Soft Skills Engineering

By Jamison Dance and Dave Smith

What's Soft Skills Engineering about?

It takes more than great code to be a great engineer. Soft Skills Engineering is a weekly advice podcast for software developers about the non-technical stuff that goes into being a great software developer.

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Soft Skills Engineering episodes:

04.22.2024
Episode 405: Scaled agile pain and top-heavy team
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: One and a half year ago, I joined my current team as a tech lead, in an organisation that uses ‘Scaled Agile’. This was my first...
04.15.2024
Episode 404: Interview comedy and talking pay while new
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: “Hello, Is it considered ok to be a bit funny during an interview? To give more context: In a recent interview, I progressed up to the final cultural-fit round...
04.08.2024
Episode 403: Massaging the software and career never-never-land
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a bootcamp graduate working on a career shift from massage to software development. How much of my previous career should I bring into my résumé?...
04.01.2024
Episode 402: It's all on fire and title inflation
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Happy Birthday Dave and congrats on the 400 episode milestone! Last year I was recruited away from my cushy Sr Dev role at...
03.25.2024
Episode 401: I AM the superstar and pro-rated raise
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A listener named Metal Mario asks, A few weeks back in Episode 395 you talked about working with a superstar teammate. I feel...
03.18.2024
Episode 400: Underperforming intern and upskilling
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a junior software engineer who has been placed in charge of a handful of graduates and interns who have joined my team. The project is...
03.11.2024
Episode 399: Higher paid than my boss and crossing over to management
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Jim asks, I am currently a senior software engineer in a well funded (but not profitable yet) startup. I am highly effective...
03.04.2024
Episode 398: Tech lead for contractors and how to detach my ego from my work
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How do you mentor a junior-level contractor? My company has been hiring a lot of contractors lately. Sometimes they hire out a full...
02.26.2024
Episode 397: Skunkworks and too much work/life balance
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Davide says, I have a lot of ideas for significantly improving manufacturing processes, but management wants us to focus on business “priorities”....
02.19.2024
Episode 396: Enthusiastic scope creep and human search engine
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’ve recently started a new Gig as a Senior Developer/Tech Lead at a company where we are our own clients, using the software we develop in-house. ...
02.12.2024
Episode 395: Super star teammate and Getting better with no financial incentives
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Bobby ForgedRequest asks One of my coworker, who is the nicest, most humble person I’ve ever met, is about twice as productive...
02.05.2024
Episode 394: Scrum master, weapons master and minimum tenure to not look bad
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: My team are about 4 months into transitioning from a scrum/kanban way of working to a more traditional scrum/sprint way of working. I...
01.29.2024
Episode 393: Soft skills for interns and intern to QA
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: NK: Hi, I am starting a SWE internship at big tech company in a few weeks. Given the current state of the market,...
01.22.2024
Episode 392: Old code and choosing my annual reviewers
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: We are a team of under 10 people who provide technical services to other departments of our organization. We use a tool that is built by...
01.15.2024
Episode 391: Post-staff and direct or a jerk
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey guys! I’m a young engineer in a specialized area of infrastructure. I’m pretty good at what I do, and I’ve been through some leadership...
01.08.2024
Episode 390: Fixing typos and Cassandra
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a backend engineer at a large non-public company. I noticed a bunch of our emails and website riddled with typos. I can not claim that...
01.01.2024
Episode 389: Sleepy and bureaucracy
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: The Sleepy Engineer says, Hey SSE, how do you deal with drowsiness? I notice that sometimes when I am very tired at my...
12.25.2023
Episode 388: Money not compliments and principal engineer coding guidelines
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey guys, love the show. Not sure if its really a question or more of a confession. I’m an individual contributor at a software company with...
12.18.2023
Episode 387: No juniors and manager forced to return to office
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hello Dave and Jamison, I wanted to say thank you for your podcast. It’s been a great wealth of information and comic relief. Can we bring...
12.11.2023
Episode 386: Stuck with toil and how to get a dev job as a self-taught career-switcher in 2023
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I feel like I’m stuck. I’m in a senior/lead position technically called an SRE, but I find myself doing all kinds of cleanup work that should...
12.04.2023
Episode 385: Attention to detail and sabbatical
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hello! Thank you for your podcast, I definitely find the episodes to be helpful. Lately I’ve been struggling with attention to detail. I just forget to...
11.27.2023
Episode 384: EM missing code and non-location pay
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A listener named Jay asks, Over the past eight years I’ve been promoted from Software Dev to Team Lead and then to Engineering...
11.20.2023
Episode 383: In the trenches without writing code and how to close a social skill gap
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I recently started the interviewing for a senior engineering manager role at a fairly prestigious, but not huge (maybe 30-50 engineers) tech company. The job description...
11.13.2023
Episode 382: Mentors for managers and mob programming
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: There aren’t a lot of engineering management growth resources in my company. It’s a relatively small company with about 50 engineers. My manager doesn’t have time...
11.06.2023
Episode 381: Doing less and bad reference
