Top 6 Qualities Every Great Developer Has

As an IT talent acquisition, I get to see a lot of resumes every day. I talk to many different people with very different backgrounds. Some have college degrees, others have built their careers through self-study and a lot of experience. Despite their visible differences, there are some personality traits that all great software professionals have in common.
In addition to the incredible and diligent work that every developer does, I think it’s important to keep a balance between soft skills and hard skills.

So here are the top 6 qualities every great developer should have:

• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, are key to success, considering that most developer jobs require extensive collaboration with various parties. Contrary to what many people may think, developers do not sit sheltered at their desks and have no contact with the outside world. As surprising as it may sound to some, their work involves a lot of feedback meetings, kick-off sessions, and daily collaboration with colleagues.As a developer, you must be comfortable with, for example, asking all the right questions to the right people, being able to communicate freely with the stakeholders, and also knowing how to ask for help when necessary.
• Bringing creative solutions to the table is of great benefit to both the company and the customer. Developers provide a way out of customer/user problems, pain and inconvenience. Occasionally they need to think outside the box and challenge themselves to find solutions they have never done or thought of before. Progress is uncomfortable, but it must be done. This leads me to the next trait.
• A fast learning ability (to adapt and grow) is a must, because as a software professional you should ideally be very curious, an amazing self-learner with a can-do and positive attitude, because in programming things are constantly changing. And fast. Every day there are new tools, programming languages and technologies, and it’s important to keep up with all these changes. Also, it’s good practice to program as much as you can, even in your spare time. A large part of a developer’s job is to spend time on operational tasks. Therefore, it is important not to neglect coding skills. This mindset helps developers improve their skills and stay up to date with the latest trends and best practices in the tech ecosystem.
• Being a great team player makes everyone’s job easier when they use empathy, collaboration, and a knowledge-sharing mentality with their teammates. When they are able to solve difficult problems and help other developers, they can improve their team, themselves, and the quality of the final product delivered.
• Good task and time management is also very important, such as showing up on time for meetings or other appointments. Remember that developers spend most of their time dealing with clients and their strict deadlines. Showing up or delivering projects on time is not only a sign of professionalism, but also a sign of consideration and respect. Therefore, it is very important to estimate the time they might need to complete certain tasks. As a developer, do not expect your supervisors to do every single time management task for you. You know better than anyone how much time and effort a task will take. Use your voice and show initiative. These skills could also come in handy in your personal life. Try to balance both, and you’ll see an increase in productivity – professional – and quality – personal.
• Last but not least, attention to detail is crucial for programmers to create clean and functional code. To achieve this, they must recognize errors and shortcomings in the code, which, by the way, is perfectly normal. Errors, bugs, happen to even the best. Being precise, even with the smallest elements, and having analytical skills is the superpower of any developer.
• Be critical with yourself.

These are the kind of skills and traits we look for in the people we hire for LOAD. We want our employees to realize that hard skills can be learned at any time, and they will be as new technologies, processes, and tools emerge all the time. In addition, LOAD has adopted a self-learning policy that we take very seriously. Soft skills are the reason why we have been able to build such a balanced team in terms of mentality. We are a boat led by like-minded people.