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- "i only speak liquid" #18: 'Soft Skills’ 🧸
Hey all 👋!
Welcome to 'i_only_speak_liquid' by Storetasker, where active Shopify developers like me (Mark) share learnings we face daily. Hope you enjoy my notes.
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What I’ve been thinking about:
Recently I had a meeting with a potential client and towards the end of our chat they said to me, “It’s so nice to have a call with a developer I can actually talk to normally, so many I’ve spoken to have such a minimal amount of soft skills and it’s hard work…” I smiled and thanked them for saying so.
Afterward I realized that I wasn’t entirely sure what soft skills actually are or meant. I appreciate that this is a statement that may surprise you, dear reader, but ‘soft skills’ is a term I’d occasionally heard but never really considered. So I looked it up:
“Soft skills are personal attributes, such as communication and interpersonal abilities, adaptability and problem-solving, that enable individuals to effectively navigate their environment and relationships.”
Arguably a very simplistic summary of it, but equally it’s a skill that is potentially difficult to obtain or teach people how to improve. But always one for a challenge, here are a few completely unproven soft skill tips for people who work remotely and very rarely see other people during their work day aside from video calls. Or developers as we are otherwise known.
1. Be nice and consider your audience.
This may seem obvious but I’ve been in meetings where developers will combine a heady mix of impenetrable technical jargon with an overtly patronizing tone when explaining what said jargon means.
Most clients I’ve encountered don’t want to know about the technical side of things, they just want you to solve their problem and for you to be someone they can trust to do so. Being nice helps with that. Ask them how they are, maybe have a chat about something outside of work for a few minutes if the situation seems right. Small digressions aren’t necessarily a bad thing.
2. Be present when dealing with clients.
I’ve been in a meeting where a rep from a very well known tech company presented to a group of 14 people whilst eating his lunch. I have also seen people sit through entire meetings looking at their phones.
Your clients are, on the whole, people whose entire livelihoods and ambitions depend on the project you are helping them with, they deserve your full attention and interest. Anything other than that is unacceptable really.
3. Be relatable.
If anyone has technical issues when I’m in a meeting or there is a lot of background noise they are apologizing for I always like to tell the story of when, during lockdown, I had to present to a board of directors whilst my daughter had a flute lesson in a nearby room. She was 8 at the time and at an early stage of her learning journey, so her playing style could be referred to as ‘raw’. The sound carried far, far more than I was expecting. I don’t think I’ve ever had to ride the mute button on a Zoom call with such acute dexterity before.
Using personal, relatable anecdotes like that can help create little moments of levity that put clients at ease and help build a connection between you.
Additionally, I do not recommend leading an important call during a child’s music lesson, it could be described as a foolhardy endeavor at best.
4. Read novels.
An unexpected tip in a newsletter for developers I’ll grant you. But I’m convinced that if you read novels, especially ones about people/worlds/situations that you have no experience with, it will make you a more empathetic person and will help towards tip 1.
3 links you can’t miss:
What are 'soft skills'? - If you also aren’t sure what soft skills are here is a handy explainer. If you already knew and are wondering how I managed to get this far into working life without an understanding of the phrase; well, that makes two of us.
The New Gurus - Whilst writing this I realized that I was yet another voice on the internet giving you tips on how to better yourself. That reminded me of this fantastic podcast series by Helen Lewis where she looks into the recent trend that sees us looking for guidance in people who might not necessarily be equipped to do so. My favorite episode is on productivity (something I’m a little susceptible to looking into) particularly the guru who despite being a master of productivity still works 50+ hours a week…
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - by Gabrielle Zevin. I recommended reading novels and so here is a recommendation for one. A book about two childhood friends who create a hugely successful computer games company. So it’s kind of about code but more about people.
One app I like:
Shopify Schema Builder by Encircle Technologies - I’ve been building a custom Shopify theme this month and this has been indispensable as a time saving tool. A simple, easy to use assistant. Recommended.
One learning as a freelancer:
It has become apparent to me that my ability to engage, converse and relate to those that I work with is arguably as vital to my career as my technical skill set, if not more.
I have clients who I have worked with for over a decade now and consider friends before work associates and I aim to stay on good terms with all those that I work with.
But I would be remiss to say that it has always been so. Throughout my years of work I have occasionally made mistakes, I have over promised to clients and fallen foul of it and I have not given my full attention to areas of a project I should have. These genuine mistakes have been rare moments of laxity and if it happens I do all I can to either rectify or resolve the issue.
But we are all human and I guess that soft skills are in some way an important part of recognising, dealing and incorporating these inconsistencies into our working lives and relationships.
Google’s original code of conduct started with the motto ‘Don’t be evil’ (until they ominously removed it a number of years ago…) and if I had a code of conduct I think mine would start with ‘Be nice’. It’s as good a starting point as any.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I can assure you that it is most appreciated.
Cheers