Top skills for tech professionals

At OYA, we recently conducted a survey of over 50 tech professionals across various levels of management and leadership to gain insights into their self-perception of their leadership and management skills.

The survey revealed several interesting findings, including differences in self-perception of skills across different levels of management and leadership.

What we went out to achieve.

Soft skills are essential for success in today's fast-paced and rapidly evolving tech industry. We believe that understanding and developing these skills is key to unlocking your full potential as both a leader and a team member.

Time is a precious commodity in the workplace, and it can be challenging to prioritize skill development amidst other competing demands. That's why we created a survey to help tech professionals measure themselves against their peers and identify areas for improvement.

By understanding your own skill mix and level, you can take the first step towards self-development and continuous improvement. Our goal is to help people identify strengths and weaknesses and provide insights that can help in achieving greater job and career success.

Methodology

We are a big believer of using the skills framework from Google. Our clients love it as well because it is a holistic list that was created within the industry and tested by one of the industry leaders. 

For those who don’t know, the framework was developed as part of Project Oxygen and details 10 skills managers need to develop to succeed at Google. The skills are not specific to Google, and we’ve found they can be easily adapted to other tech companies, small and large.

We sent participants the 8-10min survey. For each skill, we asked participants to rate themselves out of 10 on the following:

• Rate your own ability
• How often have you demonstrated this skill in the last 6-12 months?
• How would people at your company rate you at this skill?

For selected respondents, we also conducted some qualitative interviews to help us understand key trends within the day.

The 10 skills that form the Project Oxygen Framework:

1. I am a good COACH
2. I EMPOWER the team
3. I create an INCLUSIVE team environment
4. I am RESULTS focused
5. I am a good COMMUNICATOR
6. I enable CAREER DEVELOPMENT within my team
7. I provide strong VISION/ STRATEGY
8. I show TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND LEADERSHIP
9. I am a COLLABORATOR across the company
10. I am a confident DECISION MAKER

Who responded?

Over 50 people responded to the diagnostic.

The functions of respondents cover a wide range of functions within the tech industry, including engineers, IT operations, scrum masters, QA, product management, business development and sales, business operations, HR and more.

Responses for Leaders, Founders and Executives:

At the top of any company, we find the leaders, executives and founders. These are the leaders within a company, responsible for its overall success and guidance.

General findings

1) First thing we noticed was that executives rated themselves higher than middle managers and individual contributors on most skills. This may not come as a surprise, but it showed a higher level of self-confidence.

2) The difference between self-rating and demonstrated ability was highest for executives in the skill of "I show technical knowledge and leadership". This suggests that while executives may feel confident in their technical abilities, they may not have demonstrated these skills as much in the last 6-12 months.

3) Creating an inclusive team was a difficult skill for this group. It was one of the poorest self-rated skills suggesting it was an area where they lacked confidence. However their ability to demonstrate this skill was much higher, while executives believed their team were most satisfied with this skill. were most satisfied with their ability to create an inclusive team environment, indicating that executives may be particularly effective at fostering a positive and inclusive team culture. 

Top rates skills

Two specific skills rose to the top for this group:

1) Strategy/ Vision: Leaders, executives and founders highly rated their own ability in this skill, but the rating stopped there. Demonstrating this ability, and the team satisfaction both scored much lower. In our qualitative work, we discovered that this skill is very front of mind for this group. However, there are only select moments to really showcase the skill and sometimes their teams do not fully understand some of the behind-the-scenes information that can not be shared widely. 

2) I am a confident decision maker: It was a similar logic for this skill, but the qualitative interviews revealed a different reason behind the scores. This skill needs to be read alongside the empowering teams skill, as empowered teams do not need as much decision-making from leaders. It can also be a point of conflict when an exec or leader overrules a decision made by someone lower down for reasons that were unknown to the lower-ranked person. 

3-bonus) Interestingly, Empowering teams was a skill that many execs and leaders felt they struggled with, but were much more confident in their ability to demonstrate and have a satisfactory result. 

Skills that did not rate well:

1) Supporting career development was the worst performance in the rating for this group. In our In qualitative work, we discovered that was due to a mindset similar to “a rising tide floats all boats”. Internal career management was more focused on succession planning. 

2) Coaching was an interesting skill for this group. The self-rating was mid-level, but the demonstration and satisfaction were very low. Our interviews followed a similar mindset to that of supporting career development. 

Remember, coaching is a specific skill and should not be mistaken for giving advice or consulting on a specific problem. It is a highly misunderstood skill. Coaching requires lots of questions and withholding your opinion/ your recommended solution. Great coaches don't solve the problem.

Responses from Managers

Middle managers are responsible for day-to-day operations and ensuring that teams meet organizational goals. They are critical in translating the company's strategic objectives into actionable plans and in communicating those plans to their teams. 

Middle managers are the bridge between upper management and individual contributors, balancing both needs to keep the organization running smoothly. They are constantly pulled in many directions and forced to optimise their time.

But the role is sometimes reviled and criticised as the symbol of bureaucracy within an organisation. Google even tried to get rid of managers but soon realised the importance of managers within tech. The myth of a tech company without managers still holds some sway within tech circles, but no one has made it work at scale.

We refer to anyone with direct reports but not an executive or founder as a manager. 

General findings:

Middle managers rated themselves lower than executives and higher than individual contributors on most skills. 

Managers self-rated their own ability higher than their rating for demonstrating the same ability. In qualitative interviews, we’ve discovered that this is due to the the “being pulled every direction” problem they face. e.g. They may have good coaching skills, but feel they do not have the time to dedicate to demonstrating/ coaching their team. 

Managers were very focused on their team and how they managed the people for whom they are responsible.

Top skills

1) Inclusivity is their top across the board. This is a positive finding because it indicates that creating an inclusive environment is a priority for managers. How does it look in practice? 

