6 virtual team building activities for software engineers

Software engineers are known—and revered for—their almost superhuman dedication to their craft. But even the most hardcore coder needs camaraderie to maintain morale and prevent burnout.

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Complex problems are best solved by teams where members trust and respect each other. Soft skills like communication, empathy, and collaboration are just as important to a software engineer’s toolbox as their coding chops.

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Virtual team building activities for software engineers can end communication chaos and create environments where everyone does their best work.

Which soft skills do sofware engineers need the most?

Yes, technical know-how is a must on any software engineer's resume. But in order to truly excel in the field, soft skills are essential. After all, being a great coder doesn't mean much if you can't work well with others.

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In 2018, a study conducted by business and technology consulting firm West Monroe found that HR leaders are not only placing increasing importance on strong, soft skills when hiring tech talent but that 67% have actually withheld a job offer because the candidate lacked these skills.

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Their researchers also identified the top three soft skills that HR professionals seek when hiring for tech roles:

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1. Teamwork and collaboration. As noted above, the tech industry is a team effort, and being able to play nice with others is essential to success
2. Verbal communication. The ability to clearly and concisely communicate ideas is paramount in any field but especially in tech, where complex problems need to be broken down and explained to those who may not be as technically savvy.
3. Written communication. In the world of tech, being able to document your process,  communicate updates and instructions clearly, and write error-free code is vital.

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Need processes to run more smoothly? Focus on one core skill at a time by using fun, science-based virtual team building activities for software engineers. 

Collaboration team building activities for software engineers

Building a well-oiled machine of a team requires everyone to work in tandem towards a common goal. When team members are familiar with how each other works best and trust each other to pull their weight, collaboration becomes second nature.

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Virtual team building activities that simulate the idea that everyone is on the same team and wants the same outcome can help build a stronger team dynamic.

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1. Get to know your team with Ups & Downs

You can't expect to work well with others if you don't know how well others work. Gomada's Ups & Downs game is a trivia-like activity that gives crucial insight into your teams' intrinsic motivations so you can learn how to better support them.

This is a great game for team building because it encourages everyone to think about what makes them excited about a project—and what makes them tick. Gomada is free to try.

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2. Learn each other’s strengths in a virtual escape room

In a virtual escape room, players are "locked" in a digital space with a series of puzzles to solve. They're given a set amount of time to escape and must do so by working together, using their individual skills to solve the various clues.

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Breaking out of a virtual escape room is only possible by working together and using each team member's strengths. By the same token, in order to succeed at work, teams need to know how to utilize everyone's skillsets appropriately.

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Space Race | Mission: Mars and Alice in Puzzleland are two fun options to try. 

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Tip: If you are working in a start-up, chances are you will need to have excellent collaboration and communication skills. Give these start-up team building ideas a try in order to bond and improve your collaboration skills.

Communication team building activities for software engineers

When things are lost in translation, it can cost your team time, money, and even clients. Software engineers need to be able to communicate their ideas clearly and concisely to both their equally knowledgeable peers and other members of their team who may not be as technically proficient.

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These free team building games encourage people to express themselves and listen to others can help to build better communication skills.

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3. Practice explaining rationale with Desert Island

Break your team members up into groups of at least three and read them a scenario in which they've been stranded on a desert island after a nasty shipwreck. To their luck, some items have washed up on shore that they can use for their survival.

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Give them a list of 20 things that could possibly have survived the wreck and tell them they're only allowed to keep five. It's their job to identify as a group which five they will keep.

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Once everyone has made their selections, each group will present which items they decided to hold on to and why. The "why" factor is key here—it will help team members to practice explaining their rationale.

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4. Have fun with a round of virtual taboo

This is a classic party game that can easily be adapted into a communication activity for remote teams. The rules are simple: One player is given a word and has to get their teammates to guess the word without using any of the taboo words associated with it.

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For example, if the word is "car," taboo words might be "driving," "drivers license," "road," etc. The game can get surprisingly difficult and is a great lesson in all the many ways people can interpret different things.

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You can share you Zoom screen and use Play Taboo Online for free or test out a paid version made specifically for virtual teams using Confetti. 

Written communication team building activities

This is another critical skill for software engineers—being able to communicate their ideas clearly and concisely in writing. In a field where a lot of work is done virtually, it's important to be able to express oneself in a way that can be easily understood by everyone on the team.

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Word-based games are a great way to get people to practice more effective communication strategies. 

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5. Cut the fluff out of email with In So Many Words

Lengthy emails and dense project docs can be daunting, even for the most tech-savvy reader. When explaining a complex issue in writing, it's important to get to the point quickly and use layman's terms.

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This activity will help your team to practice writing concisely. Start by telling your team the phrase, "in # many words, tell me..." You can dictate how many words they're allowed to use and what the topic is about. For example, you could say, "In 15 words, tell me how you would explain the internet."

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Players can either write down or speak their answers. After everyone is done, the leader will continue to lower the word count to challenge the team to be even more concise without losing their original meaning.

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6. Decipher hidden meanings with Guess the Emoji

This is a great activity for team building because it requires players to think about how they can communicate their ideas using as few words as possible. The goal of the game is to guess the word or phrase that corresponds with a given emoji.

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You can do themes like movie titles (for example: 👽☝️📞🏠 = ET) or things related to your industry. The important thing is that players have to think about how to describe something using only emojis.

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These virtual team building activities for software engineers will make complex projects and detail-oriented tasks run so much smoother. So try out a few of these activities—which are made so much easier on a reliable conference platform like Veertly—and see how your team improves!

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More ideas for specific job functions:

• Activities for HR teams
• Activities for sales teams
• Activities for agile teams
• Activities for senior management
• Activities for customer service teams

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