Stackoverflow 2019 Developer Survey Is Open | Hacker News Reader

Stackoverflow 2019 Developer Survey Is Open

stackoverflow.blog

121 pointsbillwashere40 comments

>Of these options, what are your greatest challenges to productivity as a developer? Select up to 3:

I feel like this is missing an important option. "Boring work".

Right now I'm slogging through an unenjoyable project and finding it incredibly hard to focus and get tasks done. Its so hard to push through one difficult yet dull task knowing there is yet another difficult yet dull task right behind it.

I'd've also liked "No work", can't be productive if there's nothing to do.

I wonder though; a lot of work is menial, boring work. What makes that bearable for those that do it? Or is there enough diversity in there that keeps people there for 40+ years?

In our line of work, at least, some menial work can be scripted away. That, and some yak-shaving, could alleviate boredom ;)

Because the people who become software developers do that because at first it required a lot of focus and creativity.

When they've done it for a while and have to implement the 34th variation of essentially the same thing, those are the same people whose mind wanders.

When I did menial, boring work, my mind could wander enough to play blindfold chess with my colleagues without making illegal moves, and I'd still be productive. But when my mind wanders now, I already have a browser open and Reddit is a few touches away, and you can't browse Reddit at the same time as writing code.

That's the other thing, there is a whole industry trying to grab our attention and keep it, and it's present in the same web browser that I use all the time during development.

Exactly the one I was missing. Also distracting Internet sites (which is separate from distracting work environment), but they wouldn't be as much of a problem if the work wasn't so boring.

Not going to lie, felt like a great deal of effort was put into not only the questions, but the multiple choice answers. Made it easy to breeze right through it.

Absolutely; none of it felt like a drag. Maybe a little in the language/library/framework section, but I skipped most of it as I don't do much webdev. Also 1 or 2 questions I wish used checkboxes instead of radio, but other than that, it was great.

I enjoyed the fact that “SIGH” was one of the available responses to the question about whether or not you are your family’s “IT support person”.

I used to be, but my parents have moved to tablets. It's not that computers are too complicated I think, even if their knowledge has gotten rusty (my dad used to be the computer guy), but tablets are much easier to use, very hard to make mistakes on (especially ipads), and you can use them at the dinner table.

"If you use security or ad-blocking plugins, you may see error messages Our third-party software provider, Qualtrics, does not work well with certain ad blockers and security software. To avoid error messages that prevent you from taking the survey, please try specifically unblocking Qualtrics in your plugin or pausing the plugin while you take the survey."

Seems like this has the potential to skew the results quite a bit. I was going to do the survey on mobile, but wasn't sure whether the Firefox Focus content blocker would screw with things. I just hope I remember to do it later...

Edit: And I don't really like being forced to turn off my tracker-blocking extensions.

ha yes.

"Qualtrics, does not work well with certain ad blockers and security software"

Then find somebody else to do it!

I can't speak to mobile but it worked fine with ublock-origin on Chrome on desktop.

If someone wants to see Last year survey result analyis on kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/nulldata/so-survey-insights-who-s-lef...

Disclaimer: It's mine and top-voted kernel. I didn't win the prize money though ;)

another way how you can explore prev-year results online: http://stackoverflow.seektable.com/cube/6c6ca671f6984e98b6b6...

I'm fairly bothered by that non-linear scale in those graphs. Particularly because it's consistently non-linear for gender comparative graphs and linear for most others. To me it seems almost deceptive.

I don't mean to be accusatory, but I am curious about a reasoning for it.

> Think back to the last time you updated your resumé, CV, or an online profile on a job site. What is the PRIMARY reason that you did so?

Really needs an "Other" option.

What would another primary reason be?

I've grown bitter of so. The hall monitors heave gotten crazy in their flagging etc. It's frustrating. I've actually turned to Reddit of all places for help now.

> What individual person do you think will have the most influence in tech in the coming year?

Tbh, it'll be Mark Zuckerberg. In a bad way.

I'd be keen to know more on the numbers of developers who've stopped contributing to StackOverflow in recent years.

I've found them to be increasingly political and preachy, and force US opinions on politics on what is a global audience.

I had a 20k account at some point, but after their uncoordinated and aggressive approach to the travel ban, I deleted my account.

I'm confused as to how the travel ban (I assume you're referring to the "Muslim Travel Ban") has any relevance to contributing to StackOverflow?

Your response is exactly the point. It doesn't.

That's why it was so jarring when the company decided to take a political stance on StackOverflow: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/342440/time-to-take...

Cmon you’re still banging on about that? It was a one off thing that they were pretty much crucified for. You bring this up a lot, and I don’t think what you’re arguing against has been a problem since.

I am most excited about the "coding music playlist".

Can y'all please share your favorites here?

It really depends what kind of work am I doing. I love classic rock, but hardly ever listen to it while coding.

If I'm programming something new, trying to solve a problem, or designing the architecture of my application, I need to be 100% focused on the task. Playing a song I enjoy, especially the ones with vocals, will take away some of that concentration. For these tasks I usually listen to electronic music (anything from Jarre, Vangelis or more modern ones).

If I'm working on something I have a fairly good idea of how to solve, I may also listen to some modern pop songs. I find their upbeat rhythm really boosts my work. Daft Punk is great here!

If I'm performing some dull / mechanic refactoring, then I might listen to some classic rock, anything from AC/DC, Dire Straits, Clapton and even Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR, Joy Division. Unfortunately that's not very common.

(I know some of these bands are not "classic rock". This is just a placeholder term that "sums up" my musical taste).

More often than not, I listen to music using my vynyl records. Am not really a big fan of Spotify et al.

Curious fact: I'm Brazilian, and listening to Portuguese songs really annoys me, probably because it takes away some of my concentration.

Nick Cave, specifically "No More Shall We Part". I've been listening to that specific album when I need to focus for ~12 years now and that is what works, not the actual choice of music.

Hallucinogen. Uplifting, just the right amount of repetitiveness, no lyrics to distract.

Tycho, I've heard the same from lots of others. Dive is classic, Sunrise Projector is my favourite.

It varies by mood, but I've come to really enjoy the soundtracks from the game Subnautica. They're brilliant, and I particularly like Into the Unknown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZe4IQnhS5Y) and Salutations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FmxVQo774). The whole album is up on Spotify as well if you also like it: https://open.spotify.com/album/6ErjoGBl4xj1AfgPjcAYsk?si=EAJ...

About gaming soundracks, FTL and the Mass Effect series get my vote.

Machinarium has a great soundtrack for coding too: https://open.spotify.com/album/52PLNrXUMtPUZwcueV75J1?si=2mv...

I love the saxophone arrangement of Philip Glass's String Quartet No.3: https://open.spotify.com/album/1DqC3PqfnxwzAEryseW4iY?si=kr1... In particular, when I really want to get into the zone I have the last movement on single repeat.

The other single-repeat song I like is Cimex Lectularis by Ed Dowie: https://open.spotify.com/track/2WXibRi5REhP3a7WDsvQ1t?si=Zgd...

Nightmares on Wax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q692lHFaLVM&list=RDEM5IivTcV...

The platforms sections needs an embedded choice

My first time participating.. does the survey closing on the 12th translate to results on the 12th as well?

No, it usually takes a while. Last year's closed on 28 Jan, and results and data were released on 13 March and 30 May respectively.