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Comment by Terretta | Hacker News Reader

> can't communicate well

Or, perhaps the person thinks (solves) in abstract concepts rather than linear words. Just because many people mouth words when reading or can't think without hearing words in their head or aloud, doesn't mean others should have to handicap their own efficacy of thought while working it out. Two conceptuals can communicate in a kind of ultra condensed shorthand liner verbal thinkers struggle to follow. Less can't communicate, more can't conceptualize squared off with can't verbalize.

Both groups should synthesize simply and clearly at the end, both should work to get in sync. And both ways of thinking have their uses in a team. Catch: conceptual thinkers can interview verbal thinkers, the other way around is more challenging.

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Sometimes I think in terms of relationships between objects. I walk around slowly, up and down a hallway, and the "objects" are just vague shapes hovering around the hallway. If I'm thinking that way, it's going to be hard to explain my "chain of reasoning" while I'm in that mode.

Once I have figured out the relationships, though, I can talk about it in words. "Why didn't you do it this way?" "That felt really clunky. This way seemed cleaner, because X Y Z."

But I've never had to go into that mode for an interview. Or maybe the interview is too "immediate" - too interactive - for me to go into that mode.

I wonder if there is something to said about the importance of being able to clearly communicate at some higher level being even more important now than it has been in the past, given that developers are increasingly expected to work with LLMs

It's something I struggle a lot with (and I'm currently unemployed)

I mean, I think that's exactly the parent poster's point. It's not an absolute "can this person communicate efficiently on CommunicationBench 3.0-beta7". It's "would I, personally, do well sitting next to this person every day and communicating constantly with them, or would I struggle with that?" There's a very personal piece to this that is both a little arbitrary, but completely practical.

(Caveat: I've always been interviewing for members of a small team who I might very literally be sitting next to every day and communicating constantly with. BigCo interviewing is different.)

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