I've hired a lot of coders in my time, and I have to say that (given a baseline of competence) I'll hire communication skills over additional coding prowess pretty much every time. For a coder who is part of a team (and not the founder of a start-up) you can't "always get someone better than you to do the talking."
In most corporate situations, coders who can't effectively communicate with their peers or supervisors are essentially worthless, regardless of how slick they code.
I've hired a lot of coders in my time, and I have to say that (given a baseline of competence) I'll hire communication skills over additional coding prowess pretty much every time. For a coder who is part of a team (and not the founder of a start-up) you can't "always get someone better than you to do the talking."
In most corporate situations, coders who can't effectively communicate with their peers or supervisors are essentially worthless, regardless of how slick they code.