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Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

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Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#21

Post by collyw »

malanj wrote: post #12

I stopped coding for a few years, and recently started spending significant hours a week on coding again. The feeling is quite incredible. I had forgotten how good that high is. I do think that the author doesn't understand Flow fully. The ideal state of Flow is when there is a concrete challenge with immediate feedback, which coding is great at providing. The other activities he compares coding to don't have such st…

His headline of "one hit and you are hooked" suggests he hasn't had much experience with drugs either.

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#22

Post by philers »

malanj wrote: post #12

I stopped coding for a few years, and recently started spending significant hours a week on coding again. The feeling is quite incredible. I had forgotten how good that high is. I do think that the author doesn't understand Flow fully. The ideal state of Flow is when there is a concrete challenge with immediate feedback, which coding is great at providing. The other activities he compares coding to don't have such st…

I think that off-piste skiing shares the same immersive flow-like experience whilst also being a physical activity.

It's the combination of feedback, decision making and then successful completion of the challenge that really combines to create the feeling.

Thinking of the problem, planning your response, and then executing in quick succession repeatedly.

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#24

Post by presidentender »

When I'm able to achieve flow, I'm supremely happy. You all understand.

A few tasks, though, have been serious blockers. When I don't understand my tools, and they fail in undocumented ways, and the relationships between presentation and business logic aren't clear, it actually hurts my feelings. It's as if the machine itself is judging me and reminding me that I'm not good enough.

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#25

Post by SchizoDuckie »

Whenever this happens (and it's happened a lot in my life, to such a point where I can now self-induce myself into it) I feel that I need the right music in the background, either in my headphones or on speakers.

I couldn't do an all-nighter of that awesome zen-matrix-coding-until-the-birds-start-tweeting without it, but for noisy work situations it also helps to get into that mode.

Lock in the headphones, put on some tunes and 'focus mode' and someone can stand next to you for 5 minutes until they realize you zoned out and they need to tap your shoulder to get your attention.

I haven't found the perfect key to good coding music, but these are my 2 favorites:

* http://soundcloud.com/crussen/crussen-monday-funk-session (a 4.5 hour mix)

* The Fugees - The Score (full album)

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#27

Post by orasis »

The are other amazing levels of absorption available through concentration called "jhana". They can be immensely pleasurable and even sometimes produce life changing insights into consciousness and attention.

Check out this guided tour of the 13 jhanas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRdiOoTZC3A

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#28

Post by comrade1 »

philers wrote: post #22
malanj wrote: post #12

I stopped coding for a few years, and recently started spending significant hours a week on coding again. The feeling is quite incredible. I had forgotten how good that high is. I do think that the author doesn't understand Flow fully. The ideal state of Flow is when there is a concrete challenge with immediate feedback, which coding is great at providing. The other activities he compares coding to don't have such st…

I think that off-piste skiing shares the same immersive flow-like experience whilst also being a physical activity. It's the combination of feedback, decision making and then successful completion of the challenge that really combines to create the feeling. Thinking of the problem, planning your response, and then executing in quick succession repeatedly.

This is surprisingly close. I'd never thought of it like this but it's immediately clear what you mean.

Especially if it's off-piste but an area that you're familiar with. You plan out your run multiple steps before you start, and once you're on the hill you have to be flexible enough to change course and replan on the fly for another multiple steps ahead, all while you're barreling down a hill.

And then there's the moments of sheer terror when you see snow sliding past you, or when you come up on a recent avalanche 1) have to avoid the packed ice and 2) look out for what caused the avalanche.

You're absolutely right - I get a kind of rush from coding that's similar to skiing off-piste. Not quite the same but not as different as one would think.

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#29

Post by ryanmarsh »

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's seminal book on this subject "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" is worth a read. The article didn't mention it and neither have any of the comments thus far so I thought it fair to name. If you would like to understand what "flow" is and how you can achieve it on a regular basis I encourage you to read it. This applies to individuals, groups, work and leisure.

The productivity gains seen from things such as Kanban, TDD, and CI/CD can be easily explained by the science of flow. I've given several conference talks on this and they've been well received (asked for encore presentations).

As a quick teaser, think about how CI or fast tests contribute to flow when in order to achieve flow these three criteria must be met:

1. The goal must be clear 2. Feedback must be immediate 3. There must be a feeling that our capability is balanced to the challenge at hand

Re: Coder's High – The Intense Feeling of Absorption

#30

Post by drak0n1c »

SchizoDuckie wrote: post #25

Whenever this happens (and it's happened a lot in my life, to such a point where I can now self-induce myself into it) I feel that I need the right music in the background, either in my headphones or on speakers. I couldn't do an all-nighter of that awesome zen-matrix-coding-until-the-birds-start-tweeting without it, but for noisy work situations it also helps to get into that mode. Lock in the headphones, put on som…

I too need melodic/funk/trance music to get started, but sometime after entering flow I realize that whatever playlist I started with ended a long time ago and I've been coding to silence ever since. If there are a lot of noises nearby it reminds me to put music back on.

I recommend Anjunabeats and Above & Beyond if you are looking for melodic/uplifting electronic music that avoids potentially distracting lyrics and jarring sounds.

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