---
title: "Comment by Philip Beck on \"5 Good Habits of a Software Engineer\" | Hashnode"
description: "I used to use Visual Studio / C++ almost exclusively back in the 90s and knew dozens of keystrokes. Now I have to jump between many IDEs constantly and I'm"
url: "https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d/comment/627789ca317fc95a74ca9935"
---

[Discussion](https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d)

Comment [5 Good Habits of a Software Engineer](https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d)

[Philip Beck](https://hashnode.com/@philbeck)

[May 8, 2022](https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d/comment/627789ca317fc95a74ca9935)

I used to use Visual Studio / C++ almost exclusively back in the 90s and knew dozens of keystrokes. Now I have to jump between many IDEs constantly and I'm forced to use the mouse. Even with VS I apply the old VS6 keystrokes and find many of them are broken.

[Simon Egersand 🎈](https://hashnode.com/@prplcode)

[May 8, 2022](https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d/comment/627789ca317fc95a74ca9935#reply-62781e67317fc95a74caa6d7)

That sounds annoying. Have you considered learning vim or emacs bindings to use across all IDEs? I'm sure there are vim and emacs bindings for all modern IDEs.

And you could also invest time into setting them all up according to how you like it, but that of course takes time.

Why do you have to use so many IDEs?

[Philip Beck](https://hashnode.com/@philbeck)

[May 8, 2022](https://hashnode.com/posts/5-good-habits-of-a-software-engineer/6274b1cbf24a8e4867f9264d/comment/627789ca317fc95a74ca9935#reply-627846cd317fc95a74caaa49)

[Simon Egersand 🎈](https://hashnode.com/@prplcode) I've been in the same company for 20 years and worked on so many projects for pharma automation that I'm now split 50/50 between working on new products and upgrading old projects. Languages, databases, devices.