I agree, this is my experience as well. At the extreme ends, some people absolutely require synchronous communication / social interaction to be productive, while others' performance (and sometimes happiness) depends on the absence thereof (often perceived as inefficient or even a waste of time). They are inherently at odds with each other.

Personally I fall into the latter category and I do believe it's a better fit for a software engineering role in terms of getting things done, but I've also come to the realiziation that in our world, you'll eventually have to meet the others half-way. Hiring a team that shares the same communication style is often just too difficult (exacerbated by the fact many candidates aren't even self-aware enough to know which preferences they really have, or don't want to admit them).