Programmers vs. The Rest Of The World [modified]
-
Hi megaadam In my experience I have found that the companies who don`t provides developers with quiet working conditions, to be the firms that you generally don`t want to work for. It commonly means that the people who manage you don't view you as important enough. They want you to produce code, but they are not willing to provide you with the means to do it. Unfortunately we do seem to be in a profession that most businesses want, but don’t want to pay for. If you are faced with deadlines and managers who complain about your development speed (or that of your team), then I would seriously consider leaving as soon as possible. There are companies out there that will understand that you need quiet working conditions in order to concentrate. If they know that the noise slows you down but they do appreciate your work and are very chilled when it comes to deadlines, then seeking other employment might be less of a concern. If it’s the latter then you can hopefully steadily swing things your way by suggesting working from home or maybe setting up a small office somewhere else. Just be sure to explain to your employers that your level of output is seriously hindered by the chattering crowd. If however I where you, I would start patiently looking for better places to work. Try a brown-, pink or white - noise media file played through your headphones for the moment. It worked for me way back when I was faced with a similar problem. Keep it tight
Christiaan Laubscher
modified on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 1:32 PM
Excellent points Christiaan, and in general I do agree with you. However, my workplace is quite special, and you might find it interesting. We are just four in my company, as I said, sharing the space with twenty other people (same management). The other two programmers, accept the fact that the noise hinders them a bit, but they appreciate (and prefer) such a social environment to "sitting in a noiseless bunker". One of them is the founder who sold out and stayed on, and he did just that for years. And also, they are clearly much less hindered than me. And management is not at all "shut up and give us code", absolutely not! On the contrary, they are happy entrepreneurs who are a bit inexperienced with technically advanced R&D. They are not at all Dilbert-style malign. And they are extremely flexible regarding working hours and generous regarding private needs. I am 40++ and I have never seen kinder bosses. But our company simply is too small to make large adjustments for the four of us, especially as the three other guys will not fight for it! So working from home is a way out, but that has drawbacks as well. Impaired communication with the other engineers, and boring in the long run. But I think I could force them to give me two days a week... Cheers, Adam
..................... Life is too shor
-
With my last job I had a similar situation. Earphones and Judas Priest helped a lot.
A while ago he asked me what he should have printed on my business cards. I said 'Wizard'. I read books which nobody else understand. Then I do something which nobody understands. After that the computer does something which nobody understands. When asked, I say things about the results which nobody understand. But everybody expects miracles from me on a regular basis. Looks to me like the classical definition of a wizard.
CDP1802 wrote:
Earphones and Judas Priest helped a lot.
Would you say they're a bit of a Painkiller?
-
me too - headphones - loud music - usually music and not songs... singing can mess me up like loud office folks on the phone. Sometimes I listen to songs too.. but ones that the words don't break my train of thought ....
Know way too many languages... master of none!
I find music in a foreign language works well - far less distracting as my mind isn't trying to process the lyrics.
-
Never felt that way, have you! So here is my problem: My office environment is unbearable. Work is technically challenging and enjoyable. I like my co-workers, and I would not like to quit. (And yes, there was a similar post by Josh Gray recently, but this is my pain.) We are three programmers and one support kid in [this office of] my company. Nice and cosy? Well… We share an open office landscape with another company of 20 people (same owners, more or less). They do completely unrelated stuff. And their main skills are communication. On good days, many of them are out of office, and the remaining ones make a decent effort to talk really quietly. On such days the office is quite pleasant. On bad days, it all turns into a painful cacophony. They are constantly on the phone, if not chatting with each other. They get carried away they forget completely to keep their voices down. If I have to concentrate on a really tricky debugging problem, all that chatter drives me absolutely crazy. On such days vivid images enter my mind. Maybe you remember William 'D-Fens' Foster (a.k.a. Michael Douglas) losing it completely in Falling Down[]. Or when short on baseball bats: the alternative of leaving our 7th floor offices through the window becomes frighteningly attractive... The other two programmers do not mind the noise [too much]. To be more precise: When the boss asks them “Do you mind the noise?” they say “Nope”. And the boss walks off happy. But when really pressed (by me) they admit that the noise does indeed harm concentration “a bit” but they still think it is more fun to be in larger group. So, my hearing is probably neurologically differently wired from theirs, but the fact remains: For me the effort of concentrating in such noise is almost physically painful, and extremely exhausting. After my complaints, the powers that be were kind and responsive, and installed noise absorbers on the walls. Things got better. But then they hired a morbid amount of sales people and jammed them into the same room. Two steps forward, four steps back. What to do? Change my attitude? Seek mental counseling? Re-wire my own brain? Earplugs?(tried them) Ear muffs?(have them) Noise screens ? Build a solid wall? Relocate? Work from home? Public flogging of the noisy ones?? A hard sell, but a personal favourite! All these have many aspects their own. But really: Being the apparent odd man ou
enigma and anything like gregorian chants swallows me into my own divine code, and keeps the world out :)
-
I find music in a foreign language works well - far less distracting as my mind isn't trying to process the lyrics.
