Does programming damage you brain + social skills?

kevin216

After 3 years of Java,3 years of C++, some assembly language and the new thing V.H.D.L. I feel like i've lost something along the way, as if a little part of me went in to each program and now theres nothing left:(. I've notice friends and family growing tired of me talking about JAVA GUI's. but I think JAVA GUI's are so interesting:o....So I'm looking for new family or friends:).. i make a great brother or best friend, all i ask is that you want to discuss some built in functions in C or Java..........

Sherifu

Please tell me you're making this up.

information

The OP is just being foolish but,

I read a phd thesis than was on the effects of studying technical & mathmatical disciplines on people social skills.

Making people focus on processes, efficency, logic impared their social skills.

They where less interested in small talk and idol conversation.

From my personal experience working in IT, there is a very high level of socially retarded and just plain crazy people working in IT.

Ginger

You dont have to be crazy to work here but it helps!

You do find some of the more intense coders alright dont have a notion of interacting with people.. you wouldnt put them client facing thats for sure.

Depends on your background and how deep you get into it. I know when we head out we try not to talk shop, because most people fall asleep

DublinWriter

information wrote: »

From my personal experience working in IT, there is a very high level of socially retarded and just plain crazy people working in IT.

+1, or should I say ++?!?

Most of my work is in I.T., and I really hate working with other I.T. people because they are so anti-social, especially the younger ones for some reason.

As well as the lack of social-skills aspect, from what I see, about 50% of people who work in I.T. actually hate doing so.

I'm happiest when I get to do I.T. work within the 'business' end of an organisation.

Evil Phil

I do sometimes find myself getting irritated with people who talk innefficently and feel like telling them to get to the f*cking point. But I keep it to myself Dunno if that has anything to do with programming, maybe I'm just grumpy.

Ginger

Evil Phil wrote: »

I do sometimes find myself getting irritated with people who talk innefficently and feel like telling them to get to the f*cking point. But I keep it to myself Dunno if that has anything to do with programming, maybe I'm just grumpy.

You are always cranky.. its just your way. EOC

sicruise

Evil Phil wrote: »

I do sometimes find myself getting irritated with people who talk innefficently and feel like telling them to get to the f*cking point. But I keep it to myself Dunno if that has anything to do with programming, maybe I'm just grumpy.

I thought it was just me! And I hate small talk... its pointless.

As for it damaging my brain... it gets a bit melted when I do long sessions alright but no long term effects I hope

sobriquet

Yeah, nerd communication is weird, but I reckon for the most part, it's just a variation on the same ineptitude a lot of people have. I was at a stag party recently for a mate, another coder who's mad into rallying etc. A lot of his mates would be into the rallying but not technology at all. These lads were impenetrable. Outside of cars or, to a lesser extent, football, they had no conversation. Take them out of their group and they clam up and don't speak at all. Never even attempted to so much as express interest in anything outside their sphere. Sound blokes, but they possess a more socially acceptable set of interests and so don't stand out as much.

Of course, technical work is often solitary and attracts people who prefer it or believe it suits them - there are total mouth breathers working in IT, no doubt about it. In my experience though, most of the highly capable people I know tend to have plenty of interests and can usually relate to people on some level and often try to; they might be introverted but not socially inept. There's an unkind corollary to that I won't bother expanding on...

OP, if you can't relate to people well enough now to realise they're not interested in Java GUIs (I'm not for example, and would nerdily and tactlessly tell you so), were you really ever able to relate properly? Doubt it tbh. Why not listen to them, and talk to them about their interests, or find some others of your own that will interest them?

Kai

Since ive become a programmer my social skills have improved i think but thats more to do with my previous job than anything else.

I used to work in Tech support where i would spend 40 hours a week repeating the same stuff over and over to the computer illiterate (Muggles?). Even 5 years later i can still recite how to check if a modem is working correctly , its burned into my brain i tell ya. So after a long ass day spent talking to someone about the finer points of copy and pasting i would arrive home and not say a single word to anyone for the rest of the day. I developed a phobia about phones too but thats another story.

fasty

Sometimes after I've been coding for a few hours I find I'm so focussed I can't actually string sentences together properly for a few minutes in meetings. It makes me look like an idiot so I try to take breaks before meetings etc.

