At my work we have to do pair programming for some time. For me it seems even worse than being interviewed. To make myself concentrate is very hard. And it seems that this pair programming is exactly the opposite of what programming is all about, i.e. to become temporarily unobservant, forget about everything else but the problem to solve and the code. So I wonder, are there people who can truly enjoy pair programming?
Pair programming is great to get junior people or people just coming in up to speed.<p>If you put me and another senior next to each other to use just one computer and make us do that consistently, we would both quit the job by friday. Pair programming is a great way to cut your productivity in half (2 people doing the job of one). We trust each other anyway, there's no point in watching each other like hawks. We can just do our own thing and then CR the other guy.<p>Pair programming is another one of those schemes employed to make people feel pressured into not slacking under the pretense of it being new and edgy and kinda cool. Its great, nobody ever slacks. You just burn out within months.<p>If you don't think pair programming is retarded, please ask a welder how he would feel about pair-welding. Complete and utter bullshit.<p>^ I'm talking about professionals. Not brogrammers. Not node.js clowns. Those people could all use some supervision. But sticking two great engineers with lots of experience together like that will jsut reduce productivity and will to live.
I've done pair programming. With the right partner it is productive and produces better code. The person at the keyboard is at a disadvantage because the partner has more "think time". Anyway, I found it pleasant.<p>The KEY problem is management. My partner always wanted to type so we ended up with me doing the thinking/review while he worked out the syntax. When we got our performance reviews my partner got a raise and I got a bad review. My manager believed that he did all the work and I just sat around talking.<p>Beware the 'review' trap...
I agree with another comment here, you are not supposed to love pair programming. It's an attempt to put pressure on you. Just never do it, talk to your manager. If they are not happy with your decision, leave, as you are the one to suffer the consequences, not them.