It’s crazy to think that even a rock climber can suffer from RSI. Goes to show it can happen to anyone.
Forty years of programming
31–40 of 176 posts
Re: Forty years of programming
#32Ha, I was having wrist pain and I got that same wrist rest. I've recommended it to a lot of people. (Although I've never thought about cutting one in half for my mouse :)
I've found that changing keyboards between a flat mechanical and a Microsoft wave keyboard every 6 months keeps the pain away. Don't need anything fancy, just gotta change the exact factors of the repetitive motion.
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Re: Forty years of programming
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been years I have 2 or 3 monitors and I find them annoying and mostly a waste of power. Every now and again I use them as a reference screen against something I'm doing, but my neck starts hurting pretty quick. Alt-tabbing rocks. They tend to be mostly empty. Alt-tabbing means improved focus "one thing at a time" too. I'm thinking to keep a large 32" screen in front of me, ditch the side 32" and get a "portable…
I got a 43” 4K TV that can do 60hz with reasonable signal input latency. You can check the specs of many TVs on rtings.com. Just over $200 at Costco these days. I personally like to use Divvy to chop my screen into sections but mostly I do 2/3 for my IDE (affords me 3 less-than-full-width columns for source) and 1/3 for the browser. I have wanted to have an iPad for displaying docs but haven’t gone there yet.
Is it as good for your eyes? Aren't TV designed to be looked at from a further distance than arm's length?
Re: Forty years of programming
#34I find that using the trackpad my wrist is always working to keep my hand over the trackpad without touching it.
Re: Forty years of programming
#35Am I the only one who finds these "I've been programming since 6" posts silly? I mean, I used to mess up with computers since I was a child, but I wouldn't call that "programming". In fact if I'm completely honest, it wasn't until 5 years ago when I truly started to learn and grow as an engineer, more than the rest of my career combined. Rather than focused on quantity let's focus on quality. 1 good year of experienc…
I’ve been programming and reading programming-adjacent books since I was about six. It definitely has shaped my views about hyped technologies since I remember the same sort of rhetoric used to promote OOP and XML and Java as is being used today to promote Crypto, AI and Rust.
I don’t know if it’s made me a better programmer, but it’s made me realize the importance of focusing on fundamentals and learning the ephemeral stuff just in time.
Re: Forty years of programming
#36I started experiencing similar forearm pain a few years ago. The split keyboard seemed to help a ton. I also programmed[0] an Arduino with two foot pedals. Left pedal for CTRL, right for SHIFT, both for ALT. Worked wonders. I mostly have the pain manageable now, but it still flares up sometimes, and it was really scary there for a while wondering if I might have to stop programming. To you young guns out there, an ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure. Invest in an ergonomic setup and stretches/exercises now, and don't push yourself into pain while typing. Take more breaks. Once you push your body over the edge it may never quite be the same.
Re: Forty years of programming
#37I too have been programming for 40 years, am in early 60's, and amazed that I have no real wrist issues from all that time of typing, etc. I've also been a pretty avid WASD + Mouse gamer for a long time as well, and I think gaming probably causes me more issues than programming.
Same here, same setup as his 1st step. No need for fancy standup mouse, ergonomic keyboard or all that crap. This guy deserves a "your weakness disgust me" gif on his blog.
That’s a bit harsh. 57 here and my forearms, elbows, and wrists are f…ouled up without an ergonomic split keyboard and some other accommodations. Bodies are different, and if this guy is a rock climber, that might have something to do with it. But flat, tight keyboards give me tendinitis in as little as a day. I can’t even use my laptop without an external keyboard, which kinda defeats the purpose, but it’s what work gave me and it’s more powerful than my current, out of date, PC.
Re: Forty years of programming
#38I am also 46 and can not do much of anything physical with my hands anymore, such as sand, paint, use a screwdriver, etc. Years ago I switched to an ergonomic keyboard (Kinesis Advantage 2) and a vertical mouse. Neither bother me at all, I can type and use the mouse just fine all day. Unsure if the two are related. Does the pain I feel from sanding indicate I'd feel similar pain with a non ergonomic setup? Not sure. But I am glad I made the switch, just in case.
Re: Forty years of programming
#39Am I the only one who finds these "I've been programming since 6" posts silly? I mean, I used to mess up with computers since I was a child, but I wouldn't call that "programming". In fact if I'm completely honest, it wasn't until 5 years ago when I truly started to learn and grow as an engineer, more than the rest of my career combined. Rather than focused on quantity let's focus on quality. 1 good year of experienc…
I almost always see it as a red flag. When I hear someone irl say it I interpret it as a sort of clout hack. "I've been programming since I was six years old so listen to me when I say we should use mongoDB".
It can be meaningful but it depends on how they've been using that time. If they stayed at one company working on one project on a specific feature for 40 years straight, they may be a world class grandmaster in a very specific area which is only relevant for like 5% of all projects but have narrow experience and be incapable of providing advice on most coding topics that affect 95% of projects.
Re: Forty years of programming
#40I can confirm that the vertical mouse (exactly same brand) fixes my wrist issue. I used to feel some pain after playing diablo 2 a few days, a few hours each but now this doesn't bug me anymore.