Master Clear Communication to Boost Your Career
Hello 👋, welcome to the second step in the 6 Steps to Stand Out in Your Career series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did while writing it! 😊
Communication is a skill everyone should master. It's essential for building relationships, persuading others, and both understanding and teaching effectively.
Developers are every day communicating at least through code, by writing code we are expressing some business logic that if it is not clearly communicated, it will become a mess and hard to maintain in the future.
Here are 5 key ways you can improve your communication skills. Let’s dive in!
1. Learn the business
Knowing the business well is one of the best ways to understand how things should work. With this knowledge, you can help your company or project grow healthy by contributing useful ideas and solutions.
In Domain-Driven Design (DDD), there is a concept called ubiquitous language. This is a shared language used by both developers and business users to ensure everyone is on the same page. By learning and applying this common language, you can better understand the code and how it connects to the business and its users. This makes it easier to align technical solutions with real-world needs. This knowledge helps you connect your work to the bigger picture and show your value.
2. Know people
Knowing the right people help us work more effectively. When you have good connections, you can ask questions to the correct person who can provide the best guidance or support.
It’s also important because, in some situations, there might not be a clear right or wrong answer. Instead, it’s about making the best choice for the moment. Knowing the people you work with can help you make better decisions.
As the most of the things in IT, “it depends” happens very often 😅
3. Understand the big and the small picture
Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve and understanding where you are going helps you focus your efforts on the most important tasks. This allows you to prioritize effectively and avoid wasting energy on less valuable activities.
One of the biggest challenges in any project is when people work in opposite directions. To avoid this, it’s essential to align your understanding of both the overall goals (the big picture) and the smaller, day-to-day details (the small picture). This skill is especially important if you aspire to become a Tech Lead or Manager, as these roles require guiding teams toward a common objective.
Even for senior and post-senior positions, this ability is crucial. It’s often expected from these positions to help guide the team, ensuring everyone is aligned and working together effectively.
4. Improve your code and the way you express things
I’ve been writing a lot about why writing good and clear code is essential. If your code is a mess, it is impossible to communicate clearly, because you will be unable to read your code to someone.
If you would like to know more about why this is so important and how you can improve it, please, have a look here:
5. Improve your communication skills
Communication is also a skill, just like coding or riding a bike. This is something we need to keep practicing and improving, learning by feedback is essential to keep improving this skill.
Conclusion
Good communication is the key to a successful career. Whether you’re a developer working on REST APIs or an analyst preparing reports, your ability to explain your ideas clearly can make you stand out.
Clear communication is not just about speaking or writing well; it’s about making sure your audience understands you.