Over the course of my experience, I’ve worked with engineers from all over the world, over 400 like-minded nerds in all. What I noticed, and what is the focus of this site, is that the best engineers all have a similar set of skills and that those skills have little to do with the discipline of engineering itself. Instead, what seems to get people ahead in this industry is a mastery of so-called “soft skills”. Things like the ability to accurately estimate the duration of tasks so that reliable schedules can be created, or being capable of communicating technical concepts in terms that can be understood by marketing folks or upper management. Although a baseline of engineering knowledge is a must, it’s these other things we don’t learn in school that mean the most when it comes to raises, stock options, promotions, and other work rewards.