[New Series] Underrated Soft Skills: Charisma

Soft Skills Every Engineer Should Master

Motivation

Engineers focus too much on technical skills, often overlooking other essential skills, such as soft skills—or human skills, as I prefer to call them.

An engineer is more than a technical skill set. First and foremost, an engineer is a human being immersed in a human environment. If they fail to understand how to navigate human complexity and intricacies, they will not understand how a team or an organization works, eventually reducing their ability to build meaningful things and create an impact wherever they go.

Through years of mentoring many engineers, I’ve learned that engineers who master technical and soft skills are very rare. But those who do hold great power. They can create meaningful and significant impact wherever they go.

Technical skills come with experience and can be easier to learn. That’s why I don’t worry too much about them when mentoring engineers. Instead, I prefer focusing on human skills, which I think are the most impactful but also the most neglected …