An inclusive team environment is all about creating an environment for people to speak up, share ideas and take calculated/ informed risks. It is part of the foundation of psychological safety and high-performance teams.

The "2nd tier" top skills:

After inclusivity, 2 other skills rated well:

1) Results focus: Being results focused is a key component of effective leadership and management. In today's fast-paced and competitive tech industry, it's essential to set clear goals and expectations, and to hold yourself and your team accountable for achieving them. By prioritizing results, managers can drive their teams towards success and ensure that they are meeting the organization's strategic objectives. This not only benefits the company as a whole, but also helps to create a sense of purpose and motivation for team members. Ultimately, being results focused is crucial for achieving success and staying ahead in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

2) Decision making: In a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, decisions often need to be made quickly and with limited information. A confident manager can navigate these challenges with ease, inspire trust and confidence in their team, and mitigate risks. Being a confident decision maker can also lead to increased engagement and productivity. By developing this skill, managers can create a culture of confidence and innovation that drives their team towards success.

The "middle skills" for middle managers:

1) Middle managers felt less confident in their ability to provide a strong vision/ strategy than they actually demonstrate in their work? The difference between self-rating and demonstrated ability was highest for middle managers.

2) Their ability to collaborate across the company ranked mid-range in both the self assessment and team notification but almost bottom for demonstration. Our interviews showed some troubling information. Managers were able are able to reach out and collaborate, especially when their team was involved, but they were disappointed with how little it happens without their involvement. It can be a mix of 2 causes:

• Individual contributors or managers not having the confidence/ knowledge on whom to contact or how to reach out.
• Existing or perceived internal company politics result in friction when collaborations do occur.

The second point is a concern for everyone.

3) Empowerment also ranked mid-top tier: In our interviews, we understood how managers perceive this skill as important but often hard to deliver, especially in the current economic situation. The benefits of team empowerment are well known, but time and results pressure cause many managers to de-prioritise this skill. We also see that this skill is especially difficult for more junior managers.

Bottom ranked skills

1) Managers are often promoted for their technical skills rather than their ability to manage. One specific skill that seemed to suffer was Coaching and developing others.

The prioritization of short-term goals over longer-term development is also a factor here (remember, results focused was the top-ranked skill). Coaching is also a skill that is often misused for when people offer advice.

2) The low ranking of Technical knowledge and leadership were a big surprise for us. Again, our interviews revealed that managers felt they were losing touch with the high technical knowledge they once had as an individual contributors. They felt they did not have the time to invest in being the top technical expert in the team.

In our experience, the level of discomfort was associated with the experience of a manager. More experienced managers were happy to delegate this responsibility while junior managers were more prone to discomfort not being the technical expert on everything they were responsible for.

Individual contributors

Individual contributors are the lifeblood of any organisation. They are non-executives who do not have another person reporting directly to them. These individuals can either be a junior person with fewer years of experience or a senior person (more years of experience)n who has chosen a non-manager career path, an increasingly common phenomenon in tech.

Since we are discussing their current role, we’ve included in this group senior individual contributors who have had management roles elsewhere. This is becoming a more common practice due to the rise of “career portfolio’s” within tech rather than the traditional career ladders. 

General findings:

Individual contributors rated themselves lower than executives and middle managers on most skills.

We also noted that the difference between self-rating and demonstrated ability was relatively small for individual contributors across all skills, especially when compared to other groups. 

Side note: At OYA, we deal a lot with tech professionals who transition from individual contributors to managers. Many are unprepared for the transition and lack a true understanding of what will be expected of them once they are promoted to lead/ manager. This results in many tech professionals seeking people manager roles, only to discover that they would prefer a more technical management role (with no direct reports)

Top skills for individual contributors:

Two skills rose to the top for this group:

• “Results focused” was a clear top skill for these people. This supports an action-orientated mindset where they are the people who are focused on getting stuff done. 
• Senior individual contributors also rated highly in “Tech knowledge” and were also most satisfied with their ability to show technical knowledge and technical leadership. For those in junior roles, this skill was clumped with the other skills in the middle. 

The clear middle:

• Collaborates across the company: Individual contributors rated, but in qualitative interviews, we’ve discovered that this based around the needs of their particular role. They are also more likely to have any office politics getting involved. 
• (junior individual contributors only) Technical knowledge and leadership 

Bottom-ranked skills

The skills rated lowest by this group are those we often attribute to leaders or managers. Those are:

• Vision/ strategy
• Career development
• Coaching

In many cases people remain as individual contributors to avoid having to coach or deal with the big picture/strategy, however, we noticed some differences between juniors and seniors when it comes to Vision/Strategy.

Senior individual contributors are often considered a leader within their field, and would help to provide a vision/strategy for their particular area. Junior individual contributors did not show this trait. 

Example: An software architecture expert may not have direct reports, but must provide a vision/ strategy for the overall software architecture of the company. They are a technical leader, and are expected to show some leadership qualities. 

Our next steps

At OYA, we are committed to changing the way the tech industry develops soft skills. We intend to keep our hand on the pulse and hope to publish an update to this report annually. 

This was only a snapshot from OYA's free tool. We are going to continue to maintain this free diagnostic on our website. All participants will receive a free report. 

For now, keep an eye out for a comprehensive, skill-by-skill report to be released shortly. 

Conclusions:

The first step to skill development is understanding yourself. Only then can you seek to improve. 

The results of this survey provide valuable insights for tech professionals looking to develop their leadership and management skills. While all three groups surveyed (executives, middle managers, and individual contributors) showed strengths in some areas, there were also areas for improvement across all levels of management and leadership in the organizations surveyed.

If you are interested in trying the skills diagnostic for yourself, we are leaving it up here.