My mother told me when I was young that people get hired for their technical skills, and fired for their people skills (specifically a lack thereof).  And I’ve seen this play out in the real world repeatedly.  Assessing whether someone can code a sudoku solver is a lot easier than assessing whether someone can maintain their cool under pressure, apologize when they’ve made a mistake, and reach out to maintain or repair important working relationships.

AngelHack, a company that provides Hackathon planning and marketing services, is launching a soft-skills course called The Whole Developer, that aims to teach developers, designers and product managers these soft skills.

The course is split into six sections:

Communication
“A big part of being a Whole Developer is communicating effectively. This goes beyond just getting along with people – it means being able to deliver persuasive, trenchant messaging that gets your point across and compels others to act on it.”

Team Building
“When placed in a leadership role the developer turned manager might take misguided approaches to forming a team, managing a team, and ultimately this leads to a non-productive work environment.”

Mindfulness
“There are numerous benefits: clearer thinking, better decision making, and a sharply-honed intuition among them. Mindfulness is also especially useful during crises, allowing the practitioner to maintain a level head and not let external circumstances affect his/her decisions.”

Emotional Intelligence
“Emotionally intelligent people are able to navigate social situations and adapt to different people and groups. Even more than traditional intellect, emotional intelligence is a huge predictor of success. It explains why the most charismatic candidate – even if he/she’s not the most intelligent or even qualified one – gets the job or promotion.”

Work/Life Balance
“Being able to balance work with other interests – education, hobbies, and a social life – will lead to a happier, more fulfilling life for the Whole Developer. And a happy worker is a productive worker.”

Social Responsibility
“The idea of social responsibility rests on how we interact with and affect those around us. From maintaining personal relationships to contributing to the betterment of one’s community, social responsibility must be ingrained into the Whole Developer’s very DNA.”

It’s interesting (and heartening) that they included a section on mindfulness.  Communication, Team building, and Emotional Intelligence all start with a foundation of not letting your own thoughts, needs and emotions dominate your thinking.  This can be learned and developed through the practice of mindfulness.

Right now they’re just signing up people who are interested in the 12 week course starting in June.  If you’re looking to get started right now on becoming a “Whole Developer”, here’s what you should read: