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Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#71

Post by jll29 »

SAP had or has a blind developer at their Walldorf, Germany headquarters. As of 2000, he was using a Braille line.

Perhaps back-end work is easier without vision, in particular databases.

I hope you get to travel a bit whilst you can still see - catch some beautiful memories (nature) while you can... that's what I would do. All the best!

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#74

Post by Ecko123 »

Unorthodox suggestion 2: Practice Yoga or exercise (seriously)(not meditation rather physical & breathing). Eat healthy food (not just meat but veggies) . You are still young & your body can hold a lot more than how you thought it to be & would recover for sure.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#75

Post by nickhuh »

I don't have any experience programming without visual aids; and you've probably already thought of this aspect though I'll mention it just in-case: if I were facing a similar situation, I would look into long-term disability insurance and see if there's anything I can do on that front. That way, I could still pursue being productive with blindness or deafblindness, but would have less economic pressure while doing so.

Many employers offer a combination of short-term and long-term disability that will provide income (in some cases until you retire) in the event that you can no longer work.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#76

Post by atdrummond »

I have hired blind developers in the past and would do so again. Happy to share thoughts on an accessible workplace or discuss a position any time: alex@gatepay.co

I would also echo the comment made regarding government positions. There are quite a few compelling coding jobs in the public sector and the government seems to take their responsibilities with regards to workplace needs quite seriously.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#77

Post by ValentineC »

kolanos wrote: post #51
istorical wrote: post #7

Biggest advice, start programming with your monitor covered up by a sheet or turned off now while you still have the option to turn it back on to figure out what you just did. Gradually have it turned off for longer periods without turning it on to see what's happening until you can do it without seeing it at all.

On Macs, there's a screen curtain feature that can be turned on and off. The shortcut is FN+CTRL+OPTION+SHIFT+-. It might be different on older versions of OSX, used to use the right option key, but I've forgotten the keystrokes.

It looks like the shortcut depends on what one's VoiceOver triggers key are.

Here's the Apple doc for anyone interested: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201443

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#78

Post by dan-robertson »

solarengineer wrote: post #65

Unorthodox suggestion: build up lots of capital ASAP, so that you don’t struggle later commuting to terms with loss of vision as well as potential loss of revenue. Some approaches to consider: Algo trading , creating and selling off products, creating stuff for startups for a stake in the profits. Right now, you may want to consider all options rather than regretting not doing so later. I have seen two blind persons…

I’m not sure I agree with this advice though I have no experience with being blind. Possibly creating/selling products/running a service would be a good way to have an income stream which is reasonably sustainable but I would worry about any graphical front end to any software product, and my general worry would be about loss of income because my expectation would be that finding a job while blind would be hard. I would expect working for a large tech company would have two advantages: 1. This would likely be the most reliable easiest way to actually build up a decent amount of capital; and 2. I would expect a larger company would be more accommodating of your going blind because they would be much better able to cope with a loss of productivity and adjustment period and they may be more nervous of the legal risks of not supporting you. If you run your own business or work for a company with little spare money, it will be much harder to have a loss of productivity or adjustment period.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#79

Post by dan-robertson »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #67

I have heard anecdotally that Apple in particular does hire a lot of blind software engineers - in large part to help make its products accessible to the blind.

On the other side of this, I’ve heard that the software Apple makes tends to be very good from an accessibility standpoint. An advantage of not needing to look at it is that you can have your phone screen permanently off and get a massively extended battery life.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

#80

Post by leeoniya »

kolanos wrote: post #47

You can definitely continue as a software engineer. I'm living proof. It won't be easy, especially at first. For a while it will feel like you're working twice as hard just to keep up with your sighted peers. But eventually, the better you get with your tools, you'll find you have some superpowers over your sighted peers. For example, as you get better with a screen reader, you'll be bumping the speech rate up to 1.7…

> Also, because code is no longer represented visually as blocks, you'll find you're building an increasingly detailed memory model of your code.

does refactoring by other team members have an outsized negative effect on this?

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