Emotional Intelligence for Software Engineers

Emotional Intelligence capabilities often distinguish great leaders from mere ones. These include a group of 5 skills that maximise both a leader’s and their follower’s performance. In this article, I look at practical ways in which these skills can be applied in technical roles such as software developers, software engineers and programmers.

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Daniel Goleman first proposed a model for Emotional Intelligence in 1995, based on studies which identified factors that distinguished great leaders from others. Apart from technical skills, such as accounting or programming, and cognitive capabilities such as analytical reasoning, he found that there were 5 skills that great leaders had in common, which he called emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

So how can these skills be applied to technical roles in today’s software industry, such as software developers, engineers and programmers? Read on to find out!

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the “ability to recognise and understand your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others”. As a software engineer, the ability to assess your strengths and weaknesses is key. I don’t mean whether you are good at coding in Python, Javascript or Machine Learning, but more about…