Can you touch type?

I can't touch type, I kind of hover over the keyboard which leads to mistyping and slows me down. I keep wanting to learn to touch type but then there are other more important things I would like to learn which puts me off learning it.

So, just wondering if you can touch type and if so what speed can you get up to?

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Comments

networker050184

I can touch type but I never really took any time to learn besides a class in school years ago. Just picked it up over the years of typing.

lsud00d

Up to 120ish, but it really depends on the test. Average 80-110.

A guy at my last job could touch type Dvorak o_0

NetworkVeteran

76 wpm on a broken keyboard. 100 wpm typically. I don't use a formal method a-s-d-f-j-k-l-; and know people who can type faster, but don't have much incentive to do so, because the bottleneck is more often thinking what to type.

On a tablet I prefer to swype!

Free Online Typing Test | Test Your Typing Speed | WPM

srabiee

I'm fairly speedy but I hover. I never learned proper touch type.

ptilsen

I don't type the way that was taught in keyboarding class, and probably hit 80% of keys with my index fingers. However, I can type over 80WPM on my laptop and over 100WPM on my Das Keyboard (which has no letters), and would consider myself a good touch typist. The method taught in keyboarding never made sense; my hands do their own thing.

I'm with Network Veteran in that it doesn't matter at those levels. I can't compose at 100WPM unless I'm furiously dumping whatever is in my brain, and even then, there will be problems if I do.

Zartanasaurus

I kind of have a weird semi-touch typing style. I touch type with my left hand for the most part and do everything on the right hand with thumb and pointer finger. It gets me about 70wpm if the time to correct errors is counted.

MSP-IT

I type about 60WPM max, my fingers do what they please.

I used to type Dvorak, but the inconsistency between computers made it pointless pursuit.

Asif Dasl

There are a lot of touch typers here, kudos. Extra points for ptilsen and the letter-less keyboard, first time I have seen that! But I guess it makes you a touch-typer.. I'm only about 45wpm but I agree the brain is a bottleneck regarding what to type. Looks like my new years resolution will have to be becoming a touch-typer - 10 minutes a day for the rest of the year, we will see what happens then.

About7Narwhal

It will help out a lot when it comes to speed. It is kind of odd, thinking about ptilsen's keyboard. I don't look down when I type, but I wouldn't be able to tell you where the letters are on the keyboard unless I had it in front of me. It is almost like the moment I hit the home row with my fingers, I just know how to form the words and don't really think about the letter locations. Kind of perplexing.

focushollywood

At the time I thought I was crazy for taking typing 1 & 2 in high school, only took them because that was the class all the girls took. Boy am I glad I took those classes now. That was before the days of PC's so it didn't make much sense then, but now I'm on the keyboard all the time and so glad I can type.

Claymoore

Priston

It surprises me how many people in IT don't know how to touch type.

DevilWAH

I don't touch type, but have noticed in the last few years that i don't look at the keyboard any more and can type at a decent speed with out looking. be nice to touch type but really no need, would not speed up my work or make things much easier.

NinjaBoy

Use to be able to touch type around 80-90 wpm, now I just hover over the keyboard producing (at a push) around 45wpm.

I've found that since working in IT and not an office job, I don't need touch typing skills that much

MSP-IT

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

Free Online Typing Test | Test Your Typing Speed | WPM

I really would like to switch back to dvorak. I would need something like DAS keyboard to do so.

Master Of Puppets

Now that I think about it, I've gotten quite good at it. I was just doing a AAA config, 5 minutes ago, on a few routers and switches and a TACACS+ server while looking at and talking to my colleague

jibbajabba

tpatt100

I can do a combination of touch type and hunt and peck pretty well lol.

xXErebuS

O well; if someone tops it I'll try to break 100.

Capture.jpg

NetworkVeteran

xXErebuS, very nice! Cleaning my keyboard helped, but I'd need one with no sticky keys to have a shot.

wpm-stats.PNG

datgirl

DevilWAH wrote: »

I don't touch type, but have noticed in the last few years that i don't look at the keyboard any more and can type at a decent speed with out looking. be nice to touch type but really no need, would not speed up my work or make things much easier.

I get the sense that that would describe me, for the most part I don't have to look at the keyboard to type something, but wouldn't call myself a touch typist. I have no idea as to my typing speed, may check it out at some point.

xXErebuS

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

xXErebuS, very nice! Cleaning my keyboard helped, but I'd need one with no sticky keys to have a shot.

lol yea I have some sticking keys too; guess thats what I get for eating over my laptop all the time

.

I actually print these out and carry them in my wallet to show all the girls when I go out.

lsud00d

xXErebuS wrote: »

O well; if someone tops it I'll try to break 100.

I challenge thee to a duel

Edit: This is on a laptop...I do better on a USB keyboard >_<

101wpm.jpg

bermovick

I think I touch-type. I always counted touch-typing as not having to look at the keyboard to find the keys. Right now I'm just watching the characters appear on the screen. Anyways.

By my definition, yeah I touch-type, and am about 100-105 wpm.

In other news, does anyone else feel for the bumps on the F and J keys, and while you think of what to type, kindof rub back and forth over them with your index fingers, then feel a little dirty like you were doing foreplay with the keyboard?It's just me? hmm.

Update: Just found the link from earlier in the thread - hit 100 exactly.

WPM.jpg

kohr-ah

I can touch type

Depending on what I am doing it is 70 - 100 WPM

I always link this to people who say they want to be able to touch type better. Makes it more fun

Z-Type

Nyblizzard

Fun thread! I've been able to touch type for many, many years now. I blame it on spending endless hours on a computer at an early age

Nyblizzard

kohr-ah wrote: »

I can touch type Depending on what I am doing it is 70 - 100 WPM

I always link this to people who say they want to be able to touch type better. Makes it more fun

Z-Type

Awesome game!

PurpleIT

I can type the thoghts in my head MUCH faster than trying to copy something. I have been typing on computers for over 30 years and I scored in the mid-thirties on this test, but I have typed all of this with little to no effort (and at a much greater rate).

I keep saying that I will learn to touch-type one of these days, but I haven't come to that day yet...

RobertKaucher

I can touch type but really only on my ergonomic key boards. The second I switch to another, I have issues... I have adapted to my Surface's type keyboard but I still make more mistakes on it than I do on my regular keyboards. I taught myself using a CD tutorial. My wife still crushes me at WPM, though. Over the past three years my role switched to being very heavy on development, so typing is just what I do all day. But I get a little annoyed now with people in IT who cannot type at least passably.

Corndork2

For the record, Im pretty decent at my job -- But I type horribly

I can only touch type when Im not thinking about it... like now.... But I am in no way proficient at it.