I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're a developer who is also the CEO of your company and need to promote it at events then yeah public speaking wi

I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're a developer who is also the CEO of your company and need to promote it at events then yeah public speaking will be essential. If you want to pitch your ideas for funding you'll probably have to be a good speaker too. Other than that I think you could get by without it unless you wanted to give talks at developer conferences. Public speaking isn't easy but I think good programmers tend to be some of the best public speakers. You just need a clear head and know exactly what you want to say. Look at someone like John Carmack. He has weird ticks but his train of thought is unmatched. He knows the material so well that he can just sit there and speak about a topic without missing a beat. I think that is the most important thing about speaking publicly. If you take it slow and know exactly what to say then you'll be good at it.