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Music While Programming?
BubbaDoom writes "In our cubicle-ville, we have programmers intermixed with accounting, customer support and marketing. As programmers, it is our habit to put on our headphones and listen to our portable music players to drown out all of the noise from everyone else. The boss recently sent an email just to the programmers demanding that we do not use our music players at work because he thinks it distracts us from our jobs and causes us to make mistakes. Of course, we've explained to him that prattle from the other people is much, much more distracting, but he insists his policy is the right one. What is the Slashdot community's experience with music at work for programmers?"
MILTON I, I told Bill that if Sandra's going to listen to her headphones while she' working, I can listen to the radio while I'm collating - MILTON I enjoy listening to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven.
What is slashdot?
...sing. Loudly.
When I'm really coding I don't hear the music.
A few weeks ago I had album shuffle on, using laptop speakers in office when someone came in.
It was half way through my child's nursery rhymes and I hadn't even noticed.
I quickly shut it off - I guess my guest thought my taste in music was a little strange.
I'll bet it's one of the people making the noise that's behind the complaint. Probably somebody who, for sound[1] reasons, can't listen to music while working.
Yes, since you ask, I did just glance over at sales.
[1] sorry
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If "fairness" is the real reason, or if the policy is "no headphones," then just bring in a boom box so everyone can enjoy the music.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Maybe you were DISTRACTED by the MUSIC.
So what you're saying is that the OP should get the boss to add free-roaming tigers to the cubicle landscape to provide the 10% distraction?
- These characters were randomly selected.
There are two ways to listen to music.
1. Passive ... this is what MOST people do when they listen to music as they do things. ... this is where you pay active attention to the music.
2. Active
3. Passive Aggressive. This is listening to Lynch The Man by Rage Against The Machine while writing accounts tracking software unenthusiastically.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Huh?
Ah.
You're right, but this is Spaaaartaaa ... i mean the real world.
sombody refer this man to the Fast Track CEO Program, STAT!
Steve -- If you have to call it a system, you don't know what it is.
Did the boss take your red stapler too?
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress
If you're unhappy with your boss, you can always go to his boss and complain.
And if your boss is the company's owner, then you'll have to go to his wife to complain.
And that's why you'll never amount to anything.
I assume, since he's a boss, that he has a private office ? If that's the case, offer him to come do some cerebral, non-social work (not on the phone, more like writing a report or something) for a half day in one of your cubicles, and judge for himself if he really thinks he wouldn't have worked better being isolated from the chatter.
No kidding! My company refused to move me until I made the facilities woman come over and stand in my cube and listen to Chatty McSnotsucker gabbing about her latest cleansing diet and the quality of her shits when the laxatives kick in, all the while trying to clear her sinuses from a chronic post-nasal drip evidently made of horse-glue. She lasted three minutes before she left my cube gagging. I got my transfer.
Well of course. Your code is digital and so is your music. Digital + digital = twice as much digital!
"While I can accept that music would be less distracting that office chatter, I simply don't understand the concept that music is better than silence."
Dude, you have not heard the voices inside my head. Otherwise, you would see clearly the point being made.
BTW, here's my fave: http://somafm.com/
After a few bars of Oklahoma! ... you'll get your music players back.
When questioned, explain that it helps you concentrate on the task at hand. Remind him that IBM hired musicians for the first programmers.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I enjoy what I call my "8-bit mix" -- various songs, each with some kind of "8-bit" flavor to them. Some are old Nintendo themes (Tetris for the GB had great music for looping), some are simple classical instrumentals (pieces by Rameau, The Harmonious Blacksmith, etc.)
But then again, my programming tends to be very procedural (and often 8-bit assembly). YMMV.
About the only common theme seems to be order, as opposed to chaos.
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
How about a set of really big ear covering protectors that have "Smith & Wesson" printed on each side, with a picture of a pistol. Or maybe the "Glock" ones.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
I worked in a place that used a whitenoise system that utilized ceiling mounted speakers. The unix folks disconnected it in their area and hooked it up to their own amp and music player. The programmers didn't notice - they were all using headphones. The sales guys didn't care - they weren't in the office. And the managers had no clue - they had their own offices.
The windows guys still suffered through it but were on the phone so much it really didn't matter.
You were doing so well until that point...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I find that coding/hacking becomes more awesome while listening to techno music. It is essential when you are trying to pwn Gibson Supercomputers.
http://www.object404.com
When I really need to get in the zone, I crank up Wagner's Ring cycle. 4 back-to-back epic operas, very chromatic, orchestrated in such a way that has put music lovers into trances for the last 150 years. Trust me, it can be as enveloping as house/techno. Plus, since the words are in German, you won't be distracted by trying to understand them (unless you speak German, of course).
The best part? They total over 16 hours. These four operas are part of one epic story that's supposed to be shown in a 5 day festival in a remote town far away from civilization, at the end of which the theater is burned to the ground in an act of fiery renewal (Gotterdammerung). Kind of like Burning Man.
It's hard to listen to at first, but once you get into it, nothing puts you into a deeper trance-like state for good coding, for longer. Use with caution.
I'm going to assume that you are otherwise a flawless code monkey with no history of mental illness... :)
Quit listening to music. Everyday, make one more purposeful mistake than the day before. Quit shaving. Come to work progressively more dissheveled than the day before. A few weeks in, sometime after lunch, jump up and scream "I JUST CAN'T TAKE THE SILENCE ANY MORE!!!" Run screaming out of the building and go huddle in the fetal position next to an outdoor A/C unit. When the guys in the white coats come just keep saying "do you have an iPod?" over and over.
Feign madness for a few relaxing weeks in the loony bin, file for permanent disability. You'll only make 80% of your current pay, but you'll have made your point.
There are dozens of scientific studies that show the benefit of white noise. If you aren't sitting at your cube head banging or playing air guitar, just ignore the rule. You'll probably get promoted to management.
And blowjobs. I find blowjobs help, too. But guns to the temple don't help. I find that guns to the temple just make me nervous. YMMV.
Well, you kind of have to talk to them if you wanna get laid any.
I mean, as much as I long for the good old days when you could just pick out the one you wanted, club her over the head, drag her back and do your thing...today, that will likely land you in jail.
So, yeah, in this say in age, you really do have to talk to people...you now have to use your tongue as the metaphorical 'club' to hit them over the head with so you can get laid without getting arrested.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........