The great things about pair programming and feedback

At Dev Bootcamp, we are incentivized to program in pairs as much as possible.

When I started learning code, the truth is that I did not find working in pairs to be very productive. I mean, I love being able to connect more personally with the people I will soon be working with in the awesome projects in San Francisco, but when it came to actually getting things done, in my experience, it did not work that great. It was more like not knowing how to do anything... together.

The thing is that, in the very beginning, most people hardly had any technical skills to add to each other. At the same time, understanding the problems and the syntax of the code was super hard and getting things running required laser focus which, for me, meant putting on my headphones, disconecting from the world and diving into the challenge in front of me.

However, that doen't mean the pairing sessions weren't of any help. Quite the opposite, actually.

Even though the pairing sessions weren't too productuve, they were a great oportunity for us to develope our comunication skills, get to know our classmates, realize that we were not the only ones being challenged by this whole new world of computer programming and, most importantly, to connect.

Getting to know other people that are going through the same experience and difficulties as you, working with them, seeing them giving their best and thriving is really inspiring. It shows you it can be done and motivates you too keep going when things get so complicated you think you'll never get them right. Pairing gives you a chance to know that you are going to be working with amazing people and, for me, that makes it all worth it already.

It's important to clarify, though, that my latest experiences pairing with other programmers have been a lot different when it comes to getting things done. After a few weeks of solving problems and making our own little apps, we have all learned a lot and done things in different ways. This is making pairing sessions more and more beneficial, as experiences are adding up and that makes learning so much faster.

Another thing that makes pairing great, in the way that it is structured at DBC, is the feedback system. Feedbacks are really a great way for you to improve. They allow you to identify the things you are doing well - so you keep doing them - and the things you could do to get even better.

I love the way DBC prepared everybody to give and receive good feedback. That makes a big difference communicating with the people you work with, as feedback is expected and welcomed. In contrast, out there is is easy to get into hard situations giving feedback to people, even if you do it in the best way possible, as they will see it as a personal insult and even blame others instead of using that reference and reflect on how they could learn with that situation.

I think a good feedback culture is one of the main tools for any group of people to really thrive. I am stoked to see where this all will go.