My co-worker likes the noise. I don't. I sit as far away from the help desk cacophony as possible. I use headphones a lot. Mostly classical and jazz. Much more productive this way, but then, some days I don't need to be.
-
Never felt that way, have you! So here is my problem: My office environment is unbearable. Work is technically challenging and enjoyable. I like my co-workers, and I would not like to quit. (And yes, there was a similar post by Josh Gray recently, but this is my pain.) We are three programmers and one support kid in [this office of] my company. Nice and cosy? Well… We share an open office landscape with another company of 20 people (same owners, more or less). They do completely unrelated stuff. And their main skills are communication. On good days, many of them are out of office, and the remaining ones make a decent effort to talk really quietly. On such days the office is quite pleasant. On bad days, it all turns into a painful cacophony. They are constantly on the phone, if not chatting with each other. They get carried away they forget completely to keep their voices down. If I have to concentrate on a really tricky debugging problem, all that chatter drives me absolutely crazy. On such days vivid images enter my mind. Maybe you remember William 'D-Fens' Foster (a.k.a. Michael Douglas) losing it completely in Falling Down[]. Or when short on baseball bats: the alternative of leaving our 7th floor offices through the window becomes frighteningly attractive... The other two programmers do not mind the noise [too much]. To be more precise: When the boss asks them “Do you mind the noise?” they say “Nope”. And the boss walks off happy. But when really pressed (by me) they admit that the noise does indeed harm concentration “a bit” but they still think it is more fun to be in larger group. So, my hearing is probably neurologically differently wired from theirs, but the fact remains: For me the effort of concentrating in such noise is almost physically painful, and extremely exhausting. After my complaints, the powers that be were kind and responsive, and installed noise absorbers on the walls. Things got better. But then they hired a morbid amount of sales people and jammed them into the same room. Two steps forward, four steps back. What to do? Change my attitude? Seek mental counseling? Re-wire my own brain? Earplugs?(tried them) Ear muffs?(have them) Noise screens ? Build a solid wall? Relocate? Work from home? Public flogging of the noisy ones?? A hard sell, but a personal favourite! All these have many aspects their own. But really: Being the apparent odd man ou
If you ever find a new place to work chances are there's going to be loud people. i say learn to cope with it on your own, bitching about it would just make you "the geek with an attitude". personally, i listen to electro music get all hyped up and in the zone, but fortunately the office right now is made up of only IT people so no loudness whatsoever. Have sat with HR staff, it kind of amazed me how they get anything done, headphones still work like a charm.
-
CDP1802 wrote:
Earphones and Judas Priest helped a lot.
Would you say they're a bit of a Painkiller?
In this case: Yes. Otherwise I would be Screaming for Vengeance.
A while ago he asked me what he should have printed on my business cards. I said 'Wizard'. I read books which nobody else understand. Then I do something which nobody understands. After that the computer does something which nobody understands. When asked, I say things about the results which nobody understand. But everybody expects miracles from me on a regular basis. Looks to me like the classical definition of a wizard.
-
CDP1802 wrote:
On slow days I get too soft
My sympathies to your wife ;)
The man who insists that he will walk the middle of the road has his path determined for him by those who define the ditches, and never then takes a step of his own real choosing.
I value my freedom and did my best to stay away from weddings, especially in the role of the condemned. So it's time to throw a null reference exception. Catch! :)
A while ago he asked me what he should have printed on my business cards. I said 'Wizard'. I read books which nobody else understand. Then I do something which nobody understands. After that the computer does something which nobody understands. When asked, I say things about the results which nobody understand. But everybody expects miracles from me on a regular basis. Looks to me like the classical definition of a wizard.
