The crux of it is that pairing works for some but not for others. But often, it’s forced on everyone, usually from the top down. This is done in the name of vague benefits like “correctness” and “knowledge sharing”. Have these benifits even been confirmed through unbiased scientific studies?
The problem is that in the tech biz people tend to follow blindly without thinking. There was a point there where just because Pivotal Labs had some success pairing full time, everyone followed blindly. It’s the same with leetcode style interviews, open offices and ping pong tables - it worked for google and all of the sudden everyone is following blindly.
But personally, I wouldn’t work somewhere which paired heavily even if the benefits could be proved. I simply won’t do it because I don’t enjoy it!
Just like the choice to work remotely, the choice to not pair seems like a basic employee freedom that we should all have. Luckily, the way our industry is moving, such freedoms seem to be increasing.