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: My company is doing performance reviews. While writing my self-review, I was shocked by how much I had accomplished in the last 6 months. I’d led...
10.30.2023
Episode 380: Overruled by non-technical manager and describing technical stuff to non-technical people
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Ashleigh asks, I’m a mid-level developer at a small company with a non-technical manager. After several months working on migrating our users...
10.23.2023
Episode 379: Someone fixed my ticket and is tech debt bad for my career
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: “Hi! Love the show, long time listener. So an architect noticed an issue with credentials embedded into request body being logged. I had...
10.16.2023
Episode 378: Too much leadership and awkward zoom silence
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’ve managed an ML team in a small company for ~2 years now. I created an 8 person team from scratch and I’m super proud of...
10.09.2023
Episode 377: Short Tenure Promotion and too much free time at work
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi, I’m a senior software engineer at a big tech company, where I’ve been employed for precisely one year. So far, the feedback I’ve received has...
10.02.2023
Episode 376: Return to office and quitting tech
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I applied and was hired for a 100% telecommute position. Recently, the company has mandated all employees near an office switch to a hybrid schedule. I’m...
09.25.2023
Episode 375: visa woes and Bob does everything wrong
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I work as a Software Engineering Manager at the European office of a US company. Recently, many of my colleagues successfully obtained US visas for an...
09.18.2023
Episode 374: Secret burnout and no room for failure
This episode is sposored by OneSchema, the best way to build CSV import into your product. Check OneSchema out at https://oneschema.co/softskills In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Morning! I will cut straight to the...
09.11.2023
Episode 373: I have no vision and not-so-positive environment
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Love the show, you guys have saved my bacon more times than I can count! I interviewed at an organization for a Senior...
09.04.2023
Episode 372: Equity and getting interrupted in Zoom meetings
This episode is sposored by OneSchema, the best way to build CSV import into your product. Check OneSchema out at https://oneschema.co/softskills In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I joined a startup at the peak...
08.28.2023
Episode 371: After Mary Poppins and credit denied
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Kate asks, Hi Dave and Jamison! I’m in a situation where my predecessor, Jane, was a super helpful “Mary Poppins”...
08.21.2023
Episode 370: Fake imposter syndrome and opposite ends
This episode is sposored by OneSchema, the best way to build CSV import into your product. Check OneSchema out at https://oneschema.co/softskills In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hello Jave and Dames, Long time listener...
08.14.2023
Episode 369: Staying at a sinking ship and behavioral interview questions
This episode is sposored by OneSchema, the best way to build CSV import into your product. Check OneSchema out at https://oneschema.co/softskills In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: My employer offered a retention bonus after: ...
08.07.2023
Episode 368: Manager in crisis and cutting costs
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I am a senior engineer working in a team of 7. My team lead went through a pretty rough divorce in December. Since then he’s been...
07.31.2023
Episode 367: Hybrid denier and recovering from crying
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: We’ve recently switched to mandatory 2 days of in-person work a week but my employee keeps working from home! Whenever I ask him to come in...
07.24.2023
Episode 366: No FE work and my co-worker is a parrot
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’ve been working with this fintech company for the past year as the only FE developer in a team with other 6 BE developers, but recently,...
07.17.2023
Episode 365: Rerun of 307, side hustles and telling me when you are stuck
This is a rerun of episode 307. Enjoy! In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I work for a big bank. I recently found out I am severely underpaid. I have only received “exceeds...
07.10.2023
Episode 364: EMs doing technical tasks and too soft?
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Do you think an EM should only be involved with management tasks, and let the members handle the technical stuff, or should they have some technical...
07.03.2023
Episode 363: Future impact of tech stacks and async communication
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Thor asks, Is there a chance the tech stack I choose throughout my career will hurt my chances to shift direction towards...
06.26.2023
Episode 362: Running the clock down and updating linkedin without freaking people out
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Greetings from Germany! My job is creating a customized Windows installation image with PowerShell & C#. It takes about 2 hours to build and test...
06.19.2023
Episode 361: Get git and non-tech ramping up
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Schtolteheim Reinbach III asks, Hey soft skills engineering, love you guys. I work at a company you wouldn’t hear much about, on...
06.12.2023
Episode 360: Mixing up names and improving without feedback
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: At work, I occasionally mix names of people in my team when I refer to them in meetings. My mother used to do this with my...
06.05.2023
Episode 359: Competition and awkward in person
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi Dave and Jamison! What do you do when one of your immediate teammates is constantly competing against you? I...
05.29.2023
Episode 358: Sticky Note Scandal and startup appeal
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: During our next team meeting I jokingly gave a status report on the state of my desk and referenced the note. I believe...
05.22.2023
Episode 357: Waiting to be paid and survivor's guilt
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A listener Steve asks, How long is too long to wait to be paid? I’ve worked for 4 early stage...
05.15.2023
Episode 356: Ummmmmmmmm and failed spikes
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I recently started listening to your podcast from the very start of the show! One of the largest differences I noticed (aside from the audio quality,...

