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"Do you listen to music while coding?" An analysis.

themoah.posterous.com

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Re: "Do you listen to music while coding?" An analysis.

#91

Post by eftpotrm »

docgnome wrote: post #73
eftpotrm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried having this conversation so many times at my current place! We don't just have an open plan office, we have a huge open plan office with a mix of developers, client facing staff, managers, secretaries, phones going off, people wandering through to the kitchen or toilets, small meetings going on around tables.... It's a terrible work environment for actually getting to focus on what you're doing, yet any su…

I work in an open plan office as well... And it is a mix of client facing staff and developers. For them it works really well. Not so much for us devs. Sennheiser CX300-B's are a real life saver. I tend to listen to Daft Punk or other music that I know really well (with the general exception of classical). I have found that brown noise also works very well.

I've got the music and some reasonable headphones, but I still find it pretty poor. Partly because an iPod on shuffle really isn't very good for filtration unless you set up a lot of enormously long and specific playlists and that takes forever!

For someone else who asked about HH's desk location - yes, he actually moved from his precessor's private office into the bearpit. However he spends so long in meetings that he's very rarely at his desk. Which also helps to explain the new 'clear desk' policy that will leave the office looking immaculately tidy overnight for the cleaners, security and any burglars ;-)

Re: "Do you listen to music while coding?" An analysis.

#92

Post by buzzzlight »

eftpotrm wrote: post #40
InclinedPlane wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the life of me I don't understand why cubicles are the norm for developer offices. There have been numerous studies showing the productivity effects of open offices vs individual offices. And many more studies on the importance of concentration and the destructive power of interruptions. Do people value programmer productivity so little that they're willing to throw so much of it away to save a few dollars in rea…

I've tried having this conversation so many times at my current place! We don't just have an open plan office, we have a huge open plan office with a mix of developers, client facing staff, managers, secretaries, phones going off, people wandering through to the kitchen or toilets, small meetings going on around tables.... It's a terrible work environment for actually getting to focus on what you're doing, yet any su…

I just quit my job over a similar issue. I was doing tech support and repair work but the bosses insisted on having all of us do everything with no division of responsibility. So out of a 9 hour day of constant interruption answering the phone and front desk, I got maybe 1 or 2 hours of repair work done.

I finally realized that I can make more money freelancing on my own, since they charged $99/hr but only paid $15/hr. The levels of inefficiency at that job were staggering, and I muddled through for 3 years.

Now I am living the dream coding on my own and don't look back. The funny thing is, based on my pay stubs and commission, I know I was making them on the order of $100,000 per year. They only acted like they wanted me around...the day I gave notice.

If your employer doesn't understand these concepts, then you may have to think about finding other work with people who are more at your level. You won't regret it.

Re: "Do you listen to music while coding?" An analysis.

#95

Post by petercooper »

ydant wrote: post #89
petercooper wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From talking to people over the years, I've been surprised how differently people interpret music. There's a big split between the lyric driven and the lyric deaf. People talk to me about the lyrics to songs I know and I have no idea what they're on about. I can listen to, and even sing, songs whose lyrics I've never verbally parsed. So I get on great with songs that sound good but have idiotic or nonsensical lyrics…

I find this interesting as well. It's a rare song that I like /because/ of the lyrics (or even despite the lyrics). For the most part they are just part of the music - another instrument adding complexity to the song. Despite that, I can't really program while listening to songs with lyrics. Somewhere in my brain a thread is running parsing the lyrics and stealing cycles.

If it helps color in my picture a bit, I go to sleep listening to (spoken) podcasts every night. I can be asleep in minutes even listening to reasonably interesting content. I suspect this will bite me in the ass if I ever decide to go back to university ;-)

Re: "Do you listen to music while coding?" An analysis.

#96

Post by jamesbritt »

kingsidharth wrote: post #56
DevX101 wrote: post #7

I don't listen to music with words. My brain's language processing unit goes into action, and disrupts my ability to code. Instrumentals, electronic music, or classical music are fine.

yah, a friend of mine claims that he listens to 'death metal' while coding - I don't believe that.Personally I go for 'Raag Deshkar' - Indian Classical Music. it's just amazing for productivity and if you want to feel like it's morning. (There are particular time every 'raag' should be played

I've used death metal to help get through code crunches. Quite helpful.
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