Soft skills like communication and teamwork are often listed as essential in job postings, but I've seen hiring managers prioritize technical credentials time and again. A few years ago, I worked with a brilliant coder who couldn't articulate his ideas in meetings—he still got promoted because his code shipped faster than anyone else's. That makes me wonder: do we actually reward soft skills, or do we just pay lip service to them while celebrating individual output? If you had to choose between hiring someone technically excellent but socially awkward, or someone average technically but highly collaborative, which would you pick for a long-term project?