I would never talk about development to friends or family. They just don't care. I just say "I work in IT" when people ask and if they ask for more info then I elaborate a bit.

Ginger

When I say I work in IT, most people go.. "Can you fix my email!!!"

But my gran was always convinced I was a teacher, twas easier for her to understand.

Computers are still the black art for a lot of people...

Placebo

cant believe i laughed at the ++ remark, i think its to do with full time work,
same old 9-5, goes with every job, you feel like a zombie.
I dont see why youd talk about java GUI's in the pub, people have other interests too. PLUS java GUI's? slow

cornbb

sobriquet wrote: »

Yeah, nerd communication is weird, but I reckon for the most part, it's just a variation on the same ineptitude a lot of people have. I was at a stag party recently for a mate, another coder who's mad into rallying etc. A lot of his mates would be into the rallying but not technology at all. These lads were impenetrable. Outside of cars or, to a lesser extent, football, they had no conversation. Take them out of their group and they clam up and don't speak at all. Never even attempted to so much as express interest in anything outside their sphere.

Thats an interesting observation, comforting too for us nerds. I guess the phenomenon of only being able to converse within the bracket of your own passion/expertise is not limited to coders.

My job straddles two overlapping disciplines, programming and music technology/digital audio. The ability to flick between the two several times a day gives me a break and stops my brain from becoming melted or hardwired, which is good. It does make it more difficult to focus on certain tasks for extended periods though - programming is a great way of learning to concentrate on something.

Not talking shop excessively around non-techies is vital in order to preserve friendships and sanity. My girlfriend is driven nuts when we and colleagues are out! I wouldn't say that techies are, on average, more socially inept than non techies. It might have been the case in the past, but these days the vast majority of people (in the young urban demographic, at least) can relate to computers in some way.

seamus

Ginger wrote: »

You do find some of the more intense coders alright dont have a notion of interacting with people.. you wouldnt put them client facing thats for sure.

While they're staring blankly at you, you just know they're wondering if they can code a JDBC-based interface class to extract your thoughts directly from your brain rather than resorting to analog sound interpretation.

Evil Phil

fasty wrote: »

Sometimes after I've been coding for a few hours I find I'm so focussed I can't actually string sentences together properly for a few minutes in meetings. It makes me look like an idiot so I try to take breaks before meetings etc.

I find that, on those projects where you're in work till 2am the next morning, I can't talk to anybody until I've had a few hours to myself. I've called it 'The land of Zeros and Ones' and most people who know me for a few years understand when I tell them I'm in the Land of Zeros and Ones. I try to avoid those projects now though, they damage your social life and relationships more than working with code ever will.

sobriquet

Evil Phil wrote: »

I find that, on those projects where you're in work till 2am the next morning, I can't talk to anybody until I've had a few hours to myself. I've called it 'The land of Zeros and Ones' and most people who know me for a few years understand when I tell them I'm in the Land of Zeros and Ones. I try to avoid those projects now though, they damage your social life and relationships more than working with code ever will.

I understand fully this point: I've been in that place (the zone, hack mode, whatever) plenty of times myself, and an addictive thing it is. However, I think a lot of coders take liberties with this notion too. It's like someone wanting to be a rockstar: they spend as much time practicing the hedonistic lifestyle as they do playing their guitar - they play up to the image. Same thing with people learning to program. It's an arcane art and a culture with a high barrier to entry, and like music it's not easy to do well, and the nerds and geeks of this world want into the subculture so they emulate the stories they hear of other coders pulling all nighters etc. Give that to someone who's already slightly socially inept and they've got a license to excuse themselves from manners. You see all sorts of post facto justification from people too - I'm not interested in small talk, those subjects are beneath me etc - even when you know well they were simply petrified of talking with people they don't know. I'm generalizing of course and by no means accusing anyone here, but I have seen this happen. I recall even reading the same in one of the physicist Richard Feynman's essays that it was common for grad students studying under the likes of Wheeler to affect or play up their own eccentricities.