The One Skill Every Engineer Needs in 2025
Zero interest rates, LLMs, Oh My! Master this skill to stay relevant for years to come.
The tech world is changing.
And the rate of change is only getting faster.
You may be asking yourself what will be different in the future.
Jeff Bezos has a more powerful question that you should ask yourself.
What will be the same in a decade?
Since the beginning of history, humans have been solving problems using tools.
People. Problems. Technology.
These are the three building blocks that have stood millennia of change.
No matter what problem space you operate in, no matter what tech-stack or LLMs you use, one thing will always be the same. You will solve these problems, you will leverage these tools, with other people.
The engineering skill that you need in 2025 is the same engineering skill that you needed in 2000. It is the same engineering skill that you will need in 2050.
Working with people.
Let’s talk specifics. How do you learn to work with people?
Work With Everyone
Here is your first action item.
Reach out to two people and schedule 30 minutes together.
The agenda for the meeting is simple, just copy and past:
What problems are you solving?
What challenges are you facing?
How can I help?
There is just one simple rule to follow:
Talk to humans that you never talked to before.
Reach out to people outside of your team. Reach out to non engineers.
Talk to Product Managers. Talk to Marketing. Talk to Sales. Talk to Finance. Talk to (gasp) Legal. Talk to Customer Support. Talk. To. Anyone.
Why does this matter?
Because your company is trying to solve challenges in an ambiguous “Problem Space.” Everyone in the company has a different view point. Everyone sees a different sliver of the Problem Space. To excel as an engineer, you need to build a deep understanding of the Problem Space.
You are uniquely qualified to guide Cursor or whatever LLM agent to build solutions. Far more importantly, you are uniquely qualified to bridge the problem space with the solution space. You can only do that when you have a deep understanding of the problems.
It’s even more important than that.
Your understanding of technology, when combined with a deep understanding of the Problem Space, that’s what enables you to identify and tackle bigger problems.
How to Work With Everyone
Okay, you have meetings on your calendar.
But how do you actually talk to a salesperson?
By developing the most important skill that every engineer needs in 2025.
Empathy.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
As with all skills, you can improve with intentional practice.
Just like Coding Challenges help you become a better programmer, “Empathy Challenges” help you become a better cross-functional partner.
Those meetings that you set up?
These are your practice sessions.
At the end of each session, test yourself.
What do they value? What do they care about?
What challenges do they face that are holding them back?
What behaviors and outcomes does the organization reward for their function?
Do you want an insider super secret power tip?
If you work in a larger corporation, there are leveling guidelines and performance evaluation guidelines. You probably know this, because that’s how your own performance is evaluated. But did you know that these guidelines exist for other functions? Sales, Project Management, Business Development, etc. They all have some guidelines.
What to be a great collaborator? Find and study those guidelines. Because those guidelines capture how the company views success for each role.
And when you know what success looks like for them, you will be better at helping them.
Do you want to take this even further? My friend Anton hosted a free session just on how engineering managers can focus on solving bigger problems.
What’s Holding You Back?
If you’re like me ten years ago, you probably nodded your head as you were reading so far.
That’s completely worthless.
Nothing will change unless you take action.
So, why aren’t you taking any action?
What are you afraid of?
Turns out LLMs are a great tool to leverage to help us help ourselves. For example, when I talk with engineering managers, I teach them how to use LLMs to prepare for hard conversations.
You can do the same.
Open your favorite LLM and tell it what’s holding you back. Ask them to coach you to take action.
And if you can find another human to partner with on this journey, even better. They can hold you accountable.
So, what is holding you back?