Ask HN: How do you measure your improvement in 'soft' skills over time? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you measure your improvement in 'soft' skills over time?

13 pointsiobt925 comments

When writing this question, I actually had the skill set of a programmer more in mind. I believe that is widely recognized that the role of a programmer is to solve programs, and hence focusing one's efforts on purely gaining theoretical knowledge may not have such a great ROI (depending on your goals). Yet, it may not be as straightforward to conclude that one's programming skill has 'improved' compared to reading theory and as a result concluding that one is 'more knowledgeable'. So my question would be, how do you assess that your 'problem-solving' abilities have improved over time?

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Two things come to my mind:

1) Reflect on how is your problem solving process. What kind of emotions do you feel, when you are faced with new problem? How do you proceed, is it chaotic, or straightforward? Are you able to calm down and look at the problem from higher perspective? I was recently asking myself these questions, when I switched job and was suddenly faced with completely new type of technical problems but also new personal challenges (mainly inter- peresonal relationships). You might think you are good problem solver, until new, stressing situation appears, which makes you behave like 8 year old child :-D

2) Ask people around you. When I felt stupid, slow and incapable of solving problems I actually asked people around me what they think. To my surprise they said I obviously need more experience, but my approach to problem is very good! If you have people you can trust, this is very good way how to get valuable feedback and improve!

I just jotted this down real quick, but hope it helps.

Is problem solving a 'soft skill'? I'd consider problem solving to be a technical skill - assuming the problems are technical in nature.

I've been asked in the past to increase my focus on 'soft skills' in favor of gaining more technical expertise. What was meant by that was that I spend more time talking with people, building relationships, playing politics, and generally becoming more amicable in situations that I find irrational or wasteful.

Your question and your attempt at clarification are at odds. The Oxford definition of “soft skills” is:

> personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people

What are you trying to ask?

My soft skills have gone down because I have been screwed over and see the lies of the company. I'm just jaded and don't really care for all the BS.

I don't. I just iterate over time and don't worry about it.

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