About Dragos:

Dragos Nedelcu is the Founder and Expert Software Trainer at Code With Dragos, a renowned software training institute in Berlin, Germany. His passion lies in helping other software developers become industry leaders. Dragos started as a self-taught software developer and spent the first years building custom software for small businesses in Madrid before moving to Berlin.  He progressed quickly, getting promoted to Senior Developer in record time and joining a top technology company, Mister Spex. 

Dragos became a known figure on Linkedin after his posts were read by thousands of software developers, making him one of the most sought-after experts in the industry on the topics of programming and software development.


Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Dragos Nedelcu talks about building effective communication skills as a software engineer.  Dragos explains that gaining technical expertise comes first if you are in the initial stages of your career. However, your growth and progress in an organisation are largely dependent on your ability to collaborate with your team, break down suggestions from your peers, and align with the company’s overall vision. Communication is key to achieving all of this in the later stages. Tune in as we also jump into exploring the need to develop technical muscle memory and the points to keep in mind while moving companies - for an engineer at any level!


Key Takeaways:

• Gaining technical expertise should be the primary focus for junior-level engineers anywhere.
• Communicating and establishing relationships with other developers is essential to ease your workflow and collaborate in any environment.
• If you feel you’re an engineer with average technical skills, you could grow into a consultant with exceptional communication skills.
• Effective communication could also translate to faster promotion in any company.
• Engineers often get caught in the spiral of negativity because of their inherent problem-solving and digging-out-bugs nature. 
• Communication skills enable transparency. That, in turn, allows you to deliver more and align yourself better with the company’s vision.
• There is no roadmap/ hierarchy to growing as a software professional. 
• With limited in-person meetings today, the online working atmosphere is demanding practical communication skills more than ever.
• It’s important to build muscle memory for your technical skills - the 80/20 rule applies well in software engineering.

Episode Outline:

[01:43] - Meet Dragos
[04:14] - Dragos talks about helping engineers improve their soft skills
[06:31] - How important are communication skills for engineers?
[10:19] -  Understanding the collaborative side of software engineering
[13:07] - Why should you build effective communication skills as an engineer?
[15:36] -  What do you mean by effective communication?
[17:32] -  Better communication = faster promotion?
[27:35] - What are the skills you need to keep handy to grow as a manager?
[32:27] - There is no roadmap to growing as a software engineer. Understand why and how to make your way yourself.
[37:16] -  The struggles of building effective communication skills as an introvert
[41:10] -  What can junior level engineers do to grow in their career?
[42:53] -  Why is it important to continue to upskill yourself on the technological side?
[43:43] - About building muscle memory
[45:48] - How can you, as a mid-level engineer, grow in a better role at your company or others?
[49:16] - How can you become successful as a software engineer?
[53:08] - Advice for engineers wanting to switch roles or companies
[58:07] - Should money be the key factor to make you move?