What's Soft Skills Engineering about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Soft Skills Engineering episodes:

Episode 405: Scaled agile pain and top-heavy team

Episode 404: Interview comedy and talking pay while new

Episode 403: Massaging the software and career never-never-land

Episode 402: It's all on fire and title inflation

Episode 401: I AM the superstar and pro-rated raise

Episode 400: Underperforming intern and upskilling

Episode 399: Higher paid than my boss and crossing over to management

Episode 398: Tech lead for contractors and how to detach my ego from my work

Episode 397: Skunkworks and too much work/life balance

Episode 396: Enthusiastic scope creep and human search engine

Episode 395: Super star teammate and Getting better with no financial incentives

Episode 394: Scrum master, weapons master and minimum tenure to not look bad

Episode 393: Soft skills for interns and intern to QA

Episode 392: Old code and choosing my annual reviewers

Episode 391: Post-staff and direct or a jerk

Episode 390: Fixing typos and Cassandra

Episode 389: Sleepy and bureaucracy

Episode 388: Money not compliments and principal engineer coding guidelines

Episode 387: No juniors and manager forced to return to office

Episode 386: Stuck with toil and how to get a dev job as a self-taught career-switcher in 2023

Episode 385: Attention to detail and sabbatical

Episode 384: EM missing code and non-location pay

Episode 383: In the trenches without writing code and how to close a social skill gap

Episode 382: Mentors for managers and mob programming

Episode 381: Doing less and bad reference

Episode 380: Overruled by non-technical manager and describing technical stuff to non-technical people

Episode 379: Someone fixed my ticket and is tech debt bad for my career

Episode 378: Too much leadership and awkward zoom silence

Episode 377: Short Tenure Promotion and too much free time at work

Episode 376: Return to office and quitting tech

Episode 375: visa woes and Bob does everything wrong

Episode 374: Secret burnout and no room for failure

Episode 373: I have no vision and not-so-positive environment

Episode 372: Equity and getting interrupted in Zoom meetings

Episode 371: After Mary Poppins and credit denied

Episode 370: Fake imposter syndrome and opposite ends

Episode 369: Staying at a sinking ship and behavioral interview questions

Episode 368: Manager in crisis and cutting costs

Episode 367: Hybrid denier and recovering from crying

Episode 366: No FE work and my co-worker is a parrot

Episode 365: Rerun of 307, side hustles and telling me when you are stuck

Episode 364: EMs doing technical tasks and too soft?

Episode 363: Future impact of tech stacks and async communication

Episode 362: Running the clock down and updating linkedin without freaking people out

Episode 361: Get git and non-tech ramping up

Episode 360: Mixing up names and improving without feedback

Episode 359: Competition and awkward in person

Episode 358: Sticky Note Scandal and startup appeal

Episode 357: Waiting to be paid and survivor's guilt

Episode 356: Ummmmmmmmm and failed spikes