What Is The Difference Between Hard Skills and Soft Skills?

If there is one word that perfectly describes today’s professional world, it is ‘competitive’. The hustle culture is especially evident in the software industry where the job descriptions comprise a long list of roles and responsibilities that potential candidates are expected to excel at. In this era where everyone is running the race at an exceptional speed to climb the ladder of success, aspiring developers have to equip themselves with multiple competencies. This includes both hard skills and soft skills. So, what is the difference between hard skills and soft skills, and why are these skills important in a workplace?

This blog will focus on the importance of hard skills, as well as the importance of soft skills in the professional life of a developer. More importantly, we have curated a hard skills vs. soft skills list to help you better understand the main differences between the two.

Hard Skills vs Soft Skills: Know The Key Differences

Before we get to the differences, let’s first take a look at what hard skills and soft skills mean individually and how they contribute to shaping an aspiring developer’s career.

In the software development field, hard skills are also called technical skills. They are specific to any particular field as well as to the requirements that come with certain roles and positions that the candidate is interviewing for. These are the skills that have to be aligned with the kind of projects that the hiring company works on. Each position in every organization demands a different set of hard skills, with a few basic ones that stay common among most roles.

For example, junior-level developers are not expected to be truly independent. They should only know how to implement the basic aspects of any project. However, a senior or expert developer is expected to be fluent in all the tools and technologies that are used through all the phases of the application development. They should be able to carry the project on their back from the scratch and lead the way for the junior programmers on the team.

Soft skills are more associated with the personality of candidates rather than the technical capabilities they have gained during their educational as well as professional years. In today’s world where effective communication is the key to faster and better results, soft skills have become an important criterion in the software development industry. Developers who wish to make a mark in the field are expected to be equipped with certain soft skills, regardless of the position or the role that they are applying for.

These soft skills include factors like the ability to work and collaborate with the team, time and task management, clear communication through both written and verbal formats, good presentation and concept explanation skills, networking and relationship-building skills, and so on. For senior roles, employers can expect some additional soft skills like inspiring leadership, fair task assigning, resource management, quick decision-making, and such.

While technical knowledge is a must in the IT sector, the ideal employee is the one who possesses a good blend of both hard skills and soft skills. The candidates who ensure that they excel at both types of skills have an upper hand amidst the fierce competition, especially in the market that is brimming with aspirants who are just as talented or more when it comes to technical skills.

However, to master the skills that fall under both these categories, candidates must first know the difference between hard skills and soft skills. Let’s now take a look at the main distinctions.

Hard Skills Soft Skills
   
Hard skills are essentially technical skills. These are associated with job-related expertise that employees need to excel at the job role. This may include in-depth knowledge of the latest tools and technologies in the industry. On the contrary, soft skills are more related to the personal traits of candidates. These include communication skills, capabilities to handle pressures and work around deadlines, work in a team collaboratively, and such.
   
Candidates can develop hard skills during their educational journey. They can also acquire these skills during their internships, previous job roles, as well as the personal projects they may have taken up during portfolio building. Soft skills can also be developed through live projects. However, these have to be practical learning experiences wherein the candidate has to sometimes adapt and improvise. They mostly have to develop these skills individually.
   
Hard skills are a great way to identify candidates who are good on paper. Soft skills can be used as a measure to determine whether the candidate is a good person.
   
The hard skills that a candidate possesses can be easily analyzed through resumes, portfolios, job-related assignments, and role-specific interview questions. On the other hand, soft skills can be better evaluated in person. Interviews have to ask situational and behavioral questions to analyze the candidate’s personality characteristics.
   
As mentioned before, hard skills are measurable and can be described using numerical or yes/no criteria. Soft skills are not as easy to quantify since they are intangible. They can be better described in adjectives rather than numerical scales.
   
Once an expert developer achieves the highest level of mastery when it comes to the latest tools and technologies, that is the maximum goal. The bar is set with every new update of the tool or the technology. Soft skills are generally a consistent work in progress. This means that there is always room for improvement and the candidate can learn to be better with every interaction and collaboration during live projects.

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