English for Programmers: The Complete Guide to Working at International Companies

Daily Standups: What to Say and How to Say It

Daily Standups: qué decir y cómo decirlo

The daily standup is 15 minutes, but it is the moment when your English is most visible to the whole team. You have to speak without preparation. You have to be clear and concise. And you have to do it every single day.

The good news: standups are highly structured. There are three questions you answer every time. Yesterday, today, blockers. Once you know the right phrases for each, the standup becomes predictable and manageable.

Meetings and Calls: Participating with Confidence

Reuniones y llamadas: cómo participar con confianza

Meetings are harder than standups because they are less predictable. Someone might ask you a question you were not expecting. You might need to interrupt, disagree, or ask for clarification. In English, there are standard ways to do all of these without sounding rude or confused.

Pull Requests: Writing and Reviewing Code in English

Pull Requests: cómo escribir y revisar código en inglés

Pull requests are where a lot of professional English happens in writing. You write PR descriptions, leave comments on other people's code, respond to feedback, and request changes. The tone matters here as much as the content.

One of the most common mistakes is accidentally sounding bossy or rude in review comments. In English, there is a big difference between "Change this" and "Could you change this?" Learning to signal severity and soften your tone makes your reviews more professional and more effective.

Emails: Professional Communication in English

Emails: comunicación profesional en inglés

Developers write more emails than they think. Access requests, follow-ups, bug reports to stakeholders, escalations. Each one is a small professional moment where tone matters.

In English emails, the opening and closing are formulas you learn once and reuse forever. The body is where clarity matters most.

Hi Sarah,

I am joining the payments team next week and will need access to the production dashboard. Could you add me to the payments-team group in AWS?

Thanks,
Alex

Hi Carlos,

Just following up on my PR from last Tuesday (link below). Let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything you would like me to change.

Thanks,
Alex

Technical Vocabulary: The Words You Actually Need

Vocabulario técnico: las palabras que realmente necesitas

Technical English is a specific dialect. The words developers use in code reviews, standups, architecture discussions, and job interviews are not the same words you learn in a generic English course.

Here is the vocabulary every developer working in English needs:

• Coding acronyms (LGTM, WIP, AFK, PR, TBD...)The short codes that show up everywhere in developer communication
• Phrasal verbs for developers (set up, roll back, hand off...)The multi-word verbs that native speakers use constantly in tech contexts
• Idioms in tech teams (boil the ocean, low hanging fruit...)Expressions that do not mean what they literally say
• AI vocabulary (LLM, RAG, token, hallucination...)Essential terms for developers working with AI tools and systems
• How to talk about code in EnglishThe verbs and sentence patterns for walkthroughs, reviews, and explanations
• System design vocabulary (load balancer, CAP theorem, sharding...)The concepts that come up in every system design discussion and interview
• Job ad vocabulary (greenfield, IC, OTE, vesting cliff...)What the words on LinkedIn job postings actually mean
• SOLID principles in English (SRP, OCP, LSP...)Design principles you need to know and explain in code reviews and interviews
• Coding terms: Spanish to English glossaryThe most common dev terms explained for Spanish-speaking developers

Interviews: Technical Interviews in English

Entrevistas: cómo hacer entrevistas técnicas en inglés

Technical interviews in English are challenging on two levels at the same time: you have to solve the problem AND explain your thinking clearly. Most developers practice the problem-solving part but not the explanation part.

Here are the types of interviews you will face and what English you need for each:

Your English Level: Where You Are and Where You Need to Go

Tu nivel de inglés: dónde estás y adónde necesitas llegar

Before you practice, it helps to know what level you are at. The CEFR scale (A1 to C2) is the international standard for measuring English proficiency. Most developer jobs at international companies require at least a B2 level.

Here is what each level means in a developer context:

Grammar You Actually Need as a Developer

La gramática que realmente necesitas como developer

You do not need to master all of English grammar. Developers use a specific subset of verb tenses and structures in their daily work. If you focus on these, you will cover 90% of what you need.

Keep Practicing: Exercises and Resources

Sigue practicando: ejercicios y recursos

Reading this guide is the first step. But fluency comes from practice, not reading. Here are the interactive exercises and resources you can use to build real confidence in technical English.