The One Non-Technical Skill Made Me a Better Software Engineer Than 95% of My Peers

I genuinely thought it wouldn't be me.

I really thought that in a tech revolution, having a career in tech would be one of the safest professions possible.

Surely by specialising down into a particular niche in a highly sought after technical domain I’d have job security long into the future, right?

But the more I looked around, the more I realised it was all a coping mechanism.

Seeing the speed at which AI is rising up, and the leaps of improvement that are made upon each iteration that gets released. Seeing each new wave of the newest trending AI tool, and the incredible feats each one allows us to accomplish vs. how long it would have taken to do manually as a developer.

Seeing the speed at which AI is rising up, and the leaps of improvement that are made upon each iteration that gets released. Each new wave of the newest trending AI tool, and the incredible feats each one allows us to accomplish. Seeing how underwhelmed people’s reactions were to the mindblowing abilities these tools give us in comparison to the time it would have previously taken manually.

I started to second guess my perspective, and how steadfast my career would actually be.

I knew that it was simply a matter of time before the traditional role of what we know as a “software engineer” was changed forever.

And I did not want to be caught on the wrong end of it.

The landscape in tech is moving at such great speeds – we either keep up or get left behind.

The Silver Bullet

I knew that my future as I knew it was about to get taken away from me.

Whether it’s in 6 months, or 6 years, inevitably I’d get replaced by tools that could perform all the technical tasks I was doing, without tiring or demanding a salary.

If I didn’t want my future to be taken away from me, I’d have to build my own.

I knew that the answer was to build something.

So I began to build.

I had dabbled with creating small projects and ideas in the past. We’ve all tinkered and experimented with ideas at some point.

However, there was a recurring shortcoming I’d find myself perpetually falling into.

I’d pour in hours and hours of time and effort into projects. I’d finally have my shiny new production ready app or website done.

Time after time, I watched in frustration as an idea I wholeheartedly believed in, one I was convinced could add real value, failed to take off as I had imagined.

I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but there was something missing.

So I began to search.

Finally, I realised what it was.

I realised that the very reason my projects weren’t taking off like I’d imagined, was because I wasn’t able to portray the value that they have.

I didn’t know how to articulate the vision I had for them.

I needed to learn how to storytell. To portray my idea, to clearly communicate the problem I am solving.

I realised that technical skill alone is incredibly valuable, but it was never going to the silver bullet that solved all my problems.

Whether I liked it or not, copywriting and being able to genuinely articulate and sell my product were an equally valuable skill.

I needed to learn how to write.

The Universal Skill

If you aren’t sold on the usefulness of writing yet, I was in the same boat.

It took me a long time to truly see the value that it has, and how universally transferable it is as a skill.

Let me explain.

The closer you look, the more you’ll realise that everything in life comes down to storytelling, sales, and negotiation.

When you’re applying for a job, you’re selling your skills and crafting a compelling story about your experience.

In personal relationships, you're negotiating – convincing somebody to go on a date with you, explaining your perspective in a disagreement, or persuading your kid to do their homework.

The better you are at structuring narratives, selling ideas, and influencing others, the more doors open for you in every aspect of life.

And what is at the very foundation of all of these skills?

The ability to write.

The ability to structure, organise and articulate ideas in a fluent and concise manner.

Learn how to write, and you’re exercising the foundational muscle that’s going to help you improve at all these other skill sets that stem from it.

At a personal level, learning to write can help with:

• Clarifying Your Thoughts & Reducing Self Doubt – Writing forces you to structure and refine your ideas, helping you gain a deeper understanding of what you truly know. In doing so, it strips away any self-doubt you had in your ideas. When you write, you prove to yourself that you know what you’re talking about.
• Stepping into Greater Potential - With increased self assurance in articulating your thoughts, you are now able to see the world through an entirely new lens. You can begin tackling challenges with greater self confidence, and pursue opportunities that you once thought were entirely out of reach.
• Enhancing Communication and Leadership - Writing doesn’t just serve you – it serves the people around you. It allows you to communicate your value, how you teach, how you lead. Whether you want to become a mentor, a coach, a founder, or simply a better communicator in your daily life & relationships – those foundational skills that come from writing are the pivotal foundation.

Within the realm of business, having foundational writing skills has equal importance.

Take a minute to think about it.

It is the silent engine behind every successful business. It’s how you persuade, how you sell, how you get people to rally behind your vision.

Whether it’s a cold outreach email, a social media post, or a landing page, your ability to communicate clearly determines whether your message sticks or gets ignored.

Think about the best entrepreneurs in the world. Many of them are great writers because they know that clear communication drives action.

Jeff Bezos’ shareholder letters, Warren Buffett’s memos, Sam Altman’s essays. These aren’t just words; they’re a tool that inspire action and build billion-dollar companies.

The best entrepreneurs, leaders, and visionaries understand this.

The foundation is writing.

