People usually choose their profession according to their psychological characteristics. Knowing a person’s job lets you understand some of his/her spirits and lifestyle. Although this is not always true, there are some general labels that you can attach to people working in a particular field. For example, military personnel are usually orderly and strict and like to control everything around them. On the other hand, many poets and writers have a sensitive spirit. As a large community, software projectdevelopers have common characteristics, and you can see many similarities between them. Join us in this article to discuss the software project developer’s lifestyle.
Software project developer’s lifestyle: Physical condition
Developers have an intimate relationship with computers. Most of the time, you find them behind their laptop or personal computer. Long hours of sitting can lead to severe and sometimes dangerous health issues in the long run if they don’t adhere to office ergonomics, and their sitting workspace is not comfortable.
A developer may sometimes sit at the desk for up to 16 hours a day. So the common denominator for all developers in the world, regardless of their living country, is the physical problems caused by excessive computer use.
When you are behind the system and coding for a long time, you are so busy to pay much attention to mild pain in the neck, back, wrist, or other parts of the body. Common physical problems due to the software project developer’s lifestyle include:
- Obesity: Substantial percentage of developers face this problem. Even those who stay lean are more likely to gain belly fat. Inactivity, sitting at a desk, and consuming too much caffeine are the reasons.
- Heart attacks and diabetes: These problems are mostly due to obesity.
- Death due to inactivity: A 2010 Mayo Medical Laboratories study found that those who sit at a desk for 11 hours in a day may die 3.5 years sooner than others. This is about 8.2 years when it comes to programmers. In other words, if you choose this job, you may die eight years earlier.
- Neck and back problems: Sitting hunched over a computer for a long time is the cause of these problems.
- Wrist problems: Excessive use of the mouse increases carpal tunnel syndrome risk.
Developer’s social lifestyle
Hollywood portrays developers and hackers as isolated and alienated characters to make movies attractive. For example, in the famous series Mr. Robot, the main character, suffered from various mental disorders and was mostly alone.
Although not an absolute lifestyle, many isolated and geeky people are among programmers. In fact, some of the most famous hackers and computer experts in the world were geeks. So this characteristic can also be considered as a developer’s lifestyle.
For example, Dennis Ritchie favored computer science by creating the C programming language and the Unix operating system. Geeks used to say: “Real men code in C language.” Unlike people like Steve Jobs, who will never be forgotten, he died without much public attention. He was one of the most fantastic programmers in the world and a geek.
You may have heard of BitTorrent, but you are unlikely to know Mr. Bram Cohen. The American software engineer wrote a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol called BitTorrent. He suffers from a syndrome that disrupts human physical function and social relationships and is known as a geek programmer.
The list goes on and on, and even world-famous programmers have traces of isolation and poor social relationships. However, some developers have strong social connections and are also very successful and good managers.
Learn more: Necessary Social Skills for Being a Professional Programmer
Developer’s lifestyle: eating and drinking habits
When it comes to developers’ nutrition, coffee is probably the first thing we should mention. In many cases, a large amount of caffeine seems to be an integral part of a developer’s lifestyle. As the saying goes, programmers are persons that convert caffeine into code!
Some developers also use energy drinks to get their energy back. Some of them also eat nuts or biscuits while working to provide their brains’ glucose.
Developer’s sleeping habits
Many programmers stay up late at night to code. Working at night is one of the characteristics people attribute to them as a developer’s lifestyle.
The night is an excellent opportunity to focus, which is one of the essential coding needs. Many developers prefer to start their work while others are asleep to have the least amount of distraction. As usual, this is also a relative case; not all programmers are alive at night. Especially if they are full-time workers, they usually have to wake up early in the morning, making it difficult for them to stay up all night.
Staying awake at night may be a good way to increase efficiency for a short time, but it reduces concentration and cause health-related problems in the long run.
