DEV Community

Joshua Rutkowski
Joshua Rutkowski

Posted on

Is English a necessary skill for a developer? Why or why not?

Like the title says - is English a necessary skill for a developer? What do you think?

[deleted user] image

[Deleted User]

Top comments (5)

Collapse
 
ahferroin7 profile image
Austin S. Hemmelgarn •

Absolutely necessary? No (usually).

Useful? Very. Most software you're likely to use as a developer has documentation in English, and a lot of software is written in a very anglo-centric manner. Quite simply, just like for international business, English has become a lingua franca for software development.

Collapse
 
vonheikemen profile image
Heiker • • Edited

Necessary? No.

I will say that if you can read and write it without help then you are very lucky.

Collapse
 
josh profile image
Joshua Rutkowski •

So if at least a working proficiency of English is preferred, should/could anything be done? I’ve dreamt of the ideal coding boot camp overseas that teaches English and software dev. That would open up a world of possibilities! (Speaking as a linguist and a developer)

Collapse
 
scottshipp profile image
scottshipp •

Language keywords are in English so I would say yes. For example, "map," "while," "class," "list," "string," etc.

Collapse
 
carlmungazi profile image
Carl Mungazi •

It is necessary to the extent it helps the developer in question accomplish whatever task they are doing.