Sometimes the tech world drives me to despair. A quick look around Stack Exchange and forums and you can see most people have terrible written communication skills. I have a long history of trying to encourage people to improve their communication skills because it really matters.
This is something I have had to work on myself, and still do. If you don’t put some effort into developing your communication skills you will always remain a second-class member of staff.
I’ve got to the point now where I’m becoming hard nosed about it. If you’ve not already recognised this in yourself and started to try and do something about it, why should an employer waste their time with you?
If you really don’t know where to start, you might want to look through these series of posts I wrote a while ago.
You might think it’s all about silent geniuses, but the tech industry is really about communication. If you can’t communicate efficiently with colleagues and the users in the business area you are working in, there is no point you being there.
Please, please, please make the effort. Once you do you will never look back!
Cheers
Tim…
The only reason that I am in the position I am in (have been there for 28+ years now so I must be doing something right) is to translate this IT stuff for the users who really use it . You can find people that can understand the technical stuff pretty easily, but finding people that can then help the end users, who the IT is for anyway, is harder.
Whilst I largely agree with you – improving your communication is important and EVERYBODY should try – I don’t think your post is nuanced enough.
There is a significant level of Autistic Spectrum Disorder within IT which causes a whole range of communication difficulty. Coupled with that, people with autism are pretty important to IT. The ability to do complex highly skilled but repetitive tasks which require a large degree of attention is fundamental to operating computers successfully.
I’m not hard-nosed about it. I’m sympathetic to those who struggle with communication. If they are struggling with communication, I now wonder what I can do to explain myself better to help those who struggle even more that I do.