Software developers and engineers need many technical skills, but the soft skills can often be even more important.
Software developers and software engineers are in high demand at the moment. Anyone who wants to work with software will no doubt be familiar with the kind of technical skills they will need.
Siliconrepublic.com spoke to David Guzman, a software engineer working in the advertiser platforms organisation at Oath.
He said some of the typical tasks he does as a full-stack engineer include implementing a feature, making sure it runs all the way to production, and that it is validated by working hand in hand with project management and the final users.
Guzman also went into detail about some of the programming languages he uses in his work, which many software developers will need to be familiar with. “In the back-end, some of the skills I use are Java 8, Gradle, Groovy, Spark, Docker, AWS and Hadoop,” he said. “On the front-end, I use JavaScript and Ember.js.”
Aside from the technical skills, Guzman spoke about the importance of soft skills for software developers. “Be very patient,” he said. “Problem-solving skills are as essential as learning any programming language.”
He also said that communication skills are important. “Try to join a hackathon team or try to work with your peers to make a project, and that way you can develop those communication skills.”
From his own experience, Guzman said Oath is a very innovative place to work and full of career prospects. “I had the opportunity to give a presentation last year in Sunnyvale, California, to more than 450 engineers.”
He also said that, aside from benefits such as free food, Oath’s EMEA headquarters has employees from more than 50 countries, and the company is an incredibly inclusive and diverse place to work. “This is the first job where I feel confident in being openly gay, and that says a lot about the company culture over here.”
