Why Communication Trumps Code

Effective communication improves every whiteboarding meeting

Young engineers sometimes put all their energy into learning technical stuff. But let me tell you why I think they should also work on their communication skills.

See, writing code is like having a superpower. You create something on your computer, and it can help tons of people. You can use it over and over again without much effort.

But guess what? Communication is an even more amazing superpower. When you’re good at talking and explaining things, you can convince other engineers to create things that are super important. It’s like getting a whole team of superheroes to help you, which is way better than doing everything by yourself

Communication Helps You Get Noticed

Creating great code is important, but there’s more to getting a promotion. Your manager plays a big role in recommending you for one. If your work is easy for others to see and understand, it makes your manager’s job easier. Being good at writing and speaking lets everyone see and appreciate what you bring to the table, making it more likely for you to get what you deserve.

AI’s Growing Role

Have you heard about tools like Github’s Copilot? They can already help write code, although not perfectly yet. But guess what? These tools are getting better really quickly. If they keep improving at this rate, being good at coding might not be so special anymore.

But you know what’s not easy for AI to replace? Talking and explaining things in person, it’s much harder for computers to have real conversations like we do. So, being a great communicator will still make engineers stand out, even when code becomes super easy to create.

By now, you can probably see why being a good communicator is important for engineers. If you want to get better at it, here are two practical ways to start:

1. Join Toastmasters: It’s like a club where you practice speaking in front of others. I’ve been doing it since college, and it’s made me better at talking in meetings and presentations.
2. Write More and Get Feedback: Writing helps you get better at explaining things. That’s why I write on Medium and LinkedIn.

I’d love to get to know more of my readers. If you want a little practice in writing, just leave a comment and let the conversation flow!”