Your Coding Skills Are Worthless (Here's Why)
Let’s talk about how to become a well-rounded engineer.
As a software engineer, you need multiple skills. Tech skills, coding skills, architectural skills, soft skills, communication, collaboration, teamwork.
You need to train all of these equally to be well-rounded.
But there’s one mistake that almost all software engineers make which ends up costing them their careers…
The Most Common Mistake
Most developers focus only on coding and technical skills, and that’s it.
Here’s the problem with that: AI models can now code better than you (in most cases), do it 10 times faster, and 100 times cheaper than you.
If coding is all you have, you might soon be affected by layoffs. You’re easy to replace because all you do is code and that’s something that can either be done by a cheap overseas developer or a senior developer who can use AI properly and do your whole job in 1–2 hours per day.
You’re missing the bigger picture of what you’re providing for the business.
The Gym Analogy
Think about training at the gym. If you only train the parts you want to look big (chest, biceps, back) and skip leg day, you end up with a huge upper body and skinny legs.
It looks ridiculous.
That’s what happens when you only focus on tech and coding skills. You become unbalanced.
What you need is to develop all areas equally. Be well-rounded.
Real Examples From My Program
I talk with developers who come to my program all the time. Here are some stories that show exactly what I’m talking about.
The Junior Developer Stuck in Place
There was this guy from the UK. His title was still junior developer, but he was doing advanced work with complex technologies. He couldn’t get promoted.
Before joining my program, he took a DevOps course from some other guy. Learned more Linux, more advanced technical stuff. After finishing that program, he was still struggling to find a job.
See the problem? Instead of learning the skills he was actually lacking, he doubled down on technical skills. He didn’t even know how to ask for a raise properly. He talked rudely to the company founder or HR, and they told him “you can’t talk to us like that. Be more patient and ask in a better way”
He couldn’t communicate effectively with people. But instead of fixing that, he learned more DevOps. He made himself even more unbalanced.
The Experienced Developer Who Couldn’t Negotiate
I get developers with 10 to 20 years of experience coming to me for advice. They might be better at coding or tech than me because they’ve been doing it for 20 years. But they lack other critical skills.
One guy came to me for salary negotiations. He landed a very good offer but had no idea how to negotiate it.
The 10-Year Developer Who Couldn’t Pass Interviews
Another developer got laid off after 10 years as a developer. Then he couldn’t find a job because he couldn’t pass interviews. Interviewing is a skill you have to train as well.
The Bottom Line
You have to focus on all the skills. Your career is a single unit, just like your body is a single unit.
You can’t train your upper body and have shaky legs. You’ll be carrying too much weight on legs that can’t support you. You won’t be able to move.
Same with your career. If you’re only strong in coding, you can’t carry yourself forward when the job market shifts, when you need to negotiate, when you need to communicate value, or when you need to pass senior level interviews.
Train everything. Be well-rounded.
Watch my full breakdown on how to become the irreplaceable engineer 👇