Slashdot Mirror
IT's Musical Habits
operand sent in a fun little article about the listening habits of IT. It seems that developers are headbangers, Microsoft certified pros are Britney fans, and management goes for Mozart. Tragically The Who is not included... Linux users tend toward Electronica, and Security goes for The Dead.
"Shockingly, the results of its poll among 200 students at the Training Company's UK residential courses reveal that developers are malodorous headbangers playing air guitar to Megadeth, Microsoft Certified professionals get their rocks off to Britney while IT directors can be found sipping the finest wines while Mozart tinkles away in the background. No stereotype-fulfilling findings there, then.
Wow, a poll of a whole 200 students...not exactly a big enough sample size for this study to be taken seriously...plus, what do the british know about music anyway...(oh, c'mon)...
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
where's alvin and the chipmunks ?
you think it's easy, but you're wrong...
Microsoft certified pros are Britney fans You can't make this stuff up.
mp3 and ogg. ;)
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
Ironically, the first link at the bottom of the article is "Who conducts the crappiest polls?"... Gee, that's just what I was wondering.
>> "What would the robut do? Frame someone!"
Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul for us TMBG/Gentoo fans.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Recent IE exploits lead Microsoft developers to exclaim " Oops, I did it again ...." !!!
Should we try to figure out what we should do because some underused psycho chose to make a barely pertinent musical taste study ?
I thought the music that we listen too was more related to whom we listen to music with, so if you have a manager who grew in some Bronxesque area, he'd listen to the Ramones or Public Enemy rathger than to Mozart...
Trolling using another account since 2005.
MCSE"'s listen to Britney spears!
That explains a lot.
I'm waiting for somebody to turn this into a 20 question "What IT Professional am I?" quiz and put it on http://seventeen.com/
Guess I'm supposed to be an IT director or CIO then. Better go tell my boss to promote me :)
...that the Chinese have great food, the Japanese have great swords, and the Koreans are all cross-eyed.
I do agree that the functions of the brain that enable logical and organizational thinking somehow also enable either strong inclination for music or strong musical abilities. But to say that developers or *nix admins tend to like different kinds of music is going a bit far.
As long as it's illegal.
What about the rhythmic aural pleasures of the admins in the surrounding cubes beating their heads against their desks? I'd think that would rank right up there.
Nothing but the finest in meaningless drivel
While this artist is greatly derided, it never seems to occur to the elitist music enthusiasts that she is popular for a very good reason.
Two of them, actually. I believe they're referred to as "left" and "right".
Do KDE developers listen to Kompressor?
"K.. is for Kompressor!"
cat linux-2.6.7.tar > /dev/audio
On a more serious side, I'm a Linux user who listens mostly to various types of metal (Metallica, In Flames, Opeth...)
Oh Lord, won't you buy me, Windows XP.
My friends all use Linux and are trying to convert me.
I wait for registration, each day until three
So oh Lord, won't you buy me, Windows XP.
KFG
I'm glad they took a well-sized sample of 200 people to represent the 7 job classifications. That's almost 29 datapoints per class. It've been more interesting if they would've tried to find corollaries to see who listens to what. Hell, I'd assume there's probably an age distinction more at play into someone listening to Classical than to job type (although I think age might play into that as well. I don't know many 19 year old IT managers).
And not to nitpick, but 'Electro' (in the article) is not short for Electronic. It is actually an identifiable style deriving from Kraftwerk (which they have on there, but the Orb and Underworld are not Electro) meshing electronics with funk (see "Planet Rock"). It then has all of its offshoots over the years like Darkwave (which most folks just confuse with Industrial anway) and Electroclash (Adult., Dopplereffekt, Fischerspooner, Peaches).
So what's on our lab iPod playlist?
Twine Twine, IDM/ambient.
Mr Vegas Pull Up, Dancehall.
various Welcome to the D: Electro, Electro.
various Lo Fibre Companion, grindy bass ambient from Birmingham, UK.
What is music when you despise all sound?
Prog-rock/metal/blues tastes:
Eloy, Nektar, AC/DC, Rammstein, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Thorogood.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Obsure band, but a lot of programming people seem to like them.
I listen to Nintendo remixes. The songs are memorable and catchy, and most of them don't have lyrics so I can concentrate on my work.
--------
It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
It seems that developers are headbangers, ...against their keyboards, usually muttering things like "@#$% this compiler"....
...assume that whatever's popular is the bandwagon they should jump on....
...on the mistaken assumption that it will increase their IQs subliminally....
...knowing full well that lyrics, like marketing, is highly overrated....
...because typically, it is.
Microsoft certified pros are Britney fans,
and management goes for Mozart.
Linux users tend toward Electronica,
and Security goes for The Dead.
A: We are DEVO.
