Hot take: Skills alone are NOT enough to get a dev job
Posted by sachin_kushwaha@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 79 comments
I’m starting to feel like “just learn skills” is incomplete advice.
I’m a final year CS student, I know MERN stack and have built real-world projects like admin dashboards and booking systems.
But despite having skills, I’m struggling to get even basic opportunities.
So I’m beginning to think:
Skills ≠ Job
Maybe what actually matters more is:
Networking
Visibility
Personal branding
Communication
What do you guys think?
Am I wrong here or is this the reality now?
Angelsonyrbody@reddit
Soft skills are INCREDIBLY important. My team just interviewed three people for my current position (I'm moving to a different team in the company) - they were all more than qualified, skills-wise, but there was a pretty clear least / mid / most ranking of the three as far as pure skill /experience.
We ended up going with the guy who was in the middle, and it REALLY came down to "which of these three people would I actually like to work with every day?".
When it comes down to the actual day to day work of software development, there's a LOT more than actual coding, and the vast majority of the coding that you will do is going to be way below the ceiling of your ability. A lot of it is meetings, figuring out what people actually want, communicating what you're working on and why it's important to non-devs, etc, etc, etc.
The people who will be interviewing you are going to be working with whoever they hire pretty closely every day. They're going to pick someone who they think will make that experience pleasant.
Suitable-Turnover597@reddit
Communication certainly plays a major role, although among developers there are often closed and not socially adapted people. Skills have a greater impact on the level of payment for your work or competitiveness. However, through competent communication, if you have even the minimum necessary skills, you can get your offer
SizeSure5723@reddit
What about a shoddy coder with great communication skills? 😅
Maybe wait a bit longer before I start applying?
SkRAWRk@reddit
Imo, if you have the ability to learn well and admit your weaknesses, then you should be fine to start applying. Keep grinding of course, but job openings don't stay up forever - so there'll always be something new to try for, unless you live in an area with very few opportunities - and you're unlikely to burn any bridges with a bad interview.
King871@reddit
I have to agree from my experience. My company does 2 types of hiring. Hiring for technical knowledge first and personality first. When I first interviewed it was clear I didn't have all the technical skills they were looking for but I ended up asking them a ton of questions about the work they do and I wanted to work there.
TheStonedEdge@reddit
One hundred percent
CV gets you the interview
First interview is some technical experience questions
Second interview is how easy is it going to be to work with this person
OneStrike255@reddit
This has ALWAYS been the way, regardless of profession.
PoMoAnachro@reddit
These are all skills. Very important skills.
Remember, the job isn't "write code". It is "work with a team to provide business value, frequently by writing code". Communication skills are super critical in the life of a working programmer.
drekwasi@reddit
Hard agree honestly. Most hiring isn't about code tests; it's about whether people can work with you. Communication, showing initiative on problems, being able to explain your thought process... that's what gets past the resume screen.
boomer1204@reddit
Yeah you are correct. Skills are definitely important but in my experience both interviewing ppl and being interviewed it's not the end all be all.
I can GUARANTEE you i'm a a mid level developer at best. Got my first job as a developer with a 10 min interview from a networking connection. My second job that I got last Aug (in the worst time to be looking for jobs) took me 4 companies because I used a recruiter (which is just a networking connection). I'm not loving the new role so I have been cold applying with 7 years of experience in a mid level tech city and getting almost NO LOVE so networking definitely helps
Soft skills are RIDICULOUSLY important for most companies/teams because you are gonna be working with this person 40+ hrs a week.
Regular communication skills are also super important. People sometimes wanna get into this industry to "not talk to ppl" and you would be surprised at how important communication skills are when you are working with other non technical teams (obviously varies by company but def seems like most places you will be communicating with other teams that aren't in super/any technical role)
IMHO if this is your first role the soft skills are "more important" but only after you get the interview which is tough to get without the skills
The market is in a rough spot in general but more so for Jr/First roles so just know it's a job just getting interviews but not impossible but it's not as easy as right before and during covid
Acrobatic-Ice-5877@reddit
If you are a final CS year student I can tell you with 100% certainty that you have not built real-world projects.
MojitoBurrito-AE@reddit
A lot of students spend a year of their degree working in industry for real companies...
SnooLemons6942@reddit
? You don't think students can build "real-world projects"?
ItsMisterListerSir@reddit
They can't build enterprise level projects
SnooLemons6942@reddit
Enterprise level projects aren't the only "real-world" projects. That makes 0 sense
People in their final year of CS have built start-ups, launched projects with user bases and revenue, worked at "real-world" companies doing real-world work, etc.
avanak@reddit
Hi. Software development college teacher from the Netherlands here. Our students have built multiple real world projects before they graduate and have been an intern in a real world company for at least half a year before they graduate. Most of them are ready for the real world, and some get asked for a job instead of having to search. It's all about getting real world dev skills, communication skills, and building a network.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
I get your point, a lot of students do stick to tutorials. But I’ve built and deployed projects on Vercel and Render, including booking systems and admin panels based on actual use-cases. I’m still learning and improving, but I’m focusing on building practical, real-world apps rather than just following tutorials.