-
enigma and anything like gregorian chants swallows me into my own divine code, and keeps the world out :)
Honestly, 8 hours of Enigma and other Grego-Electro a week would drive me nuts as well! In fact even my favourite rock music would be pretty bad. If forced to listen to it I would very quickly start to hate my own favourites.
..................... Life is too shor
-
Never felt that way, have you! So here is my problem: My office environment is unbearable. Work is technically challenging and enjoyable. I like my co-workers, and I would not like to quit. (And yes, there was a similar post by Josh Gray recently, but this is my pain.) We are three programmers and one support kid in [this office of] my company. Nice and cosy? Well… We share an open office landscape with another company of 20 people (same owners, more or less). They do completely unrelated stuff. And their main skills are communication. On good days, many of them are out of office, and the remaining ones make a decent effort to talk really quietly. On such days the office is quite pleasant. On bad days, it all turns into a painful cacophony. They are constantly on the phone, if not chatting with each other. They get carried away they forget completely to keep their voices down. If I have to concentrate on a really tricky debugging problem, all that chatter drives me absolutely crazy. On such days vivid images enter my mind. Maybe you remember William 'D-Fens' Foster (a.k.a. Michael Douglas) losing it completely in Falling Down[]. Or when short on baseball bats: the alternative of leaving our 7th floor offices through the window becomes frighteningly attractive... The other two programmers do not mind the noise [too much]. To be more precise: When the boss asks them “Do you mind the noise?” they say “Nope”. And the boss walks off happy. But when really pressed (by me) they admit that the noise does indeed harm concentration “a bit” but they still think it is more fun to be in larger group. So, my hearing is probably neurologically differently wired from theirs, but the fact remains: For me the effort of concentrating in such noise is almost physically painful, and extremely exhausting. After my complaints, the powers that be were kind and responsive, and installed noise absorbers on the walls. Things got better. But then they hired a morbid amount of sales people and jammed them into the same room. Two steps forward, four steps back. What to do? Change my attitude? Seek mental counseling? Re-wire my own brain? Earplugs?(tried them) Ear muffs?(have them) Noise screens ? Build a solid wall? Relocate? Work from home? Public flogging of the noisy ones?? A hard sell, but a personal favourite! All these have many aspects their own. But really: Being the apparent odd man ou
I sometimes use head phones with a noise loop. (I think it is "pink" noise). A waterfall sound track might help. I only use music if I am performing brain-dead style data entry. I read a study once that showed that listening to music while performing creative work causes the work to suffer. I think an ex-coworker proved this study. He generated 10x more code than he needed to in many situations instead of finding a better solution. I know he could provide better code than that since some of his stuff was excellent.
-
I work in a similar environment and have done in the various companies I've worked for sinse I started work. I've always relied on headphones and music to shut everyone out, but it may not aide your concentration. I've used it for so many ears now I find it difficult to work without music.
I, on the other hand, don't mind listening to music but really can't stand it via headphones. Not being able to hear other audio cues around me makes me feel somewhat vulnerable. To what exactly I couldn't say.
I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office
-
Excellent points Christiaan, and in general I do agree with you. However, my workplace is quite special, and you might find it interesting. We are just four in my company, as I said, sharing the space with twenty other people (same management). The other two programmers, accept the fact that the noise hinders them a bit, but they appreciate (and prefer) such a social environment to "sitting in a noiseless bunker". One of them is the founder who sold out and stayed on, and he did just that for years. And also, they are clearly much less hindered than me. And management is not at all "shut up and give us code", absolutely not! On the contrary, they are happy entrepreneurs who are a bit inexperienced with technically advanced R&D. They are not at all Dilbert-style malign. And they are extremely flexible regarding working hours and generous regarding private needs. I am 40++ and I have never seen kinder bosses. But our company simply is too small to make large adjustments for the four of us, especially as the three other guys will not fight for it! So working from home is a way out, but that has drawbacks as well. Impaired communication with the other engineers, and boring in the long run. But I think I could force them to give me two days a week... Cheers, Adam
..................... Life is too shor
Hi megaadam I am glad that you have pleasant co-workers and decent employers. Those are definite advantages to have in a company. I would also consider staying based on those facts. Maybe try putting up a cubicle wall at your desk facing towards the main direction from where the noise coming. Then try the white noise .mp3 files as suggested. Hope it gets better
Christiaan Laubscher