Starting in 2026, communication has become the most important skill for software engineers.
It's not writing code, system designs, or having estoric knowledge of a programming language (i.e., Rust).
AI coding agents have gotten very, very good. A year ago, I'd reach out to Cursor hesitantly for MVPs or quick fixes. Today, I use Claude Code for almost all non-trivial programming tasks and have spent $500+ on it just last December.
AI talks online revolve much around the hard skils. Initially it was prompt tricks to accomplish X, then the best MCPs for Y, and so on. But with Opus 4.5, using vanilla Claude Code gets you 80% there. Even in the age of AI, the 80/20 rule still applies. So, what should engineers focus on?
One thing with coding agents is that the better the spec, the more in line they will be with the technical and business requirements. But getting a good spec is hard.
In real life, tickets rarely contain all the requirements. To do so, you might need to:
- Ask questions that reveal assumptions people didn't know they had
- Facilite trade-off discussions
- Push back on scope without burning bridges
- Make calls on things nobody thought to specify
Doing these things well used to be optional for individual contributors. Certain teams would enable engineers to thrive being an average communicator but excellent coder. Now, the non-coding parts are becoming a non-negotiable.
Software engineers are problem solvers. We believe that every problem has a solution, a "best practice". But working with people is messy.
Unfortunately, we won't be able to AI our way into better communication skills. Good communication requires empathy, and we can all use a little more of that in today's landscape.