Why the Best Engineers Are Great Communicators
How clear thinking, empathy, and everyday writing turn good code into real impact
In the first articles of this series, we challenged a common early-career belief: that working hard and writing good code is enough. We talked about how effort doesn’t automatically translate into impact, and how senior engineers behave differently long before they receive a senior title.
That naturally raises a follow-up question.
If seniority isn’t about working harder, and if outcomes matter more than visible effort, then what actually allows some engineers to consistently move things forward while others struggle to be noticed?
A big part of the answer is communication.
Not communication as in presentations or corporate buzzwords, but the everyday, unglamorous work of making your thinking clear to other people. The messages you write. The context you provide. The way your intent survives reviews, handoffs, and time.
The best engineers don’t just know syntax better. The best engineers aren’t just better problem solvers. They are better at transmitting understanding. Their work doesn’t stop at the code — it continues in how others perceive, use, and build on it.
That’s why communication isn’t a “soft skill” you learn after technical mastery. It’s one of the main ways technical skill turns into real impact.
Technical Skill Doesn’t Travel on Its Own
Early in your career, it’s easy to believe that communication is something you can postpone. First become a great engineer — whatever that means —, then learn how to explain yourself.
In practice, technical skill only creates value once it passes through other people. Code that isn’t understood, trusted, or correctly used might be impressive, but it’s fragile. It breaks the moment it leaves your editor.
The best engineers aren’t just strong technically. They are understandable. Their thinking is visible. Their intent survives reviews, refactors, and time.
Communication doesn’t replace technical skills. It multiplies them.
This echoes a theme we’ve already explored in this series: effort alone doesn’t matter if it doesn’t turn into impact. Writing code is effort. Making sure others can work with it, build on it, and rely on it is impact.
Clarity Is a Force Multiplier
Poor communication creates an invisible tax on teams.
Requirements get misinterpreted. Features stall because assumptions weren’t surfaced early. Reviews turn tense because people argue about solutions before agreeing on the problem. None of this shows up on a task board, but everyone feels it.
Clear communication prevents that waste.
When expectations are aligned early, work moves faster later. When intent is explicit, fewer things need to be revisited. When decisions are explained, teams stop having the same conversations.
This is why senior engineers often appear “faster” even when they write less code. They eliminate confusion before it turns into rework. Their leverage comes from clarity, not from typing speed.
Readable Messages Matter as Much as Readable Code
Great engineers don’t just write readable code. They write readable messages.
They don’t open a pull request without context. They don’t answer questions with cryptic one-liners. They don’t treat chat messages as disposable just because they aren’t part of the codebase.
They understand that most engineering work happens between commits.
A good update tells you what changed, why it changed, and what to look at next. A good review comment explains reasoning, not just preference. A good document anticipates confusion instead of reacting to it later.
These habits make collaboration calmer and progress more visible — not because they’re flashy, but because they reduce friction everywhere.
Communication Is an Expression of Empathy
How you communicate reveals how you think about other people.
Do you expect teammates to reverse-engineer your intent? Do you assume they share your context? Do you optimize for speed at the cost of clarity?
Mature engineers slow down just enough to meet others where they are.
They don’t want to sound smart. They want to be understood. That mindset builds trust, and trust is what allows ideas to carry weight.
This is often why senior engineers influence decisions even when they aren’t the loudest voice in the room. Their communication lowers the cognitive load for everyone else.
Small Changes, Immediate Payoff
The good news is that communication offers fast, compounding returns.
You can write status updates that answer the questions people actually have instead of listing tasks you touched. You can describe the problem in a pull request before presenting the solution. You can leave review comments that teach rather than judge. You can document not just how something works, but why it exists.
None of this requires a promotion. None of it requires permission.
These are small shifts, but they change how your work lands. They make collaboration smoother, reviews calmer, and progress more visible.
As you climb the ladder, you’ll see this pattern repeat: seniority isn’t about doing more work. It’s about removing friction for everyone else.
And few things remove friction as effectively as clear, thoughtful communication.