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A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

arxiv.org

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Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#31

Post by mrtksn »

I thought that cannabis enhances the imagination, boosts the creativity and induces out of the box thinking up until I was late to a party. When I arrived, I was sober when everyone else was high and I couldn't bear the stupidity of those normally intelligent people. That's when I stop using the substance.

I'm more inclined to believe that Ballmer Peak[0] is a real thing and I do get productive, motivated and creative when I'm slightly drunk.

Back in the university, one night when I was lonely and bored I just got enough drunk to code a Facebook app that will give invitations to invite-only shopping startup using my referral. By the time the sunlight hit me, I was finished reverse engineering their invite system, write a code that will generate the invite, design the UI where people will request the invite, write the copy that promotes it, integrate all that into Facebook app(at that time FB was cool), post it to the social media. Not the biggest engineering or creative challenge but I was first at it.

When I woke up, my app was all over the social media, the founder had me added as a friend and invited me to their office. Lifted my max invitations limit and I made quite substantial(for a student)referral bonus and kept spending it for years to come.

https://xkcd.com/323/

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#32

Post by colechristensen »

extr wrote: post #28

Just read the abstract but seems to make sense. Weed (in a low/moderate dose) is great every once and awhile if you're trying to brainstorm or think holistically about how something should work. Sometimes if you have to work on something really boring it allows you to see it in a new light and appreciate interesting the aspects of the task. But if you're actually trying to get work done, good luck remembering what lo…

Do you think drinking caffeine is similarly unethical, why or why not?

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#33

Post by alpenbazi »

flatiron wrote: post #15

I got my three kids desks for christmas. Put them down to bed for the night and smoke a little weed. I was shocked how I couldn’t follow ikea desk instructions. Got frustrated and decided to try again sober. I was super shocked the next day how easy it was to follow when sober.

same. complex logical thinking is quite hard. but feeling is great. listening high to classical sound sometimes opens the story, the memory or the feelings the creator wanted to transport. for example.

so, a day in remote-meetings can be quite nice high, a complex migration hardly..

€dit: could we pair our experiences with our "handed"-style? i'm strongly lefthanded. i have a theory, with left handeds the possibility is higher to the "logical stuff does not work anymore" component than for righthandeds

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#36

Post by nickysielicki »

gumby wrote: post #17
nickysielicki wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is "programmer" a coherent group? Well, it's a profession, so yes. > They have almost nothing in common. They both write code all day. Professionally. I'm sorry for the snark. You might be able to make a case that this study doesn't take income into account but that's not the comment you're making here.

I think there's a fundamental complexity and skills-required difference between someone writing kernel code or microcode and someone writing a generic CRUD app.

Yeah but do salaries represent that? The biggest mistake I've made in the past 10 years of my life is choosing to focus on low level instead of just chasing the latest and greatest react/rails stuff. Fresh grads with experience only in Java at $FANCY_CO outearn me by a factor of 2.5 because they get on the web/app track.

Meanwhile over in embedded I'm writing highly performant const-correct modern asio C++ applications requiring custom kernel drivers.

Parent comment had the nerve to imply that I'm not even a true programmer. None of this shit makes any sense anymore, I can't wait for the bubble to pop.

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#37

Post by sporedro »

For me it really depends on how much I smoke and what the task is. If I’m trying to learn new tech and implement something new I’m weed dosnt help. If it’s coding in a language I already know beyond the absolute basics and I smoke a reasonable amount it actual makes me feel more engaged. Of course 10 bong rips or something wouldn’t be good, but a certain amount is great once in a while. As for alchahol after about 1 beer I lose all motivation to do anything and think clearly.

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#38

Post by encoderer »

educaysean wrote: post #11

For me weed is not really something that actively aids in problem-solving or brainstorming, but rather acts as more of a motivation booster. When it's 11pm and I have a handful of less-demanding tasks to slog through, that's where I've found weed to be a lot of help. It helps make otherwise routine tasks more engaging. It even gives me sufficient motivation to actively refactor and improve parts of codebase that I mi…

Yes same for me. It makes it easy to push through tedious tasks with a little enjoyment.

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#39

Post by pxc »

ArtWomb wrote: post #8

Somewhat related, but a recent Senate hearing cited the lack of a national standard regarding cannabis impaired driving. They voted to investigate further. Results may be counter-intuitive ;) Interesting there is so little research into the actual *effects* on humans. You get better data from Leafly reviews!

> Interesting there is so little research into the actual effects on humans. You get better data from Leafly reviews!

I imagine that this will always be true, because what you want to know about the effects is inherently qualitative and subjective, and that kind of research gets relatively little attention and funding.

Re: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation

#40

Post by mwattsun »

throwaway599281 wrote: post #5

> Furthermore, this cannabis usage is primarily motivated by a perceived enhancement to certain software development skills (such as brainstorming or getting into a programming zone) rather than medicinal reasons How can anyone who has tried it remotely believe this nonsense?

Absolutely, but I understand ymmv. I live in California where it's legal, so I decided to try it again. What I found is related to another article on HN right now: Step Away from Stack Overflow (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29659938)

Sometimes I get lost in the programming equivalent of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. After some time with no progress in figuring out what sticks, it’s time to step away from that approach.

I don't smoke daily. I use it as a tool because I found it helps me when I am semi-manic and just trying to get something to work. I step away from the keyboard and spend time thinking about how to architect my code so that it is easier to write and understand. I'm sure other people do that without smoking, but it's been a big help for me to do that more often.

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