If someone asked you, “What skills does an IT professional need?”, you’d probably list a number of hard skills. Examples of these include, computer skills, coding skills, and project management skills. And of course, you’d say that IT professionals need an in-depth knowledge of the technologies they use at work.
But did you know, to build a successful career in tech you need more than just these basic hard skills and knowledge.
Soft skills, like the ability to learn quickly, attention to detail, effective time-management, prioritization, empathy, analytical thinking, intuition, and stress-resistance are also very important skills to have when working in the IT industry.
When you work in different IT roles, you might find that you use some soft skills more than others. But there is one skill that is crucial. You must have strong communication skills if you work in IT.
In this article, we will explain why communication skills are essential for any IT professional, and how you can develop and improve your communication skills.
There is a widespread misconception that people working in tech spend most of their time sitting in front of a computer, and that they don’t really communicate too much. Therefore, communication skills are not crucial for them.
Well, believe it or not, IT is full of communication, in some shape or form! And, although those who work in IT do spend time working on a computer, they actually spend a lot of time communicating with various different people, across different channels daily.
Think about, it takes a whole team to build something new in the IT world. Some of the people involved in this creative process are, developers, testers, support specialists, administrators, clients, and designers, for example. And many of these people will be interacting on a daily basis, either online, in person, or on video chat.
Strong communication will increase a team's productivity, it’ll help to solve problems faster, and it’ll save companies time and money in the long run. And that is why communication is such a valued and sought after skill in the IT industry.
Communication is when we exchange, or give out, our ideas and thoughts in a verbal, nonverbal, visual, or written form, to those around us.
What are the most important aspects of communication?
So, now you know more about communication, let’s take a look at how you can improve your communication skills. Read on to find out more.
An excellent first step to improving your communication skills is to determine your strongest and weakest points. For example, maybe it’s hard for you to write documents. If you know what you need to improve on you can focus on developing this skill, so you don’t have to waste time re-learning stuff you already do well.
If you aren’t too sure about your strong and weak points, try asking your colleagues for honest feedback.
Next you need to think about how you’re going to improve your communication skills. There are several ways to improve your communication skills. Here are some ways:
Offline training
You could consider enrolling on a course in your area. For example, many business schools offer communication skills courses and public speaking classes. Some of these courses focus on a particular topic like negotiation, presentation, crisis communication, and business writing too. While other courses will try to cover all aspects of communication in the working environment.
You can choose a course that suits you best.
Additionally, if your employer organizes some in-house training, do sign up for this! Courses like this often address the challenges that are specific to that company and its teams, so it's incredibly beneficial.
Online courses
Don’t feel discouraged if there aren’t many classes near where you live, because nowadays you can learn online.
Here are a couple of sites to explore:
You can choose from many courses and different topics, for example communication in the workplace, common communication mistakes, empathy, email writing, business etiquette, public speaking, presentations, and teamwork.
Self-study
As the name suggests, this is when you organise your own education. Typically people who choose this route read about the topics online, buy books, and watch videos online to learn and develop a skill.
This is a good way of updating your skills, it can take as long as you like, or it can be as short as you like, and it’s usually quite cheap. However, the lack of structure, and the idea of going and finding all the resources can become tedious, so some prefer to go to a pre-planned course. But it’s entirely up to individual preference.
Practice
So, you can choose between offline training, online courses, or the self-study method. But developing better communication skills requires practice.
Here are few tips to keep in mind:
Do IT professionals need strong communication skills? Strong communication skills are a must have when working in the IT industry.
It doesn't matter which learning method you choose, the point is, developing strong communication skills will help you to become a better team member, will help you stand out in job interviews, and it’ll ultimately take your tech career to the next level.
Besides, it’s one of the most sought after soft skills in most industries.