Do all programmers suffer from OCD?
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
everytime i receive a complaint from the marketing department about the website, i have to reboot it three times... also whenever i have to edit whatever i'm typing, i have to delete only those letters that will not be in the new text to conserve electrons... have a good day...
---------------------------------------------------------- "unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep" - my daily unix command list
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
Not OCD, but perhaps a very slight form of autism or Asperger’s syndrome (seriously!). There is recent(?) research that identfies autism as a form of hyper-systemizing. Software developers are generally systemizing types -- we look at a problem and, to varying degrees, try to fit it into a model that can be controlled and/or predicted, or we try to solve the problem by building a model that has those characteristics. I think I read an article about it and some of the other properties/traits that help identify those people that may be well suited to engineering-related. I think it was in EE Times last year. Just something to think about... Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
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I certainly do. Here is some code from a recent program of mine. if(a==b){ if(a==b){ if(a==b){ doSomething; } } } Just kidding!
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It's not really diagnosed as OCD unless if affects normal life, like you miss work because you are spending hours washing your hands. Some people just like structure and normalcy so it gives you OCD traits, but your life is really "normal." For me, I was missing school, calling in sick to my part-time job because I was spending so much time brushing my teeth.
Blog link to be reinstated at a later date.
Another ailment on the list? I hope you're still making lemonade :rose:
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
I'm not happy unless both my monitors are equally spaced and angled with their vertex at the centre of my keyboard. :)
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Another ailment on the list? I hope you're still making lemonade :rose:
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
I was treated as a young adult. As long as I stay on my anti-anxiety medication it doesn't really manifest itself anymore. I was brushing my teeth several times a day and starting to do enamel damage. Now I am down to 2-3 times a day; I chew gum during the day if I feel anxious. I keep toothpaste and a brush in my purse, but I haven't resorted to them in awhile. Considering my current stress level that's a really good sign.
Blog link to be reinstated at a later date.
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- cant sleep without a TV on - wear a cap before I even get dressed till I go sleep
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008)
((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))leppie wrote:
wear a cap before I even get dressed till I go sleep
You mean all the time? :laugh:
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I check that the cooker & all the plugs are turned off before going to bed. I frequently have to do this more than once to satisfy myself it's done. I am not good at sitting still. I constantly jiggle a leg, or tap a foot while sitting at my desk. I do this a lot, at a restaurant, in the pub, in meetings etc. My wife often has to remind me to stop. I don't think it's OCD. Programming attracts a particular type of mind. So I think it's only natural you'll see lots of similar traits among programmers. I bet a lot of people here can see themselves in a lot of the traits mentioned in this[^] article.
Simon
Simon Stevens wrote:
I am not good at sitting still. I constantly jiggle a leg, or tap a foot while sitting at my desk. I do this a lot, at a restaurant, in the pub, in meetings etc. My wife often has to remind me to stop.
OK that’s common for the people with creative mind. Psychologically (I am not a Doctor, I have seen this on TV :-D ) it’s because you are thinking something else and trying to concentrate on that situation forcefully. Observe when you are watching your favorite movie, you will not jiggle your leg, because you are 100% involve on that situation. But while sitting idle you are thinking something else and trying to be in the current situation, so at that time you will jiggle your leg. :) Same with the people drawing / writing something while talking on phone. Or tapping fingers on the desk while troubleshooting the code, even the radio is off.
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
It's really not an issue until it becomes maladaptive. If you were late to work because you needed to go home because you can only remember checking your house lock twice.. then it might be an issue.
