As programmers we are always trying to find new ways to be productive. Tweaks to text editors, compilation tweaks, scripts and automation; the list goes on for how programmers want to maximize their productive coding time. We also spend time tweaking the rest of our lives with the belief that we should always be doing something related to coding. Any moment we're not coding is a moment where our projects get behind. And getting behind with our coding can lead to other problems: missed deadlines, other companies getting their program to market before us, or other instances where we miss an opportunity. We're constantly worrying that we're not doing enough to succeed.
-We've heard stories of developers waking up at their computers to the strange sound of beeping because they fell asleep at the keyboard and the keyboard's auto repeat can't handle any more input with their face resting on the keys. Isn't that how developers should work?
+We've heard stories of developers waking up at their computers to the strange sound of beeping because they fell asleep at the keyboard and the keyboard's auto repeat can't handle any more input with their faces resting on the keys. Isn't that how developers should work?
-There's a tendency to believe that because we work with machines that are tireless and ready for more work that we nee to adapt ourselves to these machines. We feel the urge to always be "on" and ready to give the machine more things to work on. Idleness is regarded as a waste. We try to become like the machine; tireless and always ready for more work.
+There's a tendency to believe that because we work with machines that are tireless and ready for more work that we nee to adapt ourselves to these machines. We feel the urge to always be "on" and ready to give the machine more work. Idleness is regarded as a waste. We try to become like the machine; tireless and always ready for more work.
-There's a problem with always being "on". When we feel like we always have to be "on" we never let ourselves feel like we can be "off". We don't allow ourselves any periods of idleness and rest. This creates a pattern where we deny ourselves the moments to sit and reflect on what we're doing. We force ourselves to keep moving; keep programming no matter the personal cost. Our brains don't get the ability to rest, relax, and recharge. Our minds are too busy and exhausted to process what we've learned and sweep that knowledge into long-term storage. When we get exhausted we start to worry that we're not doing enough. This doesn't motivate us; instead it creates a vicious feedback loop of fear and panic. We spend our day worrying that we're not doing enough while our minds cry out "enough!" from exhaustion. This feedback loop of fear and exhaustion can spiral us into a vortex of burnout, depression, and a desire to leave programming for good.
+There's a problem with always being "on." When we feel like we always have to be "on" we never let ourselves feel like we can be "off." We don't allow ourselves any periods of idleness and rest. This creates a pattern where we deny ourselves the moments to sit and reflect on what we're doing. We force ourselves to keep moving; keep programming no matter the personal cost. Our brains don't get the ability to rest, relax, and recharge. Our minds are too busy and exhausted to process what we've learned and sweep that knowledge into long-term storage. When we get exhausted we start to worry that we're not doing enough. This doesn't motivate us; instead it creates a vicious feedback loop of fear and panic. We spend our day worrying that we're not doing enough while our minds cry out "enough!" from exhaustion. This feedback loop of fear and exhaustion can spiral us into a vortex of burnout, depression, and a desire to leave programming for good.
-There's a delicate balance that we need to strike between our desires of being on all the time and our needs for relaxation and reflection. Our desire for invincible and indefatigable development need to be tempered with the reality that our bodies and minds have finite resources per day that must be allocated appropriately. Think of this as power-management for a complex machine that the manufacturer (currently) doesn't allow you to swap out the battery when it is spent. Being aware of what processes are running, how much energy is being used, and how much energy is left is vital for ensuring you can still be functional later on in the day. That's the level of awareness we need to have about ourselves.
+There's a delicate balance that we need to strike between our desires of being on all the time and our needs for relaxation and reflection. Our desire for invincible and indefatigable development needs to be tempered with the reality that our bodies and minds have finite resources per day that must be allocated appropriately. Think of this as power-management for a complex machine that the manufacturer (currently) doesn't allow you to swap out the battery when it is spent. Being aware of what processes are running, how much energy is being used, and how much energy is left is vital for ensuring you can still be functional later on in the day. That's the level of awareness we need to have about ourselves.
How do we balance these feelings of wanting to be on all the time while allowing ourselves to relax and reflect on what we're doing? How do we pay attention to the needs of this "programming machine"?
## Lights out
-First, we need to acknowledge that we can't be on all the time. We may know this intuitively and think "yes, of course" but knowing is not the same as doing. We need to have a periods where we are not programming and not thinking about programming. We should have moments where we can turn off the programmer part of our being. These periods of not-programming are vital to our well-being and give us chances to explore the wider world and let our minds rest in-between programming sessions.
+First, we need to acknowledge that we can't be on all the time. We may know this intuitively and think "yes, of course" but knowing is not the same as doing. We need to have periods where we are not programming and not thinking about programming. We should have moments where we can turn off the programmer part of our being. These periods of not-programming are vital to our well-being and give us chances to explore the wider world and let our minds rest in-between programming sessions.
This can be tricky if we feel like we're falling behind in our learning. When are we supposed to learn all of the new things happening daily? When are we supposed to catch up on all of that technical debt we've been accruing over the years? When will we have time to learn the ins-and-outs of technologies that aren't part of our day-to-day work but are still interesting to us?
-These feelings that we have (that there's more to do and that we need to spend every waking moment doing it lest we fall behind) aren't helped when we compare ourselves to other programmers who appear super productive. These are the programmers who think of a clever idea in the morning and have a working prototype in the afternoon (while still handling normal work routine). When we compare ourselves against these programmers we wonder if they ever take time away from the computer.
+These feelings that we have (that there's more to do, and that we need to spend every waking moment doing it lest we fall behind) aren't helped when we compare ourselves to other programmers who appear super productive. These are the programmers who think of a clever idea in the morning and have a working prototype in the afternoon (while still handling normal work routine). When we compare ourselves against these programmers we wonder if they ever take time away from the computer.
We can acknowledge that we have feelings of wanting to push ourselves to keep learning and doing. We can notice our feelings when we think "just one more line of code before bed" or convince ourselves "I can read a few more articles or pages or [insert favorite way to consume more information here]". We can pause and notice where these feelings and thoughts come from and understand why we're still pushing ourselves beyond exhaustion.
-These feelings usually stem from a sense of inadequacy. We feel like we're not measuring up to the ideals we have; whether these ideals are ones we've created or ones that are externally driven. These ideals come from analyzing other programmers (colleagues or folks we admire), and measuring our progress against their work. They also come from our own mythical idea of what the perfect programmer is.
+These feelings usually stem from a sense of inadequacy. We feel like we're not measuring up to the ideals we have; whether these ideals are ones we've created or ones that are externally driven. These ideals come from analyzing other programmers (colleagues or folks we admire), and measuring our progress against their work. They also come from our own mythical ideas of what makes a perfect programmer.
What we need to realize is that those ideas of what makes good and perfect programmers are fantasies. They're a composite of what we think a good and perfect programmer should be. They don't exist in the real world. True, we may see programmers out there that seem to wake up with a keyboard attached to their hands, spend the entire day coding, and go to sleep with dreams of more code formulating in their heads. But we need to realize that we're only seeing one side of their lives. We're not seeing the whole picture of who they are. We need to focus on our own bodies and minds and realize when we are tired and need rest. We can't make ourselves into other people; we need to work with who and what we are.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff