Callie Buruchara's Linkedin Analytics

Working with people is hard. As a kid, I struggled to make friends. I was annoying. Talked too much. Didn't listen enough. Always said the wrong thing. As an adult, it got way harder. Especially at work. My boss once cut me off, told me I was being unacceptable. I had no idea why. I was just being honest? These were my default settings. As an adult, I learned how to work well with others. I learned every lesson the hard way. I apologized a lot. I read books. I had great mentors. I tried. And I grew. Then I transitioned into software engineering. During interviews, people kept commenting on my EQ. That my ability to work well with others set me apart. I figured they were just being nice. I feared that my non-traditional background would actually put me behind everyone. I didn't assemble circuit boards as a kid or tinker with a raspberry pi. But then I started working as a SWE and felt it: my people skills leveled up my career. These were my learned settings. My decade of experience learning soft skills helped me with the majority of my work: - Being persuasive and empowering others - Working well with difficult people - Giving and receiving feedback wisely - Writing code and docs with others in mind - Translating vague ideas into clear tickets - Managing stress with realistic boundaries - Forging real relationships with colleagues I fell in love with TypeScript. Became a great debugger. A lover of learning. I'm good at tech, sure. But it's my soft skills that managers, skip-levels, and colleagues come to me for. It's how, in less than two years, I went from beginner to Senior Software Engineer. We think the technical challenges will be the hardest part. But then that Senior won't answer your questions. Your manager is too busy for you. Your teammate ghosts your PR comments. And you realize: the people part is what makes or breaks your growth. Having mentored over 100 developers, I've seen it again and again: It's not just about clean code. It's about clear communication. Because the majority of work involves other people. And just like a coding language, you can learn every single soft skill.