Importance of Soft Skills and being Visible in the Developer Community

This Talk was part of a Mentoring session done for the 2021 Jadu Fellowship Program and most of the target audience was Final year undergrad students from Pakistani Universities.

My goal was to talk about how improving Soft Skills and being active in the Community has benefited me in my career and others I have admired. What opportunities they can explore, how can they start and how it all fits together in giving them an exposure, visibility and building their personal brand and network.

Transcript

1. https://dzone.com/
2. Technical Skills help get your foot in the door, but Soft Skills are what will help you land the job … and help you succeed in your career
3. Hard skills get you hired, but NO Soft Skills will get you fired!
5. Let’s Talk about Soft Essential Skills* Wahib Ul Haq • 29.03.2021 Target Audience: Jadu Fellowship Cohort 2020
6. Disclaimer: Opinionated analysis based on a decade long experience in Industry
7. Disclaimer: We are here to have some fun while doing knowledge sharing
8. My Story Professional Career • 2010 - 2019: Progressed extensively in Android Development • 2018: Transitioned into Developer Marketing and Community • 2019 - now: Project Lead, Partner Engineering at Huawei Industry Exposure • German startups, SMEs and International Large Corporation • Diverse domains: AR, Connected Car, Fitness, Consulting, Payment, Mobile Ecosystem, IoT
9. What are “Soft Skills” for you?
10. https://tiqgroup.com/
11. When companies say that we need to see if you are a “Cultural Fit”, they actually want to evaluate your “Soft Skills”, and how well you can work with “People” “Do I really want to spend 40+ hours a week with this person?”
12. What have I observed? Basic expectations from Employer • Just be a nice and empathetic person • Be patient, understand the ground realities and smart enough to adapt • Don’t complain for the safe of it • Be helpful to a reasonable level • Be humble • Don’t work in isolation and in invisible mode • Be able to work independently without being micromanaged • Be able to present when needed • . . . .
13. Let’s Talk first about Human Behaviors and Attitude
15. The human personality is a spectrum
16. https://digitalsynopsis.com/ There are two types of people in this world ...
17. I would like to discuss two different personas
18. Bubble Enlightened • CS Student, Strong in programming skills • Grades and GPA would be good enough to impress • No need to worry about Industry while studying as Employer is supposed to prepare me • CS Student, Strong in programming skills • “Profile” is more than grades and need to be build as a long-term plan • I will learn and prepare myself as per industry’s expectations in advance
19. Bubble • Understands that life of a Software Engineer is not just about writing lines of code Enlightened • Passionate developer but just focus on technical skills and rest is distraction • Sees no value in knowledge sharing or networking • Owes to the community support, wants to contribute and values power of networking
20. What do you think will happen with both once they will graduate?
21. https://tiqgroup.com/
23. https://tiqgroup.com/
25. Why can I speak on these topics? Exposure • Developer Mindset • Contributor* to Android Community • Customer Interfacing Role • People Management • Advocacy and Community Management • Hiring Beneficiary • Scored last 2 jobs by referral through community • Transition to Managerial role • Approached twice to start Meetup Communities • Public Speaking Opportunities • Get expert advice • Get approached for help
26. https://stackoverflow.com/users/1016544/wahib-ul-haq https://www.meetup.com/Dev-Rel-Munich/ https://medium.com/@wahibhaq
28. ..but much greater potential
30. Build Networks Workplace External Grow your Audience Create Opportunities Create Allies Social Media, Forums, Community Members, Global Audience
31. BUILD NETWORKS GROW WITH COMMUNITY
32. GROW WITH COMMUNITY “Being Active In Community” and “Off the Job” Contributions are still not-so-common in our Desi Culture but they should be!
33. Result ➢ Visibility: Stand out from the crowd ➢ Recognition and Trust ➢ Mentorship ➢ Growth ➢ Improved Communication skills ➢ Self-development ➢ Motivation to be the best version of yourself Objective ★ I want to learn and be part of something big ★ I want to give back to the community which has helped me in my success ★ I want to build and grow my Network and Relationships Action ❏ #GiveFirst attitude ❏ Accept and Fight against Imposter syndrome ❏ Listen, Attend and Follow Community ❏ Speak, Create and Contribute to the Community later ❏ Transform yourself from passive observer to active engager GROW WITH COMMUNITY
35. • Github • Gitlab • Bitbucket • …. • Personal Blog • Medium • Substack • Dev.to • …. • Stack Overflow • Slack • Discord • Twitter • Clubhouse* • HackerNews • Reddit • Meetup Code Community Content
36. Who will even read your article? Who even need your hobby project code? Learning #1
37. Share without expectations and let the magic of community surprise you
38. • It will motivate you to do a great job at it • Even a small recognition will keep you excited to continue • As a beginner, don’t worry too much about the english skills, vocabulary or overall flow • Whatever feature or problem you are working on, keep your sensors on. Keep a document with ideas on what topics are worth writing and keep adding thoughts and resources • If there’s a technical article, publish repo and refer the code snippets in your article • Choose topics which you are most passionate about and the most painful one which was hard to get help from Internet Create Content and Publish Early
40. Who will even notice me on platforms? Do you even get any real help? Is it even worth spending time? Learning #2
41. Twitter • Primary source of insights and knowledge • Follow & Connect with people from your “Digital Tribe” • Be able to ask experts who are otherwise not approachable in real world • Be part of discussions, learn and contribute • Share thoughts, ideas, knowledge and initiate conversations Others (Slack/Discord..) • Seek prompt help • Observe Q&A of others and passively learn • Identify experts to give you objective advice Be smart about your time and ROI would be great
43. I want to work silently and don’t care if I’m invisible... I don’t feel comfortable sharing my work until I am an expert.. Learning #3
45. • If your work doesn’t get noticed, it is partially your own mistake • Be confident and well-prepared in highlighting your work internally and externally • Don’t shy when there’s a chance to present your work or your team’s work • Start speaking at internal meetings → local meetups → conferences • Be discoverable and noticeable so you are approached for new opportunities e.g referrals Be more visible
46. I only need to compete against the local IT Industry Learning #4
47. • Don’t limit yourself by geographical limitations • We could be so much more when we admire and learn from both local and international talent • This is the best time to be part of something global and have an impact It is 2021 and Communities are “Global”
48. Wajahat is a role model of whatever I have spoken so far :)
49. Let’s wrap it up
50. Code Publish your coding projects Content Start writing articles Visibility Learn to be confident about presenting your work Engage Follow who inspire you, share your thoughts, become part of discussions Continue It is a marathon, not a sprint!
51. Thank You! Any Questions? Comments?
52. If you want to connect in future https://www.linkedin.com/in/wahibhaq/ www.wahibhaq.com @wahibhaq