I Code Alone!

[VagabondSW]

In last week's Code Project Newsletter there was a poll asking the question "How many people do you program with?"

Nearly 50 (48.9) percent of the 1754 respondents selected the "I Code Alone" option. Two to four person teams were the runner up with 22.3 percent of respondents making that selection. In fact, all respondents that made selections from "one other person" to the maximum of "more than ten" only add up to 46.5 percent.

As one who codes alone, I find this a little disheartening. Though I have some proven projects under my belt as the lone developer, I have no formal software engineering education and know that I would only benefit from peer review and support. So, I find it discouraging that being the lone developer is more common than programming with others.

On the other hand, I recognize that I could be looking at skewed results. It seems logical that sites like Code Project would attract a disproportionate number of lone developers over team developers, but I have no estimate as to how disproportionate that number may be.

All of this leads me to ask a few questions:

Would peer review and discussion really benefit me (and my implementation) or do I have some romantic view of group development?

This message boards allows me to ask questions of others, mainly regarding implementation, but is there a way it could work for code review, unit testing, or refactoring (setting aside NDS considerations)?

Perhaps all of this is a result of the years of coding in silence driving me a little stir-crazy. Perhaps 46.5 percent of the respondents to the Code Project poll are thinking to themselves, "I wish I could just code alone".

 

[ThePentiumGuy]

I actually like coding alone: it helps me..... do things the way I want.

Coding as a team would give you a much better experience for a real-world situation (like working in a company).

Would peer review and discussion really benefit me (and my implementation) or do I have some romantic view of group development?

It should help.

By working as a group, you pick up tips and tricks from others and they can help you with optimizations. By working alone, you learn things on your own and you might enhance your understanding of certain things. By working in a group, you get peer pressured by others to 'hurry up', which is not the case if you work alone (.... except if you think you're ... another person -> Split personality :O).

Would peer review and discussion really benefit me (and my implementation) or do I have some romantic view of group development?

Personally: I prefer working alone, seeking help if I need it (aka places like this forum).

-The Pentium Guy

 

[michael_hk]

Would peer review and discussion really benefit me (and my implementation)?

Depend on the quality of your groupmates.

I worked alone in my previous company (Call it A) and work in a group of 4 currently (Call it B).

I learned a lot in A as I needed to take care the whole process of developing the web/app from the very beginning to the end - design, implement and deploy. No one helped me or gave me any guide line. I looked for help in google and forums like this one (Thanks to everyone contributing here ). Yes, I was in charge of everything and developed the app the way I wanted. It's cool. But later I realized a problem. The problem is I have no chance to build large-scale stuff.

That's why I changed my job. Now I am building a ERP system for a company (2xxx staff). It's quite different from building a simple app. for several users. I enjoy dealing with complex business logic and system architecture. And I enjoy discussing with my colleagues to tackle problems and find out the best solutions. I find I learn something whenever I talked to those knowledgable and talented developers.