this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Programming
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I hate it. I really enjoy programming, and don't enjoy social niceties. And I definitely don't enjoy someone looking over my shoulder all the time.
So that leads to 2 situations: I'm programming, but someone is looking over my shoulder and stopping me constantly (or doing nothing), or I'm watching someone else program and constantly frustrated that it's not me.
Even during an emergency I'm often better off just doing my thing solo, and the other person using their own methods to investigate and fix the problem. Chat is still available to share information and progress without it being a constant annoyance.
The only thing I think it's really good for is learning to program, and unless the people are the same level, it's probably only good for 1 of them.
While I agree that pair programming doesn't fit everyone and all situations. Especially as a developer gets more experience, or for things that could be considered "scut work". What you're describing here really doesn't sound like effective pair programming.
One person shouldn't be just "watching" the other program. Especially for extended periods of time. There should be some regular interactivity or collaboration. I have found things like the "driver / navigator pattern" helpful.
Yeah I've definitely had situations where its been useful, lime double checking safety critical algorithms or making sure I haven't missed anything obvious. But a lot of the time in my current team it just ends up feeling redundant, especially since it's a small dev team.
One person doing the coding and the other just watching or doing nothing doesn't sound like pair programming to me. That's just working alone with someone else in the room, of course it's not enjoyable.
Pair programming requires a fitting task and some basic rules, most importantly that the person at the keyboard doesn't just type as they please without consulting the other person - otherwise they'll quickly be programming alone.