Try pairing.

This is an excellent programming technique with many benefits.

There are many great reasons to try pairing.

First of all, two heads are better than one. It’s a lot easier to get over problematic hurdles and mental challenges when two people attack a problem. When you work alone, you can only rely on your own skills and experiences. With pairing, this power is doubled.

Pairing also gives you a free code review in real time, which is much more efficient than having someone pick up your code later and review it. Code reviews are great, but the reviewer will not understand the code as deeply as someone who developed the code with you.

Your work will also go a lot faster when pairing. A lot less time will be spent in rework or going down ill-advised paths, as you will catch more errors earlier. Your pairing partner can also keep you focused on work, away from the distractions of cat videos and social media updates.

Pairing is a great way to learn new techniques. There’s nothing quite like learning a technique in real time, in action. It’s much more efficient than merely reading about it in a book. On the other side, this is also a great way to teach a method to someone else. Part of developing mastery is improving your ability to teach others, and pairing helps a lot with that.

So give it a try.