Labeling

Some engineers have brains for problem-solving and their craft, but are totally out of their comfort zone and depth if they have to deviate from what they are used to doing. No soft skills, no communication ability and just technology acumen is not a winning combination in my mind. It's unfortunately, the sad thing about "titles", it confines you to a role and makes you think, thinking otherwise is wrong.

Soft skills and business savvy are equally as important in a development role if you want to be exceptional at your job. Good programming skills on their own will only ever get you so far.

Customer matter as much as code. Customer > Business > Code.

By stepping out of that box and understanding that if the business requirements step outside of the customer requirements, you get to voice your opinion and more importantly add the kicker to your "opinion" by justifying it with your technical abilities, techies are badass, we're the makers, so in the end if we have the knowledge around consumerism AS well as execution, it'll make us bulletproof.

Important to note here is that without proper leadership and sales, coal will not turn into polished diamonds or into high-profit sales either. Leading a team is at least as valuable as being a contributor in the team. And selling is at least as hard of a job than creating things to sell.