The importance of soft skills in software companies : an analysis of job advertisements

Abstract

In today’s software industry job market, candidates often focus primarily on technical competencies, overlooking the critical role of soft skills in achieving professional success. However, employers increasingly demand interpersonal abilities, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, indicating that technical skills alone are no longer sufficient to secure employment. This study examines the demand for soft skills by analysing job advertisements and identifying the interpersonal competencies specified within them. The aim is to provide a clearer understanding of the importance and popularity of soft skills across common roles in the software industry.

A total of 340 job advertisements were collected and analysed, including 149 from the Finnish market and 191 from the Romanian market. The study compares the soft skill requirements for software engineers, software developers, software architects, and data scientists, as well as showcasing differences between the two countries. The results reveal significant variations across roles. Key findings of the study show that only 67% of job postings for software developers explicitly require at least one soft skill, compared to 94% for data scientists. Software architects have a ratio of 4.77 soft skills on average per post, while the software developer role averages 3.7 soft skills per post. When comparing the two countries’ markets, the Data Scientist role shows notable differences in the aptitudes expected by recruiters, whereas the soft skill requirements for Software Engineers are much more similar. With an even higher discrepancy, for the software developer role, leadership skills have 20 appearances out of 64 job ads analysed in the Romanian market, but 0 out of 47 on the Finnish side.