I've talked with a few people in IT around here about music before (varying positions, but mostly programming) and it seems we all agree on liking the following bands:
1. Devo
2. Dead Milkmen (have yet to meet an IT guy who doesn't like Stuart)
After that, there's not much agreement, but I am a bit surprised that these are the two bands we almost unanimously agreed on liking.
It's great geek music... the sci-fi.. the long instrumental passages...
Personally, I like King Crimson, Genesis, Gong (of Radio GNOME Invisible fame, no less!) among other stuff.
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
Peculiar that Johann Sebastian Bach does not appear anywhere. Of course considering the popular work of Douglas R. Hofstadther on Goedel, Esscher and Bach.
But also considering the logical build-up of the music. Looking at friends and colleagues, I have a feeling that there are more Bach lovers among beta people than there are among alpha people.
So... security is stoned. That certainly gives me the warm and fuzzies.
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
Out on the road today I saw a deadhead sticker on a checkpoint box,
A little voice inside my head said don't look back you can never look back....
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Sorry, couldn't resist the irony :-)
Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
Of course, refers to The Grateful Dead.
While often simply dismissed musically as "hippie crap" and "meaningless poetic fluff," this is not what is important here.
What is important is that The Dead flies right in the face of the music industry.
You see, The Dead is often considered to be the most sucessful band in history, as they have played in front of more people then any group in musical history. Not only that, but each year the group (or whats left of them) makes millions in profits from various sales.
All the while giving away the vast majority of their music for free!
This is my favorite example of a "happy middle ground" that can be reached between bands and listeners. Sorry RIAA, your claims are false. And The Grateful Dead proves it.
no
On the good old iTunes library, I have
Rush, lots of Rush.
Yes,
Genesis (the old Peter Gabriel variety)
Eric Johnson (including the the '70's Electromagnets)
and...
Veggie Tales : Silly Songs by Larry!
Wonder where that puts me?
No one got beat up more often than the mimes of the old west!
So, what do slashdotters listen to?
Rock
Rock
Rock
Weird Al Yankovic
Rock
Spaceballs sound clips
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
Mod me down; I don't care.
How long is the MTV term going to haunt us? Why is it so wrong to call music "techno" now? At least that describes the music -- music made with technology. What in the holy fuck does "electronica" mean? Please, if you know then share because I sure as hell have no idea. And don't come at me with "music made with electronic instruments". Techno is not all 808s, 303s, and Roland W-30s. No, "real" instruments are also used as there is no comparing a digital imitation to the real thing. But, they are used in conjuction with technology. So, where did this damn "electronica" word come from and why is it now, seemingly, synonimous with techno?
I now understand why my iPod has such a diverse set of music. It's because my employer has me performing too many roles.
Usher, Nelly and hip hop are there to support my work on Windows Domains and Exchange.
Hendrix and Clapton support my work on security.
Techno (Darude,etc.) supports my linux admin work.
Megadeth, Metallica, Creed, and Tool support my software development efforts.
I am not sure where Johnny Cash fits in with all of this.
Oddly enough, I actually do tend to listen to the corresponding types of music when performing the various tasks associated with my job.
Maybe if I put some classical music on there, I can be promoted to high level management and start to run the place.
I guess the differences in Rock styles can be explained by the age profile of people going to IT courses:
Developer profile: 25-35 years old, teenager when Iron Maiden and Megadeth were all that.
Project manager profile: 40-50 years old, teenager when Pink Floyd was hot.
Security profile: same age or slightly older than a project manager, given up hopes of ever becoming a project manager, not young enough to be a top-of-the-line developer anymore. Gone into security (and taking courses on that) because the "experience of old age" does give an edge in (a) making young developers listen to you when you give them security advice, and (b) not having enough dreams for the future anymore to let features go before security (no enthusiasm to cloud judgment), etcetera. Just the kind of person to have grown up in the days when Grateful Dead / The Doors / Jimi Hendrix were cool.
Or am I way off the mark here?
You comment on ANY type of music saying that you're not into it or don't understand it and you're labled "closed minded" and have no understanding at all on music.
What is it with people. Can't anyone have likes and dis-likes in music? If someone says they don't like hip-hop, then people jump down their throats calling them small-minded, yet would a hip-hop fan sit down and listen to an album of Hank Williams Sr.? Or Patsy Cline?
Would a fan of opera actually spend his or her time going to the store to buy a Megadeth album? Life is too short, there are only so many hours in a persons life they can actually listen to and enjoy music...why waste it on stuff you don't like?
There is no one out there that likes every form of music there is, you may think you do, but trust me, there is always something out there that will make your skin crawl no matter what you like. If you like a particular style or genre of music, don't worry if someone else doesn't like it. Music is a personal thing.
People are different! Wow, what a concept!
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Monopoly is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, Lord, when the screen went blue,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Windows XP.