Putting Pen to Paper

We’ve established that being able to write is the single most powerful universal skill of the modern age.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – I initially thought the same thing.

What if I’m bad at writing? I really don’t feel like I’m cut out to be “a writer”.

Where do I even begin?

I’m going to give you a step-by-step breakdown that, if followed, will make it impossible not to level up your writing ability.

The first thing I’ve noticed about every good writer I know is that they all write—a lot.

“Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Lewis Carroll and Vincent van Goh are among those who may have been affected by a medical condition known as hypergraphia: the compulsion to write excessively and without obvious purpose or profit.”

You need to adopt habits into your life which simply get you into an environment where you are writing extensive amounts of text, every single day.

What’s the best way to do this?

Start a journal.

I could not recommend this any more highly. This habit alone contributed so exponentially to my ability of articulating thoughts in words.

It doesn’t need to be some fancy, sophisticated process. Simply just make a habit of writing down any interesting thoughts that you have, ideas you come up with, or topics you’re interested in.

If you’re staring at a completely blank google doc with no idea what to begin with, here are some questions to provoke your thoughts:

• Am I genuinely happy right now, or am I just very comfortable?
• What topics could I read, watch, or talk about for hours without tiring of it?
• What’s the most important thing holding me back from achieving X and why aren’t I working on that?

Supplementary Tools

You have to realise that nobody has the excuse to be “bad at writing” in this day and age.

We live in a time with more supplementary tools to assist us in writing than any time in human history.

It’s entirely possible to teach yourself to write at a professional level without spending a dime.

However, if I had to start again tomorrow, instead of wasting time reinventing the wheel and learning from scratch - I’d make an investment and buy readily available resources that have proven track records from some of the best writers in the game.

Understand that these courses are not a silver bullet that will instantaneously make you Ernest Hemingway.

They will add value to you by allowing you to learn quicker and focus on what matters.

The ultimate responsibility is still on you to do the hard work and put the reps in.

Based on my own in-depth research, these are, without a doubt, the 3 best writing courses on the entire internet:

• Ship 30 for 30 - Dickie Bush & Nicholas Cole
• 2 Hour Writer - Dan Koe
• High Impact Writing - Kieran Drew

(no affiliation to these guys, just very impressed with their work)

Rabbits in Hats

The use of AI also acts as an incredibly valuable supplement to your writing.

Let me state this clearly, right now.

If you are asking AI to write entire paragraphs or passages of text for you, you have the wrong idea about leveraging AI when using writing.

The most valuable commodity of the 2020s is going to be authentic writing, that does not clearly sound as if you copied it straight from a chatGPT response.

The reason AI is so powerful to pair with writing – is because it has the ability to act as a way of prompting your own thoughts, your own mind, to draw out the very best ideas from it.

Think of it as a magician that is capable of pulling rabbits (ideas) out of a hat.

You have many incredibly valuable ideas floating around in your head right now that other people out there would die to know.

The problem with us humans, is that we have an incredible ability to stare into the abyss of a blank google doc for hours, incapable of drawing them out of our own minds.

Asking the right prompts to AI is your solution to this.

For Who, So That

Here’s the final key idea that improved my writing in leaps and bounds.

Writing for the sole purpose of providing value to others and solving their problems.

When I adopted this mentality in the words I wrote, it completely changed the game for me.

Sit down, and clearly define the exact target audience you intend on aiming your content at. Who are you writing for, and what problem are you solving for them?

If you don’t know who to write for, the best advice I can give you is to either write to yourself from 2 years ago, or yourself 4 years from now.

What knowledge do you have right now that you’d have died to have known 2 years ago from today?

How many people do you think are out there right now who are in that same position, and would find incredible value in being told that today, instead of having to learn it themselves the hard way like you did?

Think of where you want to be 4 years from now. What goals do you want to achieve, skills do you want to learn, accomplishments to check off?

Then, simply go away and learn those things, write about your findings as you go, and document the entire journey so that people can follow along and see your tangible progress along the way.

Ultimately, your ability to articulate thoughts in words comes down to consistency, iteration and avoiding perfectionism.

It’s incredibly easy to say, but incredibly difficult to actually do.

Build a habit where you are writing something every day.

Make sure that on all content you produce, you analyse, look at how you could improve upon it, ask others you trust to validate it and provide constructive criticism.

Intentionally tweak your writing day by day to aim toward improvement.

Avoid perfectionism at all costs.

This is the thing that got me so badly when I was starting.

The goal should not be to craft the perfect sentence; it should purely be to develop a sustainable rhythm.

Spending 4 hours tweaking a single paragraph will only break your daily habit and sabotage your momentum tomorrow.

Prioritize consistency over perfection—quality will follow as a natural byproduct.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Hopefully it was of some use to you.

- Cole

If you’re interested in transitioning from a traditional 9-5, leveraging AI to build a future of your own, and capitalising on the digital renaissance, subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

You can also follow me on twitter @cole_mccon