We’d all love to speak perfect English. But finding the motivation can sometimes be tough. So we spoke to some of our top students working for the likes of Google and PayPal about some of their biggest language challenges as well as why communication is so important.
Based on their insights, we created a list of tangible benefits. Our goal is to shed light on these benefits to encourage more non-native software developers to commit to boosting their English skills.
If you want to read more about what you can do to overcome these challenges, check out our new guide, created especially for non-native software developers, just like you.
Our research shows that the following are some benefits of having great communication skills as a software developer. Do you agree with some of these? And do you find any unexpected?
1. Earn more money by landing your dream job
Everybody has a dream job. Maybe it’s working at an international company like Google or PayPal with a higher salary, great company culture, or simply working on really cool projects. But to land that job, you need to have great communication skills. Why?
First and foremost, you need great communication skills to get through the cultural fit phase of the interview process. As a non-native speaker you face unconscious or native speaker bias. This means if you have a foreign accent, it’s harder to convince a recruiter that you are the right person for the job. But you can overcome this if you can communicate confidently and clearly. By doing so you dramatically increase your chances of getting through the interview.
Remember communication ability is one of the most desirable soft skills at the big name companies. And not every native speaker is a great communicator. Your ability to accurately describe a situation is much more important than simple grammar knowledge. Cultural fit interviews look at how well you would collaborate in a team. Poor communication = poor teamwork. This makes boosting your English skills an absolute must.
And even if you don’t get a callback from your dream company, your improved communication will help you at your current company. Most employee reviews are held in English so can give yourself an edge over your international colleagues.
2. Hold presentations with confidence
Maybe you have a sprint review coming up. Or perhaps it’s your turn to present a new feature to the team? Whatever the reason, presentations can be nerve-wracking.
But presentations are one of the best ways to show you are an active contributor and that can hold your own with your native speaker colleagues.
Conversely, if you are shy when it comes to English, you could be giving your colleagues the edge over you. Commit to boosting your English skills and you can turn presentations into a golden opportunity to showcase your skills.
3. Perform faster research
The better your English skills, the quicker you will be able to research topics and resolve issues. English is the lingua franca for almost all user documentation, READMEs, and coding tutorials in the coding community, so it makes sense that by improving your skills you will be able to perform research much faster, making you a more efficient and effective contributor.
You’ll be able to understand users docs, READMEs, tutorials, question forums more easily, spend less time translating and more time committing code. Not only this but you will be able to write great English-language user docs and READMEs yourself. This is a really valuable skill to add to your portfolio.
4. Get more projects greenlit
While you may have a host of awesome ideas for cool projects, you need to be able to convince key stakeholders of why your idea is great. To do this you need excellent communication skills. Use your powers of persuasion to make your voice heard and get those projects greenlit!
How you can boost your communication skills
We’ve looked at some of the many benefits of boosting your English communication skills. Commit to improving your skills today and who knows? That dream job could be just one interview away!
Our brand new English Guide for Software Developers combines our own expertise and key insights from our students to provide practical strategies to overcome the most common language challenges.
Downloading this guide can help you make a roadmap to landing your dream software development job. The guide includes:
The key communication challenges for non-native software developers
The benefits of great communication skills
Practical strategies to overcome these challenges from our experts
For any additional information or questions, you can also reach out at hello@talaera.com.Interested in getting the best offers and receiving free content on Business English communication? Subscribe to our newsletter and we will keep you in the loop with offers, free events, and development materials!