Ever occurred to you that we could be into music played on real instruments simply because of the technology *not* involved in making it?
:)
When you code 10-14 hours a day, I find it's nice to listen to something *not* coming out of a computer (well, ok, the sound *is* coming out of a computer, but way back once it actually came out of an analog instrument).
The beat is set by a human being, an undertuned 8-string guitar roars thru the distorted tube amplifier (ok and then it all goes into a 12-bit ADC, back and forth between different media and in the end comes out of speakers attached to a computer - but never mind the last part.) - see, that is the kind of music that gets me thru the day in front of the 22" CRT
[A]ll the gurus I know don't restrict themselves to one kind of music.
... I must be some sort of guru then. ;-)
...
Hmmm
My main reaction to this is that they completely ignored the possibility that people might have a mix of really different stuff.
Next to my linux workstation there's a Mac PowerBook. I checked the "Recently Played" list and found:
Grateful Dead "Playing in the Band"
Andy Statman "Midnight Zhok"
Ad Vielle Que Pourra "Micro-Polka", "Valse Minette"
Vienna Teng "Green Island Serenade"
Peter Hedlund "Iste Kornbodsmarsch"
Phillipe Bruneau "Valse-Clog des Pyrénées"
Linda Ronstadt "Long, Long Time"
Cowboy Junkies (several songs)
Beatles (White Album)
Chieftains/Sting "Long Black Veil"
Dorothée Hogan "Marche de Mont-St-Louis"
Silly Wizard (Live Wizardry)
Café Accordion Orchestra "Surullinen Tango"
I wonder how many of us just don't fit into any musical pigeonhole?
But I suppose "IT people show few consistent patterns in musical taste" wouldn't make for much of a story.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Maybe it's just where I live, but I would say that hip-hop is more popular among local IT people than any other type of music. It is kinda funny to watch a bunch of scrawny white guys noddin' to 50 while ghosting machines or coding or whatever.
I like a lot of hip-hop and rap, but I also like classic metal and grunge and emo and goth music and really just about everything but tejano techno and post-1980 country (no, I didn't miss a comma between tejano and techo. I like traditional Tejano music and I can put up with most techno. I cannot stand tejano techno for even a minute.)
http://xkcd.com/386/
Microsoft guys: wma
Java guys: mp3
Mainframe: shn (the only way to listen to Dead shows)
Sysadmins: ogg
OS X: aac
Security guy: anything as long as it's on an encrypted partition
there's no place like ~
My current slant in taste is somewhat fitting: :-)
Two years ago I started listening to modern coffee house and contemporary easy listening music. I got completely hooked and spent a small fortune on various Cafe del Mar, Cafe Abstrait and Ministry of Sound Chillout compilations.
Lounge and Chillout are extremely good for backdropping serious IT work (serious == Linux, OSS and real programming). Interesting enough to keep you going and lighten you up, but unobstrusive enough so it won't go on your nerves. I even got my friends hooked to the style. Now that I have a lounge/chillout collection of considerable size I'm about to rip them, to save a years worth of presents for all my buddies.
That style of contemporary music is my tip for anyone looking for a nice way to color up his coding sessions.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Unless you are singing without instrumental accomopaniament, or beating yourself as a drum, or whistling.
Oh, you mean, electronic technology?
All music, even high, classical, concert or cult music (whatever name you want to use) nowadays is made using during its conposition, performance or both electronic technology.
I don't understand why you get so worked out about a niche genre whose most outstanding feature is the endles boring repetition of loops.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
no, like this-
Oh Lord, won't you buy me Windows XP?
My friends all use Linux, they get it for free
Work hard for my money, but I can't pay the fee
So oh Lord, won't you buy me Windows XP?
I know lots of European history. Once you get past all the insufferable kings and queens it all comes down to a huge continental civil war that has been going on for 2000 years. It flares up in roughly 100 year intervals (except for the 'hundred years war' in the 1600's where it started and forgot to stop and continued until so many people were dead that they decided to stop and fuck for a generation before going back to it.
The last episode of the great endless European war was a double-header that started in 1914, wiped out an entire generation by 1918. It would have just gone on and on had not the flu wiped out everybody that the bullets and gas didn't. They took a generational break and went back at it in 1939. By then the Europeans had so impressed everyone else with their savageness and blood-lust that entire continent was kept split right down the center for two whole generations with the threat that if they didn't behave, they would get nuked out of existence and written out of the history books. The Europeans responded by refusing to fuck and go to church, so now they have the lowest birthrate in the world, to the relief of their neighbors.
So now they pretend to be united so they occupiers will ignore them. But if history is any guide, they'll restart their endless war again sometime between 2010 and 2020 with the latest generation of techno death toys. Maybe this time they will succeed in actually completing the massive continental suicide that they have been working on for the past 2000 years. God knows, next time around there's going to be a lot of people around to help them do it.