Pair programming: Why should we pair every day?
Since I joined the Makers Bootcamp (I’m in week 4), every afternoon is time to pair up. At first, I didn’t understand why we do this every day.
* Should I stop my progress for a while?
* One person is behind or in front of the other.
* Would that stop the progress of the person in front?
* If I’m behind, does it mean I’m slow?
* Am I not following the group as I should?
Here comes the series of comparisons and the worst: imposter syndrome. Okay, let’s stop here because that’s a topic for another post.
We need to make one very clear here: pair programming is helpful for several things, some of which are: learning, teaching and growing together!
There is a technique to do it effectively:
One person is the driver, and the other is the navigator.
Whoever drives has the keyboard in hand, and this person will type.
Who navigates will think about how to solve that specific problem.
Imagine you are in a car, and the co-driver has the GPS in their hands. They tell you to turn right and then to enter to the left. So far, so good. In your head, it makes sense. But they say you must turn left again, and now this street is the wrong way. If you go, you can crash your car or get a ticket, right?
It is crucial that you, as a driver, are following and thinking together with the navigator. And when you have another more reasonable idea and explain it to the other person, you let them be the driver, and you become the navigator. Interestingly, you change places frequently to make the development dynamic.
Sometimes we are in the middle of a problem for hours and suffering through it without being able to find the solution.
When we do pair programming, two thinking heads solve the problem faster than one. You have terrific solutions together, and, as Napoleon Hill said in one of his books almost 100 years ago:
When two people got together, a third mind, the Master Mind, was created.
Nowadays, I practice pair programming every afternoon, and I believe I will be a successful professional working this way whenever I can.
Call your mentor to pair with you.
Reach your friend.
Get your rubber duck.
But do it!
Even if you talk to someone who doesn’t understand the subject, if you are talking about it makes you have clicks that maybe you wouldn’t have if you had suffered silently alone in your mind.
Don’t suffer alone. Ask for help.