YCdiscussthrowaway@reddit
How much recurring revenue
QuarryTen@reddit
lol username checks out
Future_Horror1171@reddit
FYI: Render can host your entire stack, not just backend . Curious to know why you went with different providers for front end and backend ?
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
That’s true, Render can handle full stack. I just used Vercel for frontend because I found it easier and faster for deployment, and kept backend on Render. Still experimenting with different setups.
Future_Horror1171@reddit
gotcha! we are always looking to improve , so would appreciate any feedback. Feel free to join our discord (https://discord.gg/FjTW3trS)
DaKheera47@reddit
Sure you can. I’ve been doing freelance work since 2020, and have an open source project with 2.5k stars and ~800ish regular users
jenkstom@reddit
In the age of AI, context and domain knowledge are more important than coding skills. 😫
Nirvana_xyz@reddit
I'm totally anti-social, unfortunately everything comes from interactions and communication
cgoldberg@reddit
All of those things are important... always have been, always will be
Bartholomeoo@reddit
I highly recommend reading this source: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/
Quite old at this point but fully relevant even today
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
Thank you for sharing
patternrelay@reddit
Yeah, skills get you to the door but signals get you noticed. Hiring is noisy and a bit risk-averse, so things like clear communication, visible projects, and even small referrals help reduce uncertainty more than raw skill alone.
Dangerous_Block_2494@reddit
Since when was this a hot take
desrtfx@reddit
Wow, what a revelation!
You have just found out the one truth that exists since jobs exist.
Skills alone never were/are enough and this is not limited to programming. That's in all domains.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
Fair point. I’m realizing now that skills alone aren’t enough—you also need visibility and connections.
spindoctor13@reddit
You don't need visibility and connections, especially for a first job. They will likely help later on in your career though
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
So how do I get my first job?
Express-Channel-1686@reddit
100% agree. best dev I've seen couldn't get past HR because he had no GitHub activity and couldn't tell his story.
skills get you through the technical interview. visibility gets you to it.
SkerdiBuilds@reddit
Very true,Skills get you ready, but visibility and distribution get you hired.
Juanbolastristes@reddit
How hard and fast you can swallow all the corporate bullshittery is what gets you a job
ZombiePleasant1762@reddit
You forgot the most important one.
Knowing how to get on your knees for your manager.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
What, do I have to do this too?
Striking_Rate_7390@reddit
You mean Skills without project, then theres no option , Projects plays a major role.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
yes you are right
Herdazian_Lopen@reddit
I’ve been saying recently how I feel the soft skills and hard skills as a SWE have swapped.
In years gone by what mattered most was the meat and potatoes of your job, which was writing code. Now Claude can handle most of that. What’s now more important is knowing what to build and communicating why you think so.
mxldevs@reddit
Those things have always matters but It's even more relevant today compared to say 20 years ago because you're competing with thousands more applicants.
Everyone has gone to school. Everyone has projects, side hustles. You want a remote job? Now your competition just became the entire global job market, who will happily take a third of your salary because that's still top 10% of salaries in their country.
Lot of people with decade plus of experience got laid off and will take a pay cut just to keep writing code instead of working fast food.
If your skills are just average and you're not particularly likeable, they can pick anyone else for the job.
lgastako@reddit
always_has_been_astronaut.jpg
token-tensor@reddit
kinda agree but skills still matter at the actual interview. networking gets you the call, skills get you the offer. need both rn
IAmFinah@reddit
This ain't Linkedin bruv
_everynameistaken_@reddit
The capitalist job market has always been about connections/nepotism first and skills/experience secondary. That is just the nature of our world currently unfortunately.
StoneCypher@reddit
more than half the programmers at google are dropouts and basically none of them got in on connections
alienith@reddit
The reality is that knowing you work well with someone is worth more than someone who has a few more skills. Skills can be learned on the job
10 times out of 10 Id rather work with someone I like but who doesn’t know the stack compared to someone I dislike and knows the stack.
_everynameistaken_@reddit
This argument is fine when you're a tradie or have small tight knit team but for larger companies the people doing the work don't have any input on the hiring process or who gets the job.
The nepotism that gets people the job is from connections between someone in the management/executive team and the potential employee or someone they know pulling social strings.
I'd rather work with a socially awkward but experienced/skilled person than my boss' friends entitled son who got the job through nepotism and will forever receive better treatment and career progression potential because of that social connection.
Nepotism needs to be criminalized.
StoneCypher@reddit
it's much simpler than that
the first job you get is the hardest because nobody can vouch for you. this is the riskiest you will ever look to an employer
bizzle4shizzled@reddit
Being an agreeable coworker gets you a lot further than speedrunning leetcode problems
NeedleArm@reddit
Not if you dont even get interviews
Indigo903@reddit
Honestly if you’re not getting interviews there’s likely something wrong with your resume, your selection of jobs to apply to, or both. I wouldn’t bother applying to anything remote unless you’re willing to compete with the whole world. I started getting a lot of interviews after workshopping my resume with a hiring manager I know and using my friend’s resume as an example (she got hired after her first technical interview ever). I got an offer last week and I don’t think I’m a terribly competitive candidate for dev roles, I wasn’t even a CS major.
