Technical skills are not enough

It is obvious to almost anyone that, in order to perform well in any technical position, it is required to have a certain technical knowledge and expertise, as well as know how to use certain tools. But it's less obvious that those skills will not be enough to perform well, and here is why.?

In the world of high technology, it is indispensable to have a strong technical background, but at the same time, most advanced products and solutions are just too complex to be created by one person. The production processes got more complicated, to the point where no one is able to do it all alone.

Which in turn means that people will have to collaborate, within their own teams but also outside of them, with different departments and experts in cross-functional production chains. Technological advancement requires a lot of knowledge and technical experience, but more than ever, it comes with the necessity of interpersonal skills that will allow teams to move towards a common goal and keep their productivity.

I have met a lot of people with a strong technical background who were certain that their skills and knowledge alone would make them attractive to employers, which of course is true (to some extent), but at the same time, they didn't seem to understand that personality traits are the binder that can make or break the team with all its consequences.

In terms of hiring for technical roles, if we take two extreme cases, where one is a tech rockstar with an unpleasant personality (to say the least) and the other one is the life of the party (with no technical skills), it is obvious that the latter will not be able to perform because they wouldn't know how, even if they wanted to.?

You just can’t hire someone for an engineering position if the only Java they know is an island. The former case is more complex. The fact that one can solve most tech problems for a team is great, but if the right personality and interpersonal skills are not there, then it might cause a lot of problems down the line that many people don’t think about.

What can you improve?

Engineers, analysts, developers, designers could all rely on their tech skills if they worked in isolation. But nowadays, the key to producing good quality solutions and products is collaboration. There are many areas in which collaboration skills could manifest themselves, but here let’s focus on just a couple of basic ones that tech people could consider improving.

• Communication, in terms of the ability to explain complex ideas in simple terms (but not simpler than necessary) but also in terms of the delivery. There are many ways in which we can say the same thing to make our point. Some ways are better than others. And definitely a way that would put our interlocutor off is not the best one.
• Perspective-taking, because we have a tendency to assume that our point of view is the correct one. Sometimes we can actually prove it to be objectively true. There is nothing wrong with that. But in many cases, we ‘feel’ it because our opinions are ‘ours’ and this somehow makes us more inclined towards them.

When collaborating with other people, we might think that they just don’t understand our ideas and solutions, which might be the case. But also we should try to look at things from their perspective, because most likely they have their own incentives that we are not aware of, that make them want to follow different solutions. This especially holds true when we talk about cross-functional cooperation between different industries. Nobody is an expert at everything, even though sometimes we might feel this way.

• Likability, which is not a personality trait per se but more of a result of different characteristics. I know there will be tons of people saying that it is not really that important, you come to work to do your job, not to socialize. And this is true. But in reality, you won’t be able to do your job without having to speak to other people, and here the interpersonal skills come into play again. And like everything in life, they have their consequences.?

It is always a tradeoff

If someone argues that technical expertise can beat all the other requirements, I can imagine it to be actually true, in some rare cases. There might be a business justification for this when, in the short term, hiring a great technical professional would speed up the process of production or would significantly improve our product. We can deliver it to the market quicker and make a profit quicker.?

We might risk creating negative vibes within the team, it might eventually lead some people to leave. In most extreme cases, even dismissal of the team. But it all comes down to the cost/gain ratio. If someone decides that speeding up the production is worth risking the existence of the whole team, maybe that's the right way to go on a business level. We can always try to rebuild the team later. Which is far from perfect but from a business perspective might be considered necessary at times.

Is it really worth it?

Please take a minute to reflect on all the teams you were part of in the past, or you are part of currently. Try to think about why you all get along so well, or if that's not the case, then why you don't. Can you imagine working in a team where everyone has completely different personalities, approaches and opinions? Even if they can do their technical tasks perfectly??

Some people might argue that all those differences will lead to new ideas and perspectives, which is obviously true but only to some extent, as too many people with too many different opinions might actually hinder their ability to achieve common goals and collaborate effectively. I would argue that there needs to be some common ground when it comes to most basic values and perspectives.

Finally, maybe we should all ask ourselves if we would be happy working with teammates that are just like us? Would we be able to get along well with them?