# Re: Pair Programming (WAS: Have opening for ROR engineers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 23, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-pair-programming-was-have-opening-for-ror-engineers/168660 "2009-05-23T17:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Hassan_S)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-pair-programming-was-have-opening-for-ror-engineers/168660/1 "2009-05-23T17:33:26Z")
On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 7:42 AM, Phlip [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > (Y’all _do_ practice Pair Programming, don’t you??) Nope. Never had the opportunity. You? 🙂 It’s an interesting idea, with at least one major practical drawback, but I wonder what percentage of Rails development is _actually_ being done in a Pair Programming environment. – Hassan S. ------------------------ removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Hassan_S)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-pair-programming-was-have-opening-for-ror-engineers/168660/2 "2009-05-23T21:32:51Z")
Statistics on this may be quite variable as I know of a few companies local to me that are on and off with pair programming. I have done pair programming at one job and seen it very successful at a friends job. I use it when I teach RoR workshops, and I find it is quite helpful but does present some requirements: a base line of education and problem solving abilities. Overall I think it is a far superior way to develop software (especially web software) because I do believe more heads yield better code. But again, it requires those heads to have that base line education (a B.S. in Computer Science… or some other marker for a starting place) otherwise you will end up with a Sr. developer and a Jr. developer who never achieve one of the most beneficial goals of PP-- shared wisdom and an increase in skill. If the individuals in the pair are too far apart one will get left behind or one could potentially feel frustrated far too often. I’ve tried working with people far above me, far below me, and right around the same grounds. Really is fascinating what you can teach/ learn from pairing though. On May 23, 8:32 am, Hassan S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Hassan_S)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-pair-programming-was-have-opening-for-ror-engineers/168660/3 "2009-05-24T00:52:11Z")
I fully agree with WJS. There are different expectations in pairing, between developers and non-developers. My post was related to developer pairing, but I find it helpful to have a marketing guy next to me at times (like when working on an Interface that I am not familiar with). Also, one of the reasons I love Ruby is how readable the code is if you follow the conventions. Same for rails, since it builds off of Ruby. Naming conventions in this framework have made the quality of code so much better and it is amazing to see a community of RoR developers tightly bound to following conventions. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@Hassan\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Hassan_S)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-pair-programming-was-have-opening-for-ror-engineers/168660/4 "2009-05-23T23:16:10Z")
On May 23, 2:32 pm, Mike R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > education (a B.S. in Computer Science… or some other marker for a > starting place) otherwise you will end up with a Sr. developer and a > Jr. developer who never achieve one of the most beneficial goals of > PP-- shared wisdom and an increase in skill. If the individuals in the > pair are too far apart one will get left behind or one could > potentially feel frustrated far too often. I’d like to weigh into this one, even though it may be straying a little off topic for a Ruby on Rails group, as I believe pair- programming benefits always far outweigh any frustrations. Even with a non-developer project manager background, I’ve paired with my developers on small projects and have been able to add value and keep the code flowing. The values I may add, such as SQL knowledge or just spelling consistency, formatting, etc. really help, not to mention just plain brainstorming an idea as to an approach to get it something that is “stuck” moving forward. In fact, geniuses like Martin F. have written that really good code is readable by anyone, without much commenting. –my $.02 --Wayne