_mleah Communication What does it look like? Saying what you
mean

@_mleah Communication What does it look like? Using speciﬁc and
appropriate language choices

@_mleah Communication What does it look like? Engagement

@_mleah Communication How do I grow this skill?

@_mleah Communication How do I grow this skill? Practice

@_mleah Communication How do I grow this skill? Ask for
feedback

@_mleah Communication How do I grow this skill? Grow your
capacity for empathy

@_mleah Empathy The ability to share the emotions of another

@_mleah Empathy Why is it important?

@_mleah Empathy Why is it important? Better understand and more
accurately predict the needs, actions and reactions of people around you

@_mleah Empathy Why is it important? Better understand how others
perceive you

@_mleah Empathy Why is it important? Better conﬂict resolution, as
well as ability to convince and motivate others

@_mleah Empathy What does it look like?

@_mleah Empathy What does it look like? Active Listening

@_mleah Empathy What does it look like? Validation techniques

@_mleah Empathy What does it look like? Tweak the golden
rule

@_mleah Empathy How do I grow this skill?

@_mleah Empathy How do I grow this skill? Practice active
listening and validation

@_mleah Empathy How do I grow this skill? Learn about
others’ experiences

@_mleah Empathy How do I grow this skill? Assume good
intentions

@_mleah Patience The capacity or ability to tolerate delays or
problems and remain calm

@_mleah Patience Why is it important?

@_mleah Patience Why is it important? Avoid making hasty decisions

@_mleah Patience Why is it important? Helps to grow your
empathy

@_mleah Patience Why is it important? Helps with communication

@_mleah Patience What does it look like?

@_mleah Patience What does it look like? Appropriately delaying a
decision

@_mleah Patience What does it look like? Putting in extra
care on difﬁcult or long term tasks

@_mleah Patience What does it look like? Positive self-talk

@_mleah Patience How do I grow this skill?

@_mleah Patience How do I grow this skill? Take a
breath

@_mleah Patience How do I grow this skill? Practice delaying
gratiﬁcation

@_mleah Patience How do I grow this skill? Change your
attitude and perception

@_mleah Grit The drive that keeps you on a difﬁcult
task over a prolonged, and oftentimes difﬁcult, period of time

@_mleah Perseverance Persistence towards a goal in spite of difﬁculties
or obstacles

@_mleah Resilience The ability to recover quickly from hardships or
difﬁculties

@_mleah Why are they important? Grit, Perseverance, Resilience

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience Why are they important? Overcoming obstacles

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience Why are they important? Passion

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience Why are they important? Continuously learning

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience What do these look like?

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience What do these look like? Continuing
to make progress during a challenge

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience What do these look like? Reﬂecting
on failures and coming away with lessons learned

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience What do these look like? Commitment
to goals

@_mleah Grit, Perseverance, Resilience How do I grow these skills?

Set goals with your purpose in mind

Self-Reﬂection

Adopt a ﬂexible thinking philosophy

@_mleah Adaptability The ability to change as the circumstance and
environment does

@_mleah Adaptability Why is it important?

@_mleah Adaptability Why is it important? We are in an
ever-changing ﬁeld and world

@_mleah Adaptability Why is it important? Helps to improve patience

@_mleah Adaptability Why is it important? Helps to improve perseverance

@_mleah Adaptability What does it look like?

@_mleah Adaptability What does it look like? Keeping an open
mind to alternative ideas and beliefs

@_mleah Adaptability What does it look like? Being able to
work with a wide variety of people

@_mleah Adaptability How do I grow this skill?

@_mleah Adaptability How do I grow this skill? Look at
the big picture

@_mleah Adaptability How do I grow this skill? Manage expectations

@_mleah Adaptability How do I grow this skill? Be open
to alternative solutions

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence Trusting your abilities, knowledge, and judgment

@_mleah Impostor Syndrome

@_mleah Impostor Syndrome The inability to internalize accomplishments and a
persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud"

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence Why is it important?

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence Why is it important? Helps you manage Impostor
Syndrome

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence Why is it important? Helps to improve perseverance

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence Why is it important? Helps to improve adaptability

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence What does it look like?

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence What does it look like? Being open to
feedback

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence What does it look like? Accountability

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence What does it look like? Self-reﬂection and growth

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence What does it look like? Self-care

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill?

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill? Find a
safe way to get into your growth zone

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill? Celebrate the
small successes

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill? Minimize comparing
yourself to others

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill? Mentorship, coaching,
and like- minded groups

@_mleah Self-Conﬁdence How do I grow this skill? Positive self-talk

Take a breath

@_mleah Soft skills are not as hard skills (quite) v

@_mleah Thank you! Mariah Hanson [email protected] @_mleah

Resources and Further Reading • https://www.recurse.com/manual • https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre- feeling-i-read-chekhov/ •
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_ladder/2016/04/ is_impostor_syndrome_real_and_does_it_affect_women_more_tha n_men.html • http://chadfowler.com/2014/01/19/empathy.html • https://www.ted.com/talks/ angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_persever ance

Soft Skills are the Hard Skills: Lessons Learn...

Soft Skills are the Hard Skills: Lessons Learned as a Junior Dev

Other Decks in Technology

Featured

Transcript