Developers are often the professionals who read the most English: documentation, error messages, forums and tools. Even so, many freeze when speaking in a meeting or an interview. That is because reading and speaking are different skills.
Where English matters in a developer’s career
| Situation | Skill | Weight for international jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation and errors | Reading | High, but most already have it |
| Pull requests and tickets | Writing | High |
| Stand-ups and meetings | Listening and speaking | Very high |
| Explaining a solution | Speaking | Very high |
| Technical interviews | Speaking under pressure | Decisive |
1. Explaining a solution out loud
This is the skill that sets people apart. Useful phrases:
- “The main issue is that…”
- “My approach would be to…”
- “The trade-off here is…”
- “Let me walk you through the code.”
- “I’d go with option A, because…”
Practice by explaining in English the code you wrote today, even alone.
2. Writing pull requests and tickets
A good description is short and organized:
- What: what changed.
- Why: why it changed.
- How to test: how to verify it.
Common verbs: add, fix, remove, update, refactor, handle, prevent.
3. Following meetings
Stand-ups, planning and retros repeat the same vocabulary: “blocked”, “on track”, “spike”, “carry over”, “action item”. The challenge is training your ear for fast speech and varied accents.
4. Technical interviews
A technical interview in English requires thinking out loud. Practice solving exercises while narrating: “First I’ll check if the list is empty. Then I’ll loop through…” Do mock interviews with someone or record yourself.
A simple weekly plan
| Day | Activity |
|---|---|
| Monday | Explain out loud what you did at work |
| Tuesday | Write a PR description in English |
| Wednesday | Watch a technical talk with English subtitles |
| Thursday | Solve an exercise while narrating in English |
| Friday | Listen to a tech podcast |
Where Telidioma fits in
Conference talks and engineering videos on YouTube train your ear for spoken technical English. With dual subtitles, you follow the explanation and learn how terms are used in sentences. On documentation and articles, selecting an expression shows its translation in context. For the core vocabulary of the field, see tech English vocabulary.
Frequently asked questions
Do developers need fluent English?
To work locally, reading well already helps a lot. To work for international companies, speaking and listening become essential, usually at around CEFR B2.
How do I prepare for a technical interview in English?
Practice solving problems while thinking out loud in English: explain what you are doing as you write the code. It is a different skill from just knowing the vocabulary.
Does reading documentation help me learn English?
It helps with technical vocabulary and reading. But documentation language is very different from conversation, so on its own it does not prepare you for meetings.