[WalterSear]

If you don't read other people's code, you are stuck understanding things in terms of the idioms of your own comprehension.

Moreover, reading code is a skill, and much of being a good developer involves working with other people code, which means being able to efficiently parse other people's code.

[saasinator]

I'm not so sure that's a bad thing? If you understand and work well enough, what's wrong with understanding through your own idioms, etc?

Of course we read a lot of people's code, but I'm not so sure it's something that needs to be actively practiced rather than done naturally over a career (which makes recommending people to read code pointless if it happens naturally).

[db48x]

Sure, if you happen to be exposed to a wide variety of code as a result of your work, then probably you'll be fine.

But if all you do at work is line of business apps in VB6 for years on end, then I would recommend reading the source code for some games, database servers, your OS kernel, your favorite text editor, or something unrelated to your job. The point is to expand the scope of the projects that you're capable of undertaking.

[ng12]

Because no man is an island. Your code will never be perfect. There will always be things you miss or do suboptimally -- even for concepts you think you understand.