Today, it’s not enough for a programmer to write perfect codes – it’s increasingly important what personal skills they have. What is the added value of having a psychologist to develop these skills? What methods are worth adapting in a corporate environment? Our psychologist, Virag Jonas, answered these questions by presenting Green Fox’s strategy.
Skills mapping starts at the pre-screening stage
Applicants of Green Fox Academy courses go through a four-stage selection process that includes a personal skills assessment. The selection process is therefore led by our psychologists. “We use a playful test to assess the cognitive competences that will be crucial during the training and later on in the job. It is important that the results of the test do not tell us whether a person will be a good or a bad programmer, but whether the key competences assessed will enable the student to cope with the very intensive training ahead of them, and then out in the job market.”
The test will assess, among other things, the candidates’ problem-solving and planning skills, goal-oriented thinking, self-reflectivity, perseverance, tolerance of monotony, adaptability and learning skills. In addition, teamwork skills, general professional interest, basic logical skills for coding, etc. will be assessed at further stages of the selection process, stress management skills and workload management, while particular attention is also paid to testing English language skills.
Virág also mentioned that the use of growth mindset will be important in future workplaces, where junior programmers will face completely new situations, tasks and responsibilities. As not only the new career but also the training itself can be challenging, we pay special attention to developing a flexible mindset during the training.
“It’s important that students believe that skills are built, not born: most of them can be developed through practice, so we apply this approach when we design our training courses.”
Broad spectrum of soft skill training
Although students come to us with strong soft skills thanks to selection, we place great emphasis on developing personal skills throughout the training. It is quite typical to call on different specialists in different fields, for example, a communication specialist may only be trained in presentation skills. Thanks to the fact that we have several full-time psychologists on our team, we at Green Fox think in terms of a much broader spectrum. Virág and her colleagues can cover several areas in one person, and they can also put the theory behind the practice, which is important from a psychological point of view. As with hard skills training, the emphasis in soft skills training is on experiential learning, as this is the most effective way to ensure that the knowledge gained during training is integrated into the long-term toolbox of our future programmers.
“Our psychologists are also coaches, which is key because there are some stuck points that are more effective to deal with one-to-one. Individual sessions are not usually initiated by us, but we think it is beneficial if the student comes to us. Both individual and group training sessions can add a lot to the development of soft skills and self-awareness, but it should be stressed that students can get the most out of them if they put in the necessary energy. For example, presentation skills can be developed from zero to perfection in 4.5 months with practice – we’ve seen it happen!”
The effectiveness of the process is demonstrated by the general openness that develops in the participants by the end of the course. Virág adds that “this is also due to the fact that they believe that they can learn something completely new in a short period of time, so they discover in themselves that they are capable of much more than they thought they were.”
Connecting employers with the ideal candidate
Throughout the training, mentors and psychologists work symbiotically with students: we teach them programming in a real working environment, while at the same time developing their personal skills to get the most out of them. This gives us a comprehensive picture of the students, so we can effectively help them find a job.
This close cooperation is of particular value to our corporate partners. If an employer can identify the skills, competencies and personality traits that are most important to them, we can help them to recommend not only the best programmer for the position but also the one that fits company culture the most.
