hard skills and soft skills

When I was still in high school, thinking about and preparing for a future job was the least of my concerns. I didn’t care much or even think seriously about it. I honestly never understood the importance of preparing for your future job until now. Two of the most important☝ aspects for preparing for a future job are developing both hard and soft skills. You might ask, "What are those skills?" and "Why are the important?" Well, allow me to explain. Starting with hard skills: What are they? They are the skills that everyone could have access to, so they are teachable and could be developed throughout the years. Hard skills can differ depending on your future job field. Therefore, knowing your job will help you to know which training you need to go through in order to gain specific knowledge. Examples of hard skills include academic qualifications, computer skills 🖥, speed typing, and learning foreign languages 🗣. On the other hand, there are soft skills: What are those? They are self-developed skills, not gained by any training, but rather learned and developed over the years through personal experience. Some examples of soft skills include leadership, project management, adaptability, and teamwork 👭. If I were to examine my own skills and see which ones I possess, I would say that I already have many hard and soft skills 😌. For example, I already know one foreign language and am planning to learn more in the future. I’m also fast at typing and have fairly good computer skills. Moreover, I adapt quickly to new environments, have good communication skills, and have project management skills. Nevertheless, one soft skill that I would definitely like to work on is time management, as sometimes I procrastinate too much. Also, the main hard skill I want to develop is to learn three new languages: Russian, Spanish, and French.

          Throughout my years in Qatar University, I have noticed that our classes are mainly focused on building our soft skills. It is true that we graduate 🎓 with an academic certificate and in some cases a new language, but that is not enough. We develop soft skills because we are in an environment where we are exposed to those skills on a daily basis. We have to be able to adapt, function effectively in a team, and develop interpersonal and communication skills 😤. However, hard skills are also important for future jobs, so I think the education system should focus on teaching both skills equally. I think one way that Qatar University could improve on teaching hard skills is by having more obligatory courses related to the hard skills needed for your specific major, minor, and career goals. For example, for my Minor in Translation, I wish they had an obligatory training on how to speed type while translating. Without a doubt, both hard and soft skills are necessary in every job 👍. Therefore, I would highly recommend that everyone take these skills seriously and consider dedicating time to figuring out which skills they need for their future job and working on developing them.