One of the most confusing questions chemical engineers (or any other engineer) faces in their career is: how much do technical skills really matter compared to soft skills in engineering?

Early in our careers, the answer feels obvious. Given the nature of engineering, an engineer’s success seems to be defined almost entirely by technical mastery including equations, simulations, models and problem-solving frameworks. Basically, everything which keeps engineering students in library late on a Friday night, convincing themselves that derivations are somehow fun and exciting. And to be clear, at the beginning of your career as an engineer, this viewpoint is completely justified, but as your career progresses, this changes.

Early Career: Technical Skills Are the Foundation

At the entry level position, your only currency and value is your technical competence. When you land your first job wearing the hard hat, the employer expects you to (1)    Understand the core engineering principles, (2) Apply tools, software and methodologies correctly and (3) Solve problems accurately and efficiently.

At this stage, your value lies in what you can calculate, design, model, or troubleshoot. That is because strong fundamentals build credibility and confidence, and without them, nothing else really works.

Mid-Career: Communication Starts to Matter Just as Much

As you slowly gain experience into Medium-Level Roles, some subtle but important changes start to happen. As an engineer, your role expands beyond solving problems on your own, but instead you begin to:

·      Coordinate with other engineers and teams

·      Mentor junior colleagues

·      Present results to stakeholders who may not be technical

Your Technical competency and accuracy still matter, but it’s no longer enough on its own. Your ability to explain your thinking, align with others, and influence decisions becomes just as important as getting the right answer.

Senior and Leadership Roles: Soft Skills Become the Differentiator

The one thing you will already now notice at Senior Level is that the engineers who progresses fastest are not always the most technically brilliant. That does not mean that they are incompetent, but rather they are often the ones who can:

·      Set direction and strategy

·      Make decisions with incomplete information

·      Persuade, negotiate, and align diverse perspectives

That is because leadership roles require soft skills and puts them in the front and center. Skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and the ability to influence others becomes the key differentiators between good engineers and truly impactful ones.

It’s Not Either–Or: The Balance Evolves

 Having said all this, it doesn’t mean technical skills stop mattering, but rather far from it! The most effective engineers maintain their technical edge while continuously developing their ability to work with people and ideas. The only thing which changes is the weighting. As early in your career, technical skills dominate, but over time, soft skills increasingly determine how far and how fast you can go. Success in engineering career comes from recognizing this shift and adapting accordingly. As the saying goes, it’s better to sail with the wind than against it.

Therefore, you must remember that the best engineers don’t abandon their technical foundations as they advance. Instead, they build on them by learning not only how to solve complex problems, but also how to lead, communicate, and inspire others to solve them together. That combination is what ultimately drives long-term career progression in engineering.