Excellently put! I’ve been a software developer for around ten years now, and I only recently started to notice how much I tend to “search” for what could go wrong in a given situation, or find issues in the things around me (eg. subconsciously/obsessively making lists of what could go wrong on family trips, or looking for logical inconsistencies in what people around me are saying (which annoys them to no end it seems)).
As you said, this is a behavior that’s often really helpful in our work, but it hurts us in our “real life”. Constantly being on the lookout for problems will prevent us from enjoying what’s there, as well as put us in a generally negative state of mind. I agree with you that one of the most important things we can do is realize that this is happening, and consciously decide when to apply these skills and when to just let life be what it is.
Maybe that's why some of us are drawn to creative hobbies? It may be our subconscious trying to find balance between our usual entirely analytical brain and our more intuitive selves.
I feel so seen! :) The search for what can go wrong is so real and instinctive. It’s the thing I do any time I basically write a line of code, but it’s often not as helpful outside of that, especially when other people are involved.
The thing is, as I mentioned in the article, there is a threshold of usefulness, and then it becomes almost paranoia (from the outside). But it still seems so negligent to me to “just deal with it when it happens”…argh!
(And yeah, the logical inconsistencies… cannot unsee)
I also noticed there’s a tendency to go do something practical, either as a hobby, or as a “post tech career”. Baking bread, woodworking, building real things. I believe it has to do with all of the above. Making the implicit explicit, and not having to hold it all inside our head.
What a wonderful post! I came into code from a background in psychology and now you've got me wondering if it was because I also craved an outlet more grounded in logic compared to people 😅
That's pretty funny, Lamar, as I am just recently coming into psychology (neuroscience) from a background in coding 😆
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. As much as this particular article was written more with the angle of "certain skills you learn as a dev might backfire when life is lifey", there's something very honest and reassuring about coding, in an environment you can pretty much control. And as usual, some of these innocent choices might hide a little gold nugget of self discovery! :)
Excellently put! I’ve been a software developer for around ten years now, and I only recently started to notice how much I tend to “search” for what could go wrong in a given situation, or find issues in the things around me (eg. subconsciously/obsessively making lists of what could go wrong on family trips, or looking for logical inconsistencies in what people around me are saying (which annoys them to no end it seems)).
As you said, this is a behavior that’s often really helpful in our work, but it hurts us in our “real life”. Constantly being on the lookout for problems will prevent us from enjoying what’s there, as well as put us in a generally negative state of mind. I agree with you that one of the most important things we can do is realize that this is happening, and consciously decide when to apply these skills and when to just let life be what it is.
Maybe that's why some of us are drawn to creative hobbies? It may be our subconscious trying to find balance between our usual entirely analytical brain and our more intuitive selves.
I feel so seen! :) The search for what can go wrong is so real and instinctive. It’s the thing I do any time I basically write a line of code, but it’s often not as helpful outside of that, especially when other people are involved.
The thing is, as I mentioned in the article, there is a threshold of usefulness, and then it becomes almost paranoia (from the outside). But it still seems so negligent to me to “just deal with it when it happens”…argh!
(And yeah, the logical inconsistencies… cannot unsee)
I also noticed there’s a tendency to go do something practical, either as a hobby, or as a “post tech career”. Baking bread, woodworking, building real things. I believe it has to do with all of the above. Making the implicit explicit, and not having to hold it all inside our head.
What a wonderful post! I came into code from a background in psychology and now you've got me wondering if it was because I also craved an outlet more grounded in logic compared to people 😅
That's pretty funny, Lamar, as I am just recently coming into psychology (neuroscience) from a background in coding 😆
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. As much as this particular article was written more with the angle of "certain skills you learn as a dev might backfire when life is lifey", there's something very honest and reassuring about coding, in an environment you can pretty much control. And as usual, some of these innocent choices might hide a little gold nugget of self discovery! :)