NeedleArm@reddit
Interesting, what country is this?
Indigo903@reddit
USA. I’m a citizen
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
That makes a lot of sense. I think I need to improve my resume and be more strategic with where I apply. I’ve mostly been applying broadly, including remote roles, which might be hurting my chances. I’ll focus more on refining my resume and targeting the right opportunities. Thanks for the insight.
bizzle4shizzled@reddit
Very true. The best way to get hired is know someone, which is how I’ve gotten every job I’ve ever had. Networking is really important as well.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
Agreed. That’s why I try to focus not just on coding, but also on building real projects and improving how I communicate and collaborate.
Dry_Cook8252@reddit
totally this. been delivering food for years and the amount of restaurant managers who remember me just because i'm chill and actually talk to them is wild. they'll hook me up with faster orders or let me know when they're running behind instead of leaving me hanging.
same energy applies everywhere - being someone people want to work with beats being the smartest person in the room who nobody can stand.
godogs2018@reddit
How come u are delivering food and not coding for a job.
ducckDick@reddit
Dude, I was 15 when I did mern/mean. I have done DSA (high enough in c++), I'm just a 12th paas out 20 y/o. Going collage this is year. I have a question is building dashboard and booking system is enough to get you hired? Cuz I have already done a lot more than that I think. Nowadays I just go to GitHub read through open codebase and find bugs and report them. You are so out of league if you just know JavaScript ecosystem.
ReiOokami@reddit
MERN stack… so 2017 of you.
iJustSeen2Dudes1Bike@reddit
Freezing cold take
desrtfx@reddit
Yup. very close to 0K
Accomplished_Key5104@reddit
Not really a hot take. Every job works this way. It's easier to get jobs through your network, which can be family, friends, friends of friends, and old coworkers.
Your network, visibility, branding, etc... will have a huge effect on your career advancement as well. If you want to move up in your career you need to constantly be making new connections that you can leverage for promotions.
I focused more on skills as a dev for the first half of my career, caring less about my visibility and networking than being good at my job. My career progress plateaued quickly. I regularly saw people with worse dev skills, at least in my opinion, get promoted above me. I think their skills were worse because a few times I was brought in to fix their work... What they did well was make their work visible to the entire org, and they built a network of people that would happily provide promotion feedback for them.
sachin_kushwaha@reddit (OP)
That’s a really good point. I’ve also been focusing mostly on building skills so far, but I’m starting to realize that visibility and networking play a huge role in career growth as well. I’ll try to be more intentional about both going forward.
tacothecat@reddit
Yeah you need Skills AND MCP servers
9986000min@reddit
Yeah I mean in this job market, there are legions of devs with skills clawing the walls for a job. If you’ve got skills and you’re great to work with plus an excellent communicator + strong network, I’m taking this person over someone with just skills. Especially with AI shouldering (or just outright replacing) a lot of the skills you typically expect out of a dev
setq-default@reddit
🤔...
JGhostThing@reddit
Yes, I've gotten all my jobs through the good old American know-who. Friends and relatives and bosses choose to help me find another job.
pa_dvg@reddit
This was always the reality
teddyone@reddit
In the professional world, skills are implied by your accomplishments and your ability to explain them. there is no such thing as having a professional "skill" with no accomplishment associated with it.
The_Odor_E@reddit
In college I joined the math / computer science club. I volunteered to judge math counts competitions for kids, I went to all the events that the club put out.
A previous member asked the advisor if they knew anyone that could code. I was the only person in the club that was in the computer science program the rest were math nerds. She suggested me, I nailed the interview interned for them and every other job I've gotten since then is from people I worked with.
canadian_viking@reddit
How's that different from any other job? Skills are just one factor in convincing a potential employer that they should hire you. This isn't some new epiphany or something.
Technical-Tiger-3422@reddit
but do you have the skills tho? coloring buttons in javascript, being a web monkey isnt a skill
what have you written in assembly and c? can you write instructions for a high efficiency packet processing switch or a video codec chip or a microcontroller for something?
web monkeys arent even programmers, highschool kids with 2 hour python guides make websites and web apps
az987654@reddit
In this economy, luck is very, very high on the requirements list.
Polish your networking and sales skills.
bootyhole_licker69@reddit
ya you’re right skills are like step 0 now i landed my first dev job only after grinding linkedin, cold dms, referrals and talking to people at random meetups most applications feel like shouting into the void these days it’s just stupid how hard it is to get hired
No_Report_4781@reddit
There needs to be companies hiring for dev jobs, and you need to look better than the other 3,000 CS graduates in your cohort all applying for the same job. How much Linux experience do you have?