Why I Haven't Switched to VIM

I used to feel guilty for not using VIM. I had steeped my mind in the rhetoric of other VIM users promising a long term benefit of switching to VIM and was convinced that if I was serious about my craft I would put in the effort and switch. I tried multiple times and, like many others I have heard of, I found the initial productivity hit to be too large to justify making the switch.

Over the past year, I have finally come around to the idea that, perhaps, using VIM isn’t an important indicator of my commitment to honing my craft. It turns out, VIM isn’t the only text editor that allows you to know it in a way that makes you extremely productive. In fact, the text editor that I have been using for the past 10 years, Sublime Text, is extremely customizable and I have been learning the ins and outs, customizing it to my needs over most of that time.

One of the greatest challenges while being a software developer is not allowing your productivity to be destroyed by constantly customizing or learning new tools. Whether it be switching to the latest framework or spending the afternoon checking out plugins for your editor, we always face the decision of how much time to invest. It is easy to believe that the time investment will eventually provide a return in productivity, but that return is rarely measured or proven. Avoid the large upfront cost of switching to a new tool. Instead, redirect that effort into the tools that you already use.

If I switched to VIM now, in 5 years I’m sure I would know VIM pretty well, but would my productivity actually be better than the 15 years of Sublime Text experience I would have if I stuck with the tools that I already use?