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To investigate the transformative impact of soft skills on the career pathways of experts and students in the engineering domain.

The study adopts a comprehensive approach, combining a review of existing literature with primary data to analyse quantitative and qualitative empirical investigations. Data from 40 participants, who are engineering students and professionals, is analysed using descriptive statistics and advanced software tools like ATLAS.ti and Jamovi.

The findings underscore the indispensable nature of soft skills in elevating employability, emphasising the urgent need for mandatory soft skills education for engineering students and professionals. The research identifies the top five soft skills engineers need: communication, teamwork, time management, leadership and problem-solving.

The research contributes to understanding soft skills’ pivotal role in engineering professions, providing valuable insights for professionals and organisations aiming to enhance performance and competitiveness in the industry. The study advocates for a holistic approach that recognises the symbiotic relationship between technical proficiency and soft skills in shaping the success of engineering graduates in the 21st-century workforce.

The study recognises the current job market demands and asserts that engineers must combine technical expertise with soft skills to succeed in the technology-driven yet people-centric engineering profession.

This chapter explores the foundations of soft skills (SS) within the realm of virtual academic entrepreneurship, heavily influenced by the ongoing process of virtual transformation. An extensive review of the existing literature highlights that owing to the adaptable, combinable, programmable and generative nature of virtual technology, a fundamental aspect of virtual transformation, the cultivation of SS among higher education students is paramount. Given the intrinsic difficulty in assessing SS, the central research question addressed in this chapter is: What are the core building blocks of virtual academic entrepreneurship, and how do they take shape? The findings suggest that these competencies can be nurtured within three primary domains: (1) knowledge sharing, (2) cultural attributes and (3) individual attributes. Implications of this research underscore the role of virtual tools in supporting SS development, acknowledging their inherent complexity. The primary objective is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among students, promoting the growth of virtual academic entrepreneurship based on these foundational principles. This chapter introduces an innovative conceptual framework that elucidates the dynamics of virtual academic entrepreneurship, specifically focusing on the role of SS. The framework delves into the complex relationships among these skills, virtual transformation and the disruptive influence of virtual technology. Its overarching goal is to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among students in higher education.