I see many rants here about fellow programmers having to deal with clients directly.

I'm fortunate enough to work in a structured environment that allows me to focus on code.

How many of you actually prefer working directly with clients?

I hate it but I'm good at it (unfortunately) 😜

Working with clients directly is sometimes good, cause some things get lost in translation or in an attempt to summarise requirements. Also working with the client or on site is the best way to get intricate things done, like permissons or if they want me to integrate with some of their existing databases, then there is usually someone whose office you can go to and ask if you're not sure about the information you are using. While on the same note, it can be more stressful, but I find the positive when working directly with a client outweighs the negative. Plus the exposure you get is really useful.

I like to have a hand in every area and speaking to clients is a big part of that. When you look at documentation things can get lost and not fill requirements (if your team sucks) so I like to know exactly what is expected from the horse's mouth.

In my industry, it is not good for devs to directly interact with clients. We have so many users that we have to concentrate our efforts on tasks that will benefit the many, not the few that holler the loudest.

Never. I refuse to ever work directly with clients again unless I specifically choose them.

It's complicated. But old clients are usually nice, they used to give me "coffee money" for my trouble.

I work with internal clients, which I live. Most of them only know part of what they need and I'm good at filling in the missing requirements. My coding is OK, but being able to see the written that they do and then figure out can be done to automate and simplify it, is what I do better.