On many job descriptions, we get to see that analytical skills are a must, or if not must then a lot of emphases is put on analytical skills.
But what do they truly mean by Analytical Skills?
If we answer this question simply, we could define analytical skills as the skill of using logic and reasoning to solve everyday problems. You can use it to deconstruct a complex situation or a problem and try to understand it better, by doing an analysis of the problem, which may involve breaking down the problem into multiple smaller problems, understanding the data points(if any), etc.
Yes, most of us must be associating "analytical" and "analysis" with complex math but it doesn't limit itself to that. There are a number of everyday activities that require and demand analytical skills, which include:
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Research (Workplace or academic)
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Resolving customer complaints
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Figure out ways to evade obstacles
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Troubleshooting
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Finding the root cause of an issue
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Games like chess, sudoku, etc.
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Using Data to make decisions
When you have taken part in any of the above-mentioned activities, you have used your analytical skills. In this article, we will find out how developers use analytical skills in their jobs and why recruiters are always looking for them in their applicants.
The Most Important Analytical Skills
Yes, developers should have numerous analytical skills, but these few are rated right at the top.
1. Communication
There is a definite reason to list communication at first. It is believed to be the topmost analytical skill as if you have trouble in communicating, consecutively you will have problems with all the other analytical skills.
The different examples of communication skills are:
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Listening: Giving others a fair chance to speak and really listening to them is a skill in itself and a very important one, if you want to know what is troubling them and solve their problems.
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Oral communication: You have to be able to explain to others what you want to convey in a way that they understand.
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Written communication: You have to be able to write in a clear and concise manner.
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Presentation: You have to be able to convey your idea to the audience using all the mediums of communication.
Communicating effectively is also pretty situational where you need to assess the situation and communicate accordingly.
For example, let's say that you have created a game and you are presenting it in front of the programmers. Here you'd like to talk more about the coding and programming aspects of the game. But, if the presentation was for other businessmen, then you need to convey why your game would stand out in the market. Hence, when doing a presentation, there are many points to consider.
So, if you are doing well with communication you would definitely do well in your career.
2. Critical Thinking
For developers, another skill that seems pretty important to hone is that of Critical Thinking. Critical thinking skills are probably what separates the best from the good. Critical thinking generally makes you ask the correct questions and make more informed and proactive decisions.
Some critical thinking skills are:
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Prioritization: You have to be able to focus on the most important or relevant aspects of a project based on the task at hand.
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Deductive reasoning: You have to be able to form and test your hypothesis by gathering information and making the right observations. You might also have to disregard your hypothesis totally on some occasions.
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Inductive reasoning: You have to be able to observe and develop the larger patterns and theories based on these observations.
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Comparison: You have to be able to judge two situations accurately and trace the minor differences between the two.
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Troubleshooting: You have to be able to find the cause of a problem by the symptoms.
Thus, it is pretty evident that critical thinking skills are an addition to the technical work skills and a very important addition at that. Improving and working on your critical thinking skills will make you work better independently without needing much assistance.
3. Research
Everyone might seem to be a researcher with the amount of information available so easily on the internet. But making use of all that information requires a person with a lot more skills than just typing away the question on a search engine.
The different examples of research skills are:
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Investigation: First, you need to come up with research questions that will help the project you are working on.
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Data collection: This is absolutely crucial in this age of the internet. You need to be able to perfectly judge the credibility of your sources and make sure that you get relevant information.
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Accuracy checking: You have to be able to figure out the accuracy of the information and filter out the irrelevant ones.
Research skills are becoming very very crucial in this age of the internet and also a lot more valued by employers. Because there is so much content on the Internet, it becomes very important to find the right content, and that is a skill in itself.
If using Google, you must frame your search query in such a way that it holds all the keywords to get you to the right result.
Employers Asking About Analytical Skills
Listing the analytical skills is just one aspect, you should also be able to get into the depths of your skills and explain to the recruiter what you actually bring to the table.
Here we have a few questions for you that might be asked by the recruiter about your analytical skills during an interview. You should practice these questions so that you are not caught off guard.
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Tell us about a situation you were put in where you had to make a decision without the full information you needed or wanted. What led you to that decision?
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Have you had a difficult troubleshooting experience and how did you find your way out of it?
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Do you have a way to figure out the pros and cons of a decision?
These analytical skills questions might be a little tricky but you don't need to panic, you have to remember that there is no perfect answer to these questions, so if you have the skills all you need to do is answer honestly. If you are preparing for interviews of FAANG tech companies, then you must work on these questions and similar other questions.
