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Soft Skills Are Almost As Important As Tech Prowess

06Jun
Green KeyInformation Technology

Love ‘em or dread ‘em, Java and JavaScript skills are what employers are most often looking for when hiring software developers.

The same goes for C#, Python and SQL, according to an analysis Burning Glass did of tech job postings.

Dice.com, the tech careers site, took a deep dive into what skills employers most often list in their job descriptions and what they’re willing to pay to get the talent they want. Pulling together data from a variety of sources, Dice notes that while the term “software developer” covers a lot of territory, the five programming languages are the ones most frequently included in job postings.

Fortunately, a Stack Overflow survey found a high percentage of developers regularly use JavaScript, SQL, Python, C# and Java. In fact, almost 70% of professional developers said they most commonly used JavaScript in their work. More, though, told Stack OverFlow they loved Python; fewer dread it.

Regardless of the technical skills, Dice tells us that Burning Glass found employers also want their hires to be good communicators, collaborators, problem solvers and troubleshooters. The other “soft skills” that most frequently show up in job posts are creativity, planning and writing.

Dice points out that, “It’s one thing to code an awesome app; you also need to express your needs and wants to your team members, your manager, and even senior management.”

“Your ‘soft skills’… ultimately matter as much as your technical and coding skills, especially if you aspire to become a team leader or even run a company at some point.”

Employers may be asking for a lot, but they are willing to pay well to get the right people. Right out of school with no experience, starting pay ranges from a low of $66,000 to as much as $99,000. The top end goes to developers with specialized and high demand skills. And, though there are jobs that don’t require a degree, 88.9% of job ads ask for a bachelor’s degree.

With the demand for software developers growing every year and not enough developers to fill all the jobs, it’s taking employers an average of 40 days to hire. And that was before COVID-19 slowed everything up.

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Why Is the Cybersecurity Gap Growing?

In 2016 Cisco estimated there were a million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide. Last November, (ISC)2, the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, said the world was short 4 million cybersecurity professionals.

Why has the gap widened?

Dice.com, the tech careers site, says the reasons are numerous. Two, though, stand out, Dice says in a recent post:

  1. “Many cybersecurity workers feel constrained by a lack of career development and training offered to them.”
  2. “Enterprises that need highly-skilled and motivated employees to ensure the business is secure are not taking the right steps to nurture the talent needed to make that happen.”

To explain that, Dice cited a survey by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), which revealed that 68% of the cybersecurity professionals feel they have no well-defined career path. Most moved into security because of a personal interest after first working in different IT areas.

Steve Durbin, managing director of the Information Security Forum, told Dice there’s a disconnect between human resources and security teams. HR doesn’t understand what skills are important, nor does it recognize the mental and physical toll cybersecurity takes.

“This hinders the organization’s ability to identify relevant talent and provide adequate support for the professional development of the security workforce,” Durbin said.

It’s easy to get “pigeonholed,” Morgan Mango, a cybersecurity researcher, says. As an example, she says someone working in PKI early in their career might get tagged as a specialist, limiting their options.

“I would always suggest people to find a job in cybersecurity that’s very flexible and very broad in terms of job description and tasks,” Mango told Dice.

Organizations have a responsibility to encourage development of their security professionals.

“To build a sustainable security workforce,” Durbin said, “Organizations should adapt to market demands by seeking candidates with diverse competencies and skill sets coupled with providing competitive benefits and structured career development. For some these changes are already underway but for the majority, the approach is still new and untried.”

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

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