Doubts about pair programming got crushed after 2 months at a dev shop

I used to think pair programming was just a waste of time for beginners, like having someone watch you type. Then I got stuck on a React bug for 3 hours at a small shop in Austin, and my senior sat down and walked me through the logic in 20 minutes. Now I actually look for pairing sessions because the quick fixes teach me more than tutorials ever do. Has anyone else flipped their opinion on a coding practice they were sure was useless?

3 comments

3 Comments

baker.holly7d ago

Well I'm not so sure it's that serious. One bug fix that took 20 minutes with a senior doesn't really prove the whole thing is worth it. I've seen plenty of shops where pairing just becomes two people staring at a screen and one of them doing all the work. It can be a real time sink if you're not careful. And honestly, if your senior can fix the bug in 20 minutes, that just means they already knew the answer while you were still figuring it out. That's not really a vote for pairing, that's just experience being faster than inexperience.

phoenix_lewis7d ago

Honestly that's how I felt about code reviews til my PR broke production twice in one week.

-1

laura_chen417d ago

Pairing slapped me in the face too until it actually saved my butt @baker.holly. Experience gap is real but fresh eyes still catch stuff.