It's definitely a coping mechanism. When you've been burned repeatedly by people nodding vigorously in understanding, then turning around and revealing a complete lack of comprehension, forcing you to either intervene or allow the error to propagate, it's tempting to fall into a habit of pre-emptively explaining everything.

> revealing a complete lack of comprehension, forcing you to either intervene or allow the error to propagate, it's tempting to fall into a habit of pre-emptively explaining everything.

Or maybe the explanation was bad to begin with. Over communicating won't turn a bad explanation into a good one. Understanding something doesn't mean you know how to explain it to someone else.

> Understanding something doesn't mean you know how to explain it to someone else.

Too true. Explaining things is hard. My gripe is mainly people's tendency to pretend they understand in perpetuity, instead of expressing a modicum of curiosity about it. "What does 'TPS' stand for actually?" As mentioned, explaining things is hard, and I think I'm not alone in needing help identifying gaps in my explanations.

That said, I also understand that there are huge social barriers to admitting a lack of understanding in the tech industry, especially for juniors.