You Only Need 5 Skills To Become A Software Developer

by Steve Brownlee

You can be a software developer. It doesn't matter if you're a genius or not. It doesn't matter if you did well in traditional education. It requires no advanced knowledge of mathematics. It doesn't matter if you don't see yourself as one.

I've been coaching people into the career for nearly 7 years, and I'm here to tell you that, unless you have a severe learning disability, you can be a software developer.

Here's what you do need.

  1. The ability to put your ego aside and ask for help. You will need help.
  2. The ability to put your ego aside and learn in the face of relentless failures. You will fail 10 times more than you succeed.
  3. The ability to put your ego aside and help your team be the best it can be. It's a team sport.
  4. The ability to put your ego aside and realize that the computer is always right, and you are always wrong.
  5. A willingness to be coached on communication, creative thinking, and critical thinking.

One of my hardest jobs as a coach for beginner software developers is breaking down the toxic expectations of traditional education and letting people realize how creative they really are, and how rewarding true learning can be. The first step is breaking the connection in their brains that learning is regurgitating trivia on a test.

Learning is experience.

You need to create something, fail miserably at it, and then try over and over again until understanding happens. Then, after well-earned successes, you gain the ability to analyze what you can now do.

Sound familiar? Of course it does, because that how you learned to do everything.

  • Walking
  • Talking
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Driving
  • Cooking
  • Filing taxes
  • Navigating personal relationships

Becoming a professional developer works the exact same way.