Ask ten hiring managers whether coding ability or clear communication matters more, and you will get ten different answers. One remembers a brilliant developer who could not explain a single decision. Another remembers a pleasant communicator who never finished a task.
The debate around technical skills vs communication skills for developers is not really about picking a winner. It is about knowing how much of each your role needs and how to check for both before an offer goes out. This guide walks through what each skill covers, how to test it and how to weigh the two.
What Technical Skills Actually Cover
Technical ability is more than knowing a language. It covers how a developer designs, writes, tests and ships software that keeps working under pressure. Hiring teams often reduce it to a coding test, which misses most of the picture.
Solid technical skills for software developers usually include four things: fluency in the project’s language and framework, a sound grasp of data structures and databases, habits around testing and version control, and the judgment to design systems that scale. Developer problem-solving skills sit on top of all four. A developer who can break a vague bug report into small, testable steps will outperform one who has memorised every syntax rule. Notice that none of these are fixed at hiring time; strong developers keep learning new tools without being pushed.
What Communication Skills Look Like in Practice
Communication is not charm or fluent small talk. For a developer it means being understood in writing, asking questions early and explaining trade-offs to people who do not code. These habits decide whether a team moves together or in circles.
Strong communication skills for developers show up in small moments. Compare two status updates:
“Working on the payment issue.”
“Payment fails for saved cards only. I found the cause in the token refresh, fix is in review, and I need one answer from you on refund rules.”
The second tells you the problem, the progress and the blocker in two sentences. That is the difference between a manager who has to chase and one who can plan. If you want to hire dedicated remote developers who will work with little supervision, this habit matters more than almost any framework on the resume.
Why Software Developer Hiring Criteria Often Go Wrong
Most hiring scorecards lean heavily to one side. Technical-heavy panels reward the candidate who solves puzzles fastest, while people-focused panels reward whoever builds rapport best. Both create blind spots that only show up after the contract is signed.
Picture Candidate A, a gifted coder who answers every question in one-line replies and never explains a choice. The code is excellent, but reviews take twice as long because teammates must guess the reasoning. Now picture Candidate B, a warm speaker who handles every call smoothly but needs constant help with the codebase. The team ends up finishing B’s tickets quietly. Neither hire is a disaster on paper, yet both cost the team time every week. Good software developer hiring criteria are built to catch both patterns before the offer.
A Day in the Life: Where Each Skill Shows Up
It helps to follow one ordinary workday and see which skill carries the load at each moment. The split is more even than most hiring plans assume. Seeing it laid out makes the case for testing both.
- 9:30 am, stand-up: Communication. A short, clear update keeps the team unblocked.
- 10:00 am, feature work: Technical. Clean code, sensible structure, tests that pass.
- 1:00 pm, code review: Both. Spotting a flaw is technical, but delivering feedback kindly is communication.
- 3:00 pm, production bug: Problem-solving first, then communication, because stakeholders need an honest timeline.
- 5:00 pm, handover note: Communication again, so the next person starts with context.
Communication carries or shares the load in four of the five moments, even though the job title says developer.
How to Test Technical Skills Properly
A good technical test looks like real work. It uses your stack, your kind of problem and a time limit a working developer would accept. Puzzle-style questions are easy to run but weak predictors of day-to-day performance.
Three methods give a reliable read:
Code review exercise. Share a short, flawed function and ask what they would change. It reveals judgment faster than writing from scratch.
Small build task. A two-hour task such as adding an endpoint with tests shows structure and care.
Past work walkthrough. Ask them to explain a feature they built, including what went wrong. Depth appears in the follow-ups.
How to Test Communication Skills Without Guessing
Communication is harder to score because it feels subjective. The fix is to give it the same structure you give coding tasks: a defined exercise, clear signals and a shared rating. Then it stops being a gut feeling.
Start with a written task. Ask the candidate to email a short explanation of a technical decision to a non-technical manager, then read it for clarity and length. Next, give an unclear brief on purpose and see whether they ask good questions or start assuming. Finally, ask them to describe a disagreement with a teammate and how it ended. Look for calm ownership rather than blame.
Score three signals: clarity, listening and honesty about what they do not know. A candidate who says “I’m not sure, but here is how I would find out” is showing both communication and problem-solving at once.
How to Weigh the Two by Role
There is no single ratio that fits every hire. The right balance depends on seniority, team size and how much supervision the developer will get. Use the guide below as a starting point and adjust it to your project.
Junior developer: lean technical, around 70/30. Communication can be coached, but the habit of asking for help early is worth checking.
Mid-level developer: around 60/40. They now review code, join planning and explain work to others.
Senior developer or tech lead: roughly 50/50, because they mentor, negotiate scope and speak for engineering to everyone else.
Remote or contract developer: treat communication as equal to technical skill, since nobody is nearby to fill in the gaps.
Remote setups raise the stakes further. If your plan is to hire dedicated remote developers for a long project, give communication a heavier weight in the scorecard, because misunderstandings cost more without a hallway to fix them in.
Final Thoughts
The honest answer to technical skills vs communication skills for developers is that you need both, in a balance set by the role. Strong code that nobody can discuss slows a team down, and good conversation without working code never ships. Build your scorecard around both, test each with real tasks and compare candidates on the same scale. Review how your last few hires performed against their scores, then adjust the weights.
If you would rather start with developers who have already been screened for both, Emizentech offers pre-vetted talent across web, mobile, ecommerce and AI, with more than twelve years of delivery experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which matters more, technical or communication skills?
Neither wins outright. Technical skill gets the work done, and communication keeps it aligned with what the team needs. For junior roles, lean toward technical ability. For senior and remote roles, give communication an equal weight. A scorecard with both areas keeps the decision balanced.
What are the most important technical skills for software developers?
Core language fluency, database knowledge, testing habits, version control and system design cover most roles. Add the specific framework your project uses. Developer problem-solving skills deserve their own score, since they decide how well someone handles problems that no tutorial covers.
How do I check a developer’s communication skills?
Use a written task, an unclear brief and a story about a past disagreement. Watch for clear writing, useful questions and honest answers about gaps. Rate each signal on the same scale you use for coding tasks so the score does not depend on who happened to run the interview.
Can a strong coder with weak communication still be a good hire?
Sometimes, for narrow roles with little teamwork, such as an isolated research task. In most team settings the gap becomes costly through slow reviews and repeated clarifications.
What should a software developer hiring criteria list include?
Include technical skills, problem-solving, communication, code quality habits and team fit, each with a weight and a clear way to test it. Keep the list short, around five to seven items, so interviewers can score consistently. Review the list after every few hires and update it based on results.
