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Comment by coffeecodecouch | Hacker News Reader

> That blows my mind.

Really? I don't find it that shocking at all that most people might type at a tenth of the speed a programmer can type. I'm sure a chef could express the same awe at my inefficiency when making Kraft Dinner.

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I was a college student during this time. I feel like people my age all ended up proficient at typing because of instant messenging (not just the "computer guys"). It was my preferred mode of communication of in high school (especially since this was pre-smartphone). I'm definitely surprised that they found typing speeds that slow.

> I feel like people my age all ended up proficient at typing because of instant messenging (not just the "computer guys").

Same here. I drastically improved my typing speed thanks to internet chat rooms. My parents first got home internet when I was in high school in the late 90s, and my typing speed went from ~28wpm (thanks to a 6-week 9th grade typing class) to 60+ wpm in a week, after spending only an hour or so online each day. I had to type at least that fast to keep up with the conversation, so my brain was forced to acclimate.

Realistically I don't think programmers type prose all that much more frequently than college students. Programming tends to involve lots of symbols, and most of the typing is in small edits rather than paragraphs. College students write long essays and term papers, whereas I rarely write anything longer than an in-depth comment on Hacker News. I agree that it makes sense that programmers type faster due to the general correlation with technology usage, but I'm still quite surprised by the magnitude of the difference.

Yeah, I think people tend to make assumptions about the competence of others with regards to the tools that they personally are so adept at using that the action has become mostly subconscious.

I do it myself all of the time. It seems to be the result of the way our minds make associations, and an inability to properly 'empathize' with others, that is, to view the action from their perspective of being relatively unpracticed at it. This is where, in fact, I think a large part of 'imposter syndrome' stems from.

I personally have difficulty viewing the ability to launch/maintain web applications, provision a server for deployment, write SQL queries, etc, etc, etc... as anything particularly 'novel' or requiring ability; and indeed, in the context of this web-site, it isn't.

In the real world though, there's a dearth of 'incompetence', but unless you actively interact with a menagerie/distributed-sampling of society, it is very easy to convince yourself that the average person is as competent/intelligent as the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis. The fact that the internet allows everyone in your field to collaborate only serves to exacerbate the situation.

These are not "most people", these are college students. If you can't write an essay at a reasonable pace (and don't have an excuse like studying pure math -- by your own admission computer science is out) -- it would appear basic education has failed. Not that that's much of a surprise -- the only reason I'm not hobbled by poor, self-taught, typing is that I was offered touch typing (on a typewriter, mind) in junior high school.

I suppose it's testament that for all the fun of being an autodidact, there are some skills that really do benefit from tutoring (I'd argue most skills do, but the challenge is to find a good tutor...).

What's a reasonable pace? 12 wpm is 2-3 pages an hour.

Obviously the most important is how well one writes, not the speed.

But 12 wpm is basically a real handicap -- it is below reasonable speed. Consider that a short essay is maybe 10 pages, and needs a minimum of three drafts... that's 25 pages or so. 8-12 hours of just typing for 10 pages?

I'd say 30 wpm is a reasonable low-bar average.

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