I do agree with Zac about developers should having those skills. In some scenarios, you may have a point. However, how can a developer negotiate their salary, market their skills or pitch their idea/product if they can't pitch/communicate it to the other party.
25+ years as a Software Developer. I'm passionate about process improvement using technology. Let's all work smarter not harder and do more with less.
MY THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN
"should" - No. "need" - helpful if you want to be more than a developer. We don't do this with any other occupation where we try and turn them into more than they want to be. Why can't developers just be developers? Steve Wozniak who started Apple with Steve Jobs just wanted to do the technical stuff in the background. He let Steve Jobs be the front person. Do you say Steve Wozniak should have had business skills? No. He did just fine without them.
There is another point I would like to make why I disagree. I teach CIS courses and a couple of times I had the pleasure of having students on the autism spectrum in my class. If you were hiring a developer they would not get a job for reasons I will not outline here but they would make good developers.
Ok I agree, "should" perhaps wasn't the right word as developers don't specifically have to create the next Apple (business ideas), however developers do need to have the communication skills and a bit of business acumen to negotiate their salary/market their skills when needed, otherwise, more often than not will end up with a lower salary than they deserve.
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Hey Zac and Kyle,
I do agree with Zac about developers should having those skills. In some scenarios, you may have a point. However, how can a developer negotiate their salary, market their skills or pitch their idea/product if they can't pitch/communicate it to the other party.
Solid article Zac.
Great points Malik, and thanks for reading!
"should" - No. "need" - helpful if you want to be more than a developer. We don't do this with any other occupation where we try and turn them into more than they want to be. Why can't developers just be developers? Steve Wozniak who started Apple with Steve Jobs just wanted to do the technical stuff in the background. He let Steve Jobs be the front person. Do you say Steve Wozniak should have had business skills? No. He did just fine without them.
There is another point I would like to make why I disagree. I teach CIS courses and a couple of times I had the pleasure of having students on the autism spectrum in my class. If you were hiring a developer they would not get a job for reasons I will not outline here but they would make good developers.
Ok I agree, "should" perhaps wasn't the right word as developers don't specifically have to create the next Apple (business ideas), however developers do need to have the communication skills and a bit of business acumen to negotiate their salary/market their skills when needed, otherwise, more often than not will end up with a lower salary than they deserve.