Ask Slashdot: Communication Skills For Programmers?

An anonymous reader writes "As a new developer at a young-ish software company, I've been told my communication skills need some work. I'm not painfully introverted or socially inept, but I get lost in my work and only contact people if I need something from them or they ask me a question. Traditional advice isn't relevant to casual, less hierarchical companies — I don't have to hold my tongue when someone is wrong or worry about formalities. But I do need to connect with people professionally, since my team members and managers decide my perf and advancement. How do you keep colleagues abreast of your work without having exponentially many needless conversations?"

Comments

Oblig Dilbert

[khasim]

Sadly, it is the lowest common denominator (well maybe highest common denominator): those that do need a lot of social interaction will get very frustrated by not having it. The assumption is usually that those that are quite or less social are not harmed by being forced to say hi and deal with small talk (even though that isn't the case when you need hours of consecutive time to figure out things sometimes, or just like the socialites might feel with no social interaction that like your life is being wasted with "how's the weather" talk).

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-01-12/