Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Hard disagree. The skillsets for writing and programming are largely orthogonal. The fact you're a programmer who finds writing difficult means nothing in regard to the relative difficulty of each skill.

On the contrary, I have always found writing well (Based on what other people have told me) relatively easy without putting in much focused effort. Whereas programming was something I had to put many hours into.



You got more practice writing human languages. You probably started learned to read/write ~4-6 years old and continued learning for more than 10 years. You probably studied in school that took up a significant portion of your time.

Imagine if you spent that time writing code. Starting at that early age. It would feel easy too.

Even a professional software engineer probably reads and writes more in human language than in code. Reading/writing emails, chatting with colleagues on Slack, or reading comments on HN...


That isn't what I mean. Many, many people have very poor writing despite having done it for many years and having studied it in school. My writing has always been good relative to my peers, and I haven't particularly tried to improve it.


> Hard disagree. The skillsets for writing and programming are largely orthogonal. The fact you're a programmer who finds writing difficult means nothing in regard to the relative difficulty of each skill.

How do you survive code reviews with poor writing?

I insist on well-documented code because conveying intent and purpose of code is extremely important.

That often requires decent writing skills.


sounds uninformed. i'm sure this opinion will change with experience.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: