I know this question might sound bizarre. I have never met someone in my career talking to himself in front of his computer until recently and puzzled myself about the reasons and the impact on his work...
Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
1–10 of 47 posts
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#2[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#3I'd hardly be concerned with the impact on HIS work. Developers can be strange people, as long as he's got a good head I wouldn't be concerned about it. The problem is the impact on the others. If everyone works in an open area this would be a bit of a problem.
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#4Is he doing some kind of rubber duck debugging?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
I don't talk to myself, but sometimes by simply talking aloud about my problems to my peers I can flesh out a solution to a hard problem.
I have seen other programmers talk to themselves to find a solution when they're stuck, and it seems to work quite well.
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#5Yes, I would. Thinking out loud helps a lot in my experience - and that's what most people perceive as "talking to himself".
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#6this would be an incidental, to me. perhaps it would be annoying, but i don't feel like it would necessarily impact his actual work.
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#7Since the question refers to a developer (a special category of employees) the answer is a strong "Yes".
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#8Is he doing some kind of rubber duck debugging? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging I don't talk to myself, but sometimes by simply talking aloud about my problems to my peers I can flesh out a solution to a hard problem. I have seen other programmers talk to themselves to find a solution when they're stuck, and it seems to work quite well.
Nice link!
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#9I wouldn't. At one job, the desks were arranged so that I sat at my computer with my back to my coworker (who talked to himself/no-one-in-particular/me throughout the day) and I could never tell when he was trying to talk to me or just vocalizing something. Also, I found it annoying. A small annoyance, sure, but if it bothers your other developer's, it's not a good idea.
Re: Ask HN: Would you employ a developer who talks to himself during work?
#10Since the question refers to a developer (a special category of employees) the answer is a strong "Yes".
Absolutely. I'm a developer who has hired 15-20 other developers in my time. "talks to himself" isn't a reason not to hire a nice, talented developer.