Einstein argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer. -Fred Brooks
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Not OCD, but perhaps a very slight form of autism or Asperger’s syndrome (seriously!). There is recent(?) research that identfies autism as a form of hyper-systemizing. Software developers are generally systemizing types -- we look at a problem and, to varying degrees, try to fit it into a model that can be controlled and/or predicted, or we try to solve the problem by building a model that has those characteristics. I think I read an article about it and some of the other properties/traits that help identify those people that may be well suited to engineering-related. I think it was in EE Times last year. Just something to think about... Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFilesIn my opinion Autism is the new popular diagnosis, much like ADD was in the 90's (Its almost impossible to know for sure, but there were countless kids who were prescribed riddlin that most likely did not need it)
Einstein argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer. -Fred Brooks
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
This is not OCD. From the programmers point of view we all have a habit of double check. I.e. you know that in 90% case user will not leave user name field blank, then also you are checking for blank user name. So same way you know that 99% the car will be locked then also you will double check. Also we have a common habit that we required everything perfect. I.e. we need to have an OK and a Cancel Button on same height, even not a single pixel difference. That’s why we need our normal life things in a perfect order or in a perfect place. I think it’s nothing strange to be a perfect in normal life. You can observe some people involved with mathematics or physics, they might also do the same thing because their errors can cause serious trouble so they need to be perfect, and so they are double checking everything. So don’t worry nobody has OCD, so now stop thinking about the symptoms. :laugh:
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
Paul Brower wrote:
Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
I know a few programmers that could do with a dose of OCD because their shoddy lack of thoroughness leaves a lot to be desired.
Recent blog posts: *SQL Server / Visual Studio install order *Installing SQL Server 2005 on Vista *Crazy Extension Methods Redux * Mixins My Blog
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In my opinion Autism is the new popular diagnosis, much like ADD was in the 90's (Its almost impossible to know for sure, but there were countless kids who were prescribed riddlin that most likely did not need it)
Einstein argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer. -Fred Brooks
That's what my wife said, she calls it "childhood disease", parent's would come in saying their kid is hyperactive and must be ADHD when all they were being was a rambunctious child. Now not only are kids not allowed to do anything, must be afraid of everyone and must partake of 15,000 extra-curricular activities at age 5 to enable them to get into a university and amass debt they can never repay. They also aren't allowed to behave like kids.
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
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Paul Brower wrote:
Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
I know a few programmers that could do with a dose of OCD because their shoddy lack of thoroughness leaves a lot to be desired.
Recent blog posts: *SQL Server / Visual Studio install order *Installing SQL Server 2005 on Vista *Crazy Extension Methods Redux * Mixins My Blog
Or are you just obsessing over your colleages?
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
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You forgot the try/catch around checking for equality :doh: ;P
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008)
((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))Throw in some locking too.
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
Paul Brower wrote:
Do you have OCD?
Nope.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Excel!
Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.
Powerpoint :rolleyes:
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Me too. I have a hard time listening to other people because they seem to be saying unintelligent things. I need constant stimulation else I get bored quickly. I say things that other don't immediately understand; some people will understand what I said after a week or so. I am a control freak too. I have to check everything. Many times I'm not sure that I did something, so I do again, and again.... just to really be sure.... Not good for relationships but very good for picking up errors in code and typos in resumes.
SilimSayo wrote:
have a hard time listening to other people because they seem to be saying unintelligent things
Yeah, when that happens to me, it just seems like the other people are saying blah-blah-blah like the grownups on the old Charlie Brown cartoons :rolleyes:
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?
Paul Brower wrote:
I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed.
Is that it? I run NUnit on my alarm clock before going to bed. :~
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Many people I know would say I suffer from some sort of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - for anyone not familiar with the term). I have never been 'diagnosed', nor have I ever sought any kind of treatment or medication, because I just consider myself to have a few behavioral quirks. An example of some of my quirks are: - I have to lock my vehicle (with remote) three times. - I check my alarm clock a few times before going to bed. - I have to get up at a certain time, be off to work at a certain time, etc, or I have a bad day. - I have to wash my hands immediately after eating at a public place. - ... you get the idea. Looking back at my life, I realized I never had 'OCD issues' before I was a programmer. Looking at other programmers around me I realize many, if not most of them, display characteristics that some would attribute to a form of OCD. Do you have OCD? Do you think it could have anything to do with writing code for so many years?