8 Soft Skills Every Software Developer Needs to Achieve for Career Growth

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Strong soft skills are directly related to the productivity of IT teams. And let’s be honest — candidates with well-developed soft skills get hired faster. Why? Because everyone has to interact with colleagues, leadership, and clients, whether you’re a project manager, designer, or DevOps engineer.

According to Deloitte Access Economics*, by 2030, jobs that demand high-level soft skills will make up two-thirds of the workforce. In this guide, we’ll break down the soft skills every IT specialist should develop to stand out to employers in the IT market.

Article Navigation:

• What “soft skills” actually mean
• How soft skills show up in real situations
• Top skills worth building
• How recruiters test soft skills in interviews

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are personal competencies that affect team interaction and self-organization. They include communication and creativity. In contrast, hard skills are your technical abilities — like knowing JavaScript or Python.

Soft skills can be:

• Personal: self-awareness, stress resilience, work-life balance, adaptability, and more.
• Social: teamwork, effective communication, conflict resolution, handling objections, etc.
• Situational: analytical thinking, decision-making, creativity, etc.

The term “soft skills” was first used in 1959 by the US military, when commanders noticed that a unit’s success depended less on their ability to handle weapons and equipment, and more on the leadership guiding them.

Soft Skills in IT: Practical Examples

Let’s exaggerate for the sake of example. There are three developers at the Google Meet meeting: Junior, Middle, and Senior. The goal is to assign roles, set a deadline, and discuss the specifics of the new task. The task needs to be closed ASAP, but all three are already swamped with other company projects.

• Junior can’t realistically assess his capacity and wants to impress. So, he takes on too much work and sets an overly ambitious deadline. He accepts tasks without clarifying details.

• Middle burned out in the last sprint after too many late-night overtime sessions. He joins the meeting cranky, cynical, and nitpicky. He is not eager to talk, reacts aggressively, and shows little openness to other perspectives or constructive feedback.

• The senior developer is triggered by disrespect from the middle, and they start a conflict. Although some tasks are assigned, Senior fails to write a clear technical brief afterwards due to his busy schedule. Each person walks away with their own interpretation of their to-do list.

Result? The work is done incorrectly, necessitating a complete redo in another iteration, and deadlines are missed — despite each developer being technically competent. It’s all about the lack of advanced soft skills for IT.

The Soft Skills Shortlist for Developers

Whether you’re a developer, designer, marketer, product manager, or business analyst, you need soft skills to stay effective and in demand. A World Economic Forum report, based on surveys of over 800 global company leaders, identified the top ten skills that will be in high demand through 2027.

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Only three of these are hard skills (AI & big data, technical literacy, design/UX). The rest are soft skills for IT and other areas dominating the job market.

1. Analytical thinking

It’s about the ability to process information effectively — to correctly interpret, evaluate, organize, and structure data, spot connections, and draw conclusions.

A person with developed analytical thinking:

• Quickly breaks down big problems into small ones.
• Knows how to collect verified information and evaluate it correctly.
• Doesn’t get lost in information overload.
• Easily finds appropriate solutions and alternatives.
• Builds thoughts consistently and logically.
• Easily notices interconnections between phenomena.

Unexpected problems may arise while working on a project. For instance, a client may insist on using a specific technology without considering product’s scalability. They often fail to realize that this choice will result in double payment and prefer not to spend time discussing the issue. Your job is to stay calm, assess the situation clearly, and present reasoned arguments — impossible without analytical skills.

Top books to improve analytical thinking: 

• The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking, by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler.
• Creating a Data-Driven Organization, by Carl Anderson.
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.

2. Creativity

In the future, creativity will be one of a developer’s most valuable soft skills. Often, when working on a project, we encounter situations that require us to make significant changes and respond quickly and creatively. IT pros usually work with limited resources.

For instance, with just $600, inventive Ukrainians used 3D printers and inexpensive fragmentation grenades to transform drones — originally used by kids for Instagram panoramas — into tools for precise, stealthy strikes. They were deployed to drop small explosives onto the roofs of russian vehicles.

“This (creativity — Ed.) is a unique human trait that no algorithm can replace,” says AI expert Kai-Fu Lee. In his opinion, everyone should develop their creative abilities, regardless of their profession or role.

Recommended reading to boost creativity:

• A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young.
• Thinkertoys, by Michael Michalko.
• Creativity Rules: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and into the World, by Tina Silig.
• “And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared: TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”, by Genrich Altshuller.

3. Leadership & Social Influence

Analysts at the World Economic Forum note that no computer can yet replace a true leader — someone who inspires and unites a team. A leader is the backbone of any team. It is someone who influences the team’s culture, general vision, and atmosphere. The primary task of a leader is to unite people. Successful leaders spend twice as much time on team building as average managers — and the results speak for themselves.

Recommended reading to improve your leadership skills: “The Emotionally Intelligent Leader”, by Daniel Goleman.

4. Resilience & Flexibility

A developer’s job can be highly stressful: code breaks for no apparent reason, colleagues struggle to grasp your ideas, and clients ask for the impossible. Staying calm and flexible in any situation is key. Skilled developers know how to provide feedback without getting personal or aggressive — even if it means repeating the same advice several times a day to juniors or clients with limited programming experience.

The concept of resilience is gaining more and more traction. Resilience is the ability of a professional to adapt to change, overcome challenges, and bounce back after stressful situations or crises. In simple terms, it’s our inner superpower that keeps us from breaking under pressure and helps us move forward even when the plan falls apart — whether it’s during a global pandemic, a war, or a wave of mass layoffs.

Book tip for building resilience: “The Art of Resilience”, by Ross Edgley.

