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by lentil_soup·2y ago·view on hn ↗
> can talk through their thought process as they problem solve

Why? Why can't I have a moment to think and focus without talking?

1 comments
Taking a moment to think is totally fine. But it's important to be able to explain what you're going to build before you actually build. Writing up clear design docs and architecture is critical in most senior technical positions.

Obviously the expectation here changes on leveling--with juniors if they just code in silence before explaining their solution at the end, I'm less concerned. But if a senior just starts coding on the whiteboard I'll interrupt them and ask them to explain what their approach is, in English, before coding it up.

Do you think that's how coding happens? That's something you might see in a movie or rehearsed talk.
I mean... yes? Have you only worked at a company with a single-digit number of engineers? At some point communication is critical and you need to be able to write up a design document before making major changes or additions to code or infrastructure.
> At some point communication is critical and you need to be able to write up a design document before making major changes or additions to code or infrastructure.

... which is typically written after hours of understanding the problem and then minutes to hours of writing out the document. Not 5 minutes after reading a problem statement.

> At some point communication is critical and you need to be able to write up a design document before making major changes or additions to code or infrastructure.

Not sure I've ever had to do that on a whiteboard or under pressure though. Also don't think being good at doing that correlates with writing good documentation