Architect creates AI trainer for awkward conversations — like discussing salary or those “quick small changes”

Training soft skills «is no harder than developing a musical ear in someone who is tone-deaf — it’s actually possible,» says architect, tech lead, and CTO Dmitry Sukhov. He’s been working on the soft skills trainer SoftSkillz for a year now.

«If you can develop a musical ear, what’s there to say about soft skills»

Dmitry Sukhov says he was inspired to create the application partly by LinkedIn posts where HR professionals complained about not being able to find suitable team members:

«They wrote that candidates’ hard skills were excellent, but soft skills were lacking: people simply don’t know how to communicate, you can’t put them in front of clients,'» explains Dmitry.

So the situation has evolved: previously, the challenge was finding good developers with English skills; now it’s finding those who can apply English practically — conveying thoughts and arguments effectively to others.

Dmitry is convinced that soft skills can be trained and shares his own experience:

«At InnoWise, where I previously worked, experts were invited to teach communication skills courses for employees — it was very useful: developers learn to create presentations and practice effective communication techniques with clients. I personally learned a lot from this.»

«I’ll go further: I believe any skill can be trained,» our interviewee continues. «In childhood, I wasn’t accepted into the choir because I sang terribly out of tune and disrupted the other kids (though I tried hard). Teachers told me: 'Do something else — you’re tone-deaf.' Now I sing very well — my songs have been playing on Stalitsa radio for about five years.»

«So if it’s possible to develop a musical ear, what’s there to say about soft skills,» concludes Dmitry.

«Let’s say a PM caught you in the hallway asking for a 'quick small change'»

He began working on the application a year ago, conducting market research beforehand — and discovered that «there’s a niche, and the few existing services are in demand.»

«This makes sense: in the digital era, when people mainly communicate via messengers — mostly with brief text messages — communication skills and corresponding 'training tools' will become increasingly important every year.»

Voice-based products are more popular, but Dmitry’s voice version with 3D avatars is still in the planning stages (likely to appear in about a year). For now, he’s developed a text-based version.

Describing SoftSkillz, Dmitry says it’s a kind of «gym» where you can «rehearse uncomfortable conversations» and learn to engage in dialogue «while achieving solutions to your issues — even those that were previously embarrassing or awkward to discuss.»

«Let’s say some developer is afraid to ask for a salary raise (though the issue is long overdue) — they don’t know how to approach their manager. We have such a scenario in our service with several character variants, each playing a different role: defensive manager, aggressive manager, and others.»

The application includes a «coach» (or «real-time coach») that provides hints to users — helping them refine their eloquence. Each dialogue in the application is evaluated using five metrics:

• active listening,
• problem-solving,
• self-control,
• empathy,
• clarity and brevity.

Each simulation session is unique, says Dmitry: the AI continuously changes scenarios — events always unfold slightly differently. «This teaches users to respond not according to templates, but to change tactics depending on the position taken by the interlocutor, adapting as in real life.»

Currently, the simulator features 323 scenarios across numerous sections: «workplace» and «HR» for job searching and resolving work situations; «call-center» and «sales department» for handling customer complaints and objections; «C-level» and «entrepreneur» where you can try firing your first employee or explain to a business partner why the business strategy needs to change.

Dmitry’s partner and SoftSkillz sales director Andrey Volkhin is a former psychologist and NLP trainer who directly participated in developing these scenarios.

The largest number of scenarios were designed for developers:

• «navigating a situation when you don’t yet know how to technically solve a task during a meeting, but the team is pressuring you to announce a deadline;»
• «responding to a product manager who caught you in the hallway asking for a quick small change;»
• «declining a colleague’s request for help on an 'urgent' side project without offending them, when you’re already overloaded;»
• «dealing with a vague user story assigned to you in a sprint that lacks clear acceptance criteria;»
• «presenting a project idea at a hackathon and convincing other developers to join your team;»
• «admitting a mistake when your change broke the continuous integration build for the entire team.»

Six months of full-time work and a $6,000 investment

Dmitry estimates the investment in the project at 6 months of full-time work and $6,000, which went toward infrastructure, AI, scenario testing, and other needs.

SoftSkillz has already completed closed and open testing, and during the soft launch period, Dmitry and Andrey provided premium access to all registered users.

We asked about the difference between premium and regular accounts.

«A regular user gets five sessions per month — meaning they can start any scenario five times (or the same one five times if they prefer), with three of those including a 'coach.' After that, they’ll need to wait until the following month.»

The paid or premium plan offers unlimited use with the real-time «coach» always available. The premium access costs $29.99 per month (with a discount for a six-month subscription). The team isn’t focused on finding investors yet but is «open to offers.»

Currently, SoftSkillz is a web application, with no separate mobile app planned. Dmitry «doesn’t see the point» at the MVP stage.

What differentiates the product from competitors? Dmitry says other AI trainers only work in English (SoftSkillz supports both English and Russian languages).

«Moreover, they’re all tailored to the corporate sector: an average user can’t simply register — they need a work email and a corporate request, which might not even be approved.»