Why every software engineer should use vim

Conquer the “quitting vim” fear and give it a go

It might seem like an overstatement at first and you might be furious or laughing depending on the kind of person you are, that a random vim enthusiast from the internet saying that every software engineer should use vim. But I hope you will have five minutes of your time to hear my reasoning and make your decision based on that.

I will not beat around the bush and directly get to the point:

1. Vim kind of has a language of its own. If you master vim you can use it in every text editor and even in browser (yes you heard it right!).
2. You grow always learning mentality.
3. You will be really fast!
4. It’s fun.

Vim kind of has a language of its own. If you master vim you can use it in every text editor
Many people have kind of a misunderstanding that if you use vim you have to use 1980’s UI/UX in terminal with no intellisense, debugger or any 21st-century features and you have to do load tons of customization. It’s totally a myth. You can use vim as a plugin in Intellij, vscode, sublime and almost all the IDE and use the latest and greatest IDE features and with zero customization.

Demo of vim in Intellij and vscode

So what do you achieve from this? Now you have an editing skillset that you can use in every editor, even in the remote linux server (since almost all linux servers has vim!). Otherwise, you would have to learn tips and tricks for getting around a file in every editor or configure everything to your liking. And when you have to edit in the server, there is no intellij or vscode there!

If you are really excited about it (Like it have become!) you can use vim keybinding to move around in terminal and also in browser. So for me personally if learning one thing helps me in so many places it’s a win for me.

You grow always learning mentality

Learning vim is an endless process. First you learn the basics, then you suddenly find out there is a way quicker way to do so…