5. Strategic Approach to Learning

Barack Obama read for an hour a day while serving as president. Warren Buffett, one of the most legendary investors of all time, devoted 80% of his day to reading. Bill Gates reads one book every week and even takes two weeks off each year just to read.

The reality changes at lightning speed — skills become outdated, new tools and professions emerge every year — so constant learning and keeping your expertise up to date is no longer optional, it’s essential. Just look at how often job descriptions now mention knowledge of microservices or experience working with Highload.

How to make lifelong learning the basis of your routine:

• Make a learning plan. Reserve dedicated time in your schedule for skill growth — for example, one hour a day to read technical articles, take courses, or practice new technologies. Break your plan into short-term (1 month) and long-term (6–12 months) goals.
• Use a combined approach. Alternate between theory and practice to consolidate your knowledge. For example, after completing a course on Highload, create a small pet project that applies what you’ve learned. This approach not only deepens your expertise but also improves your portfolio.
• Join the community. Seek out professional groups, conferences, forums, or Slack channels in your field. Engaging in discussions about real-world cases and challenges gives you insights no book or online course can match.

When choosing what to learn, concentrate on skills and knowledge that directly impact your professional performance or career growth. For example, if your goal is to start working with microservices, focus on learning the principles of their architecture and popular tools like Kubernetes or Docker. Don’t get wasted on something interesting but irrelevant to your career goals.

6. Motivation & Self-Awareness

Motivation cannot be taught or imposed from the outside. This is what pushes you and keeps you engaged in your work every day. Imagine this: the code doesn’t compile, the deadline is approaching, and the client sends a flood of new requests, disregarding everything you agreed on earlier. In moments like these, walking away and disappearing into the mountains might feel tempting. But it’s your motivation and self-awareness that keep you in the game — helping you stay focused, uncover fresh solutions, and cross the finish line with a well-earned sense of achievement.

In the workplace, self-awareness means knowing your strengths and celebrating even the smallest wins. It is impossible to be energized every day, but professionals still need the ability to support themselves when things get tough. This is a basic tool that enables you to overcome the most difficult challenges and develop, not despite, but for the sake of your personal goal.

A Positive Psychology Exercise to Keep Your Motivation High — “Positive Reflection on Challenges”. To try it, think back to a tough situation at work (for example, a client suddenly made unexpected changes to a project). Write down:

• Why was it a challenge for you?
• How did you deal with it?
• What positive lesson or skill did you learn?

This simple practice can shift how you perceive problems, helping you analyze them as opportunities for growth.

7. Empathy & Active Listening

Imagine you’re a Team Lead. During a stand-up meeting, one of your colleagues says they don’t understand the new project requirements at all and have no time to deal with such changes. If you simply ignore this or reply with a quick “Got it,” you leave the problem unresolved. Empathy and active listening allow you to catch the worry behind the words and offer real support: dive deeper into explanations, help set priorities, suggest splitting tasks, or simply give them space to talk it through.

Empathy itself is the ability to understand other people’s emotions, put yourself in their shoes, and truly feel their state of mind. It’s the foundation of modern leadership. Active listening is just as critical — it’s not only about hearing the words, but grasping their meaning, noticing nonverbal cues, and showing the speaker that their opinion matters. By sharpening these skills, you reduce emotional tension within the team and strengthen trust.

Pro Tip: At your next meeting, try this simple method: give each team member 2–3 minutes to share their wins, challenges, or ideas — without interruptions or judgments. Then briefly summarize what you heard. This fosters an open atmosphere where everyone feels valued and engaged.

Assessing Soft Skills During Recruitment

Recruiters have a range of proven methods to make interviews more effective and accurately assess soft skills — from projective questions to STAR, PARLA, the case method, and more. Here are some of the most widely used approaches:

• Projective Question Method. This approach helps gather accurate insights while avoiding the distortions that come with “socially acceptable” answers. The candidate is asked to express their opinion on a particular situation, for example: “What are some common reasons people leave a job?” or “What would motivate them to give 100% at work?” When responding, the candidate subconsciously draws from their own experience without speaking about themselves directly, which often results in a more candid and genuine answer.
• PARLA Model. This is a straightforward conversation with an IT candidate about their skills, where the recruiter analyzes various past situations. The recruiter examines specific situations using the PARLA framework: Problem (the main challenge), Action (steps the candidate took to address it), Result (what happened), Learned (key takeaways), and Applied (how those takeaways were put into practice later). The collected insights are then compared with the company’s requirements.
• STAR Method. One of the most validated tools for evaluating a candidate — STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) competency-based interviews. STAR questions are designed to uncover examples of skills and relevant experience tied directly to the role.

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• Case Analysis (Situational Interview). The case method is particularly useful for assessing soft skills in IT, along with a candidate’s potential and thought process. The candidate is presented with a scenario and asked to analyze possible solutions, then choose the one that works best under the given conditions.

An example of an interview question to test for commitment and result orientation: ask the candidate to list as many unconventional uses for a rain umbrella as possible in two minutes. After each idea, encourage them to keep going. If they exhaust all ideas before time’s up, give them an extra 10 seconds. How will they react? Will they give up or keep searching for new solutions?

Everyone has their own “starter pack” of soft skills — abilities that are part of your personality and shape your character. Unlike technical skills, which can be learned through study and practice, soft skills are more complex to develop. But they’re absolutely worth the effort if you want to communicate effortlessly, feel confident, and maximize your performance. Remember: in IT, hard skills and soft skills are equally important. The right mix will serve you well both in daily tasks and in building your career.

*Deloitte Access Economics