Communication Skills – How Important is it in the IT Industry?

Ask any career consultant about the skills which employers commonly seek for in a candidate during interviews and you may end-up with a list where communication is at a top position. It is a vital skill for employees of all hierarchies of an organization. With an aim to increase the employability quotient of a candidate, today most of the degrees in information technology offered by institutes and universities have Communication Skills as a subject in their curriculum. So how influential is the role of communication in the IT sector? The following write up tries to put in perspective the importance of communication skills for candidates seeking career in IT industry.

The Role of Communication in IT Sector

The art of communicating, in its true sense, involves the ability to listen, to understand, to contemplate and to put across the right message suitable to the audience. All these aspects of communication play a vital role when you are working in the IT field. An IT professional essentially should be able to understand the needs of the client or the employer and deliver technology solutions accordingly. In a globalized environment, English is gaining more and more importance as a lingua franca and there is a need for IT professionals to be able to converse and write precisely in the language. Experts state that communication skills are as important as the technical knowledge of an individual and the skills go a long way in helping the candidates successfully climb the ladder of hierarchy within an organization.

Good Communication Skills – How do they Help?

To get a better picture of the role of communication in an IT professional’s day-to-day work, let us consider a web-designer/developer who is working for an off-shore client. Consider all interactions between the client and the company (service provider) takes place via Emails. Now this is how good communication skills play a key role in the business.

• With technically knowledgeable professional on one side and not so tech savvy client on the other, the professional should have the ability to understand the requirement of the client (which may be communicated through layman’s language in Emails). It is important for the professional to realize why the client is thinking in a particular way. For this the professional should be able to read through the lines of client’s Emails. This can help the professional provide groundbreaking solutions to the client
• There may be times when the client is wrong. It is important for the IT professional to be patient and diplomatic when responding to the client. The professional should be able to use the right words to put across the message and ensure the client is not dissatisfied and continues business with the company
• Educating the client about the technology may come as one of the day-to-day responsibilities of the professional. The professional should ensure to use the right language to optimally explain the client about how the technology works and why things are in a certain way in his/her product or services
• The professional should be able to win the trust of the client through the way he/she communicates. This can go a long-way and help clients make quick and informed decisions whenever there is a change in the technology which needs to be adapted in the product or when a new service/product proposal is made by the company. It also helps the company serve clients better and build long lasting business association with them

The points mentioned above are just few instances related to web development domain where communication is key. The role of communication skills in IT sector is much broader and deeper. Therefore developing people skills greatly helps professionals during their career.

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