Can you touch-type?

[ubuysa]

We have a friend staying with us for a short holiday who is not a computer techie at all, but she can touch type. It set me wondering how many of the techies on here can touch-type. When I started coding in assembler several decades ago the ability to touch type wasn't required, it's pretty useless when coding in assembler in any case. Consequently I can't touch type, I'm a standard 'two finger typer' and back in my day most IT techies were also two finger typers, a techie who could touch type was a rarity.

Can you touch type? Why and when did you learn? And do you think it helps with your job/hobby of being a PC techie?

 

[Amethyst]

Sorry I am a two finger typist and I am a chronic missspeller. would be helpful to learn how to touch type. but on an account excel spread sheet I need accuracy the most.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I was sent on a course by my mother when I was about 15, think it was a week long. Has helped enormously. I'm not hugely fast, maybe around 60 words per minute, but it does help when constantly updating support tickets and doing manuals etc.

 

[Stephen M]

I would recommend anyone starting out to learn and think it would be a good idea to involve touch-typing in standard education at some point as most people use computers these days. That said, I never learned and by the time I was offered a course did not think it worthwhile. I worked as a sports journalist for many years but could type fast enough to do the job, actually as fast than some of my colleagues who could touch type.

 

[Oussebon]

Can't touch type - no practice and very poor dexterity. This has never been a particular problem however as the bottleneck is more working out what comes next than getting it on the page. In the day job, anything proforma lives in various templates that I produce in advance, and the actual workload is crafting rest of the text.

 

[Tony1044]

I can touch type. And fast though I've never timed my words per minute.

It comes from years of writing long design/presales documents most likely.

I also have the slightly odd ability to be able to finish a paragraph whilst looking at, and talking to, someone. Which they say is a bit freaky to watch.

 

[Amethyst]

How can you write type one thing and talk something different?

 

[Tony1044]

How can you write type one thing and talk something different?

Lol. I genuinely have no idea.

 

[Stephen M]

I often chatted with colleagues while writing up my reports and knew others that would do the same, it seems fairly normal for journalists, although whether journalists are normal is another matter.

 

[mdwh]

I never learned to touch type, just something I picked up from years of using a computer. I doubt I'm fast compared to professional typists, but I use most fingers most of the time, and don't need to look at the keyboard.