How I became an iOS Developer - Part 1 - Empathy and Soft Skills
Let’s get started
For the last 2 years I’ve been slowly working towards a goal of becoming a software developer. I’ve spent most of my time outside of work studying, learning and developing skills to take myself to the next level, to move from my previous career in Information Technology to mobile software development, specifically within the iOS development world. I’ve had a few people on Twitter ask me the same questions: How did you get there? How did you do it? Was it hard? What steps did you follow?
I think there are a lot of pieces to that puzzle, some of which are more or less easy or difficult depending on the person. No one will have the exact same journey, but having spent the last 2 years working towards my goal of transitioning from one type of career to another, I feel pretty confident that I can share some of the common tools in my belt that landed me that first role in software development.
This is what coding looks like
A few points on soft skills
Before hitting yourself hard into the books and writing a bunch of code like a maniac, the first thing you need to work on is your soft skills. These tools are essential to someone who wants to be in the working world, let alone the developer space. Soft skills are the tools that make collaboration work. They are the people skills, the “personability” of your working self. A great place to start is with this article from thebalancecareers.com. The basic gist is that soft skills are the tools to talk and communicate with people.
With any job, working with people is essential. You need to be able to express your ideas, take others tasks and ideas and make them work. You need to have clarity of time management, deadlines and the greater team, even in that first job.
Documentary footage of an actual workplace
Here are a few points that I have found personally that make soft skills that much easier:
Listen. Genuinely listen. Take a moment to learn about other people, their experiences and their issues and victories. Listening goes a long way when understanding the context of where people are in life, at work and in that moment. This gives you some context to understand where they are coming from and how you can best work with them.
For times when you need to solve a conflict, start with the fact that whatever problems the person is facing, that we will work on it together. Work collaboratively together to find a solution. This goes a long way to set the other person at ease. Even if you are the problem or caused it, take ownership and work together to fix it.
Take time to reset when an issue becomes heated. I’ve had a number of times where a customer has come in heated and angry at me for an issue with a computer (never an issue I started but something they are HOT about) and defusing the situation by asking “Hey, before we start how is your day going?” Nine times out of ten that defuses the situation before it even escalates, allow the person who is flustered to take a moment and ask themselves that same question before proceeding. It also sets them at ease because it shows you are interesting in them, not the issue. At the end of the day, no matter how important the issue is, we are all human and need a moment to acknowledge that.
Genuine feedback is one of the most important gauges you have. Take a moment to ask for it, and ask permission before you give it. Be as specific as possible when delivering feedback and don’t take it personally if feedback you receive is negative, roll with it and learn from it. A great article to read is this from Buffer about feedback in the workplace: https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-give-receive-feedback-work/.
If you finished reading the points, go back and read them again
The conclusion: Empathy
I have many many more anecdotes I could deliver, but I feel it boils down to a straightforward idea, to deliver empathy when needed. All in all, work is about relationships and fostering and formulating those relationships with others. Taking time to empathetically connect with your coworkers is one of the most powerful tools you can use when working with others. Dr Brené Brown puts it eloquently in her video on empathy here:
I’m not saying this is perfect, or an end all, be all answer to every question. Nor is it a tool for every interaction, but looking at the world through empathetic eyes has helped me countless times in my work, and in finding it - it’s worth 3 minutes of your time to watch that video at the very least.
Working on soft skills is something you will never stop learning. Don’t expect to “ace” any test or find any perfect answer, you will work on your soft skills for years and years over your life and it will become a skill set that you never really finish.
This is the first of a series that I hope to touch on all of the aspects I’ve found helpful and I hope you do to. The next article will be around learning resources and starting the “code” part of being an iOS developer, follow me on Twitter @frankefoster to see when I release the next article. I hope to release these weekly!