The market is hot, job opportunities and the hunt for talent in the ever-growing industry of technology keep on the rise. No doubt, the need for skilled software developers remains in high demand worldwide and Costa Rica is not an exception. Such a scenario has resulted in IT companies paying higher salaries compared to other industries: good news to all those programming graduates out there. Additionally, working as a software developer can grant you an above-average work-life balance: certainly a career benefit we all pursue. In spite of such a bright context and abundance of opportunities for developers, a significant number of candidates fail to enter the labor market while others get stuck in dead-end job positions. To tackle the problem, many may resort to picking up hot, emerging technologies to broaden their portfolio of skills. However, in most cases evidence shows their Achilles' heel lies in their inability to speak English competently thus becoming their real career-limiting factor.

English at work

Despite the shifting tides in the new global economy, English keeps its dominance as the international language of business. Most outsourcing companies aim to participate in that big international setting; needless to say, a candidate who doesn't hold decent English skills is undoubtedly out of the game. If you pursue a position with an international company, language is an imperative skill as engineering is a matter of teamwork. The ability to communicate properly with the stakeholders of a project is crucial to tightly coordinate tasks and work with a diverse range of customers, suppliers, and partners worldwide. English facilitates communication, team dynamics, and performance in the work environment that, otherwise, would be a tower of Babel. When it comes to hiring, one of the most sought-after skills is well-rounded communication. English is vital to achieving that end, as mentioned before, Global Business speaks English. You may be proficient in several programming languages, but there is nothing more universally valuable than English.

What needs to be done

As stated before, English proficiency is a crucial skill in the business world. Costa Rica has made significant efforts to improve that competency through the development of national strategies and the enforcement of policies and the implementations of programs; however, our reality indicates that English proficiency is still somewhat low. More specifically in higher education, schools are often unable to provide the necessary English instruction, while those that do so are often of poor quality. Ideally programming schools should implement tailor-made curricula to equip students with a strong command of the language, but let's be honest: that is not an overnight process. Do not be discouraged, though. Learning English is within your grasp as long as you are willing to put hard work into it. If you’re really determined to pick up English competently and move forward in your software development career -apart from conversational skills- programmers should also be proficient in business English: pretty obvious but often neglected. There is no shortcut. In the quest of moving closer to efficient technical communication, programmers also need to acquire relevant English terminology for programming and any other technologies they are using.

Benefits

Hard work pays off; it is not a simple cliché. A programmer with a good grasp of the language can win those competitive job positions, improve the way they deal with tasks, get ownership of good projects and eventually boost their earning power. 
Don´t settle and keep moving forward with your English skills.