I haven't been very active on my blog recently, so I thought I should try to get back into it with any topic. Lately, I've been trying to work on my touch typing. After many years of following my own method for typing, I figured it would be nice to do it properly, break those years of bad habits and build up to a better typing speed than the plateau I'd reached.

I started working on my touch typing on 12th May, and I've been making sure to practice for 15 minutes per day. I've managed to complete my goal so far, and my typing has become more accurate. I also think I've reached and surpassed my typing speed before this. It is hard to tell because I've only been measuring my speed with the touch typing methods since starting, so I don't know what my typing speed was before this switch. I'm now averaging 45 to 55 words per minute on standard words. I still need practice on symbols, although I am ahead of my training tools expectations here due to the programming and shell practice throughout the day.

One of the biggest problems I had initially was remembering the pattern for passwords. I had a period near the end of last week where I couldn't type with my old habit to enter my passwords, but I had to type very deliberately with touch typing to get them right. I have now gotten them to a reasonable speed, and with the amount I get to practice them, I'm sure I'll surpass the old speed soon.

I think it has been helpful to me, and I would recommend programmers spend time on improving their typing habits.