I’ve lived with Kerotoconus for the last 20 years, and professional developer for 25+ years. I’ve worn hard contact lenses for most of that time (various types), and had a corneal graft (transplant) in one eye about 4 years ago. I’m primarily a back end developer, and was contemplating a career change before surgery. Some thoughts based on my experience:
* Hard contact lens wear takes some getting used to. Stay with it if you possibly can.
* The difference between good and bad contacts is night and day. Subtle differences can make a world of difference in comfort.
* Find an optometrist who has expertise in kerotoconus/fitting hard lenses, and who will try as many revisions as it takes to get it right. I can go 16 hours straight every day with my lenses, no worries.
* Hydration can affect lens comfort. Drink plenty of fluid, especially in hot weather.
* Ambient light levels also have a big effect, your room can be over lit without being obviously too bright. Too much light will leave your eyes feeling dry.
* To reduce light/glare I would dare mode all the things. Including using Chrome extensions to invert colours in Google Docs. On bad days, for me, a white screen was like staring into the sun. Sounds like this is less of an issue for you though.
* Good quality monitors are essential. I like IPS displays, they seem to make great colours and contrast without putting out a lot of light. Spend time setting them up to your liking. I like the brightness as low as I can get it without loosing too much contrast. Your employer should be buying these for you, but I would spend my own money if I had to. It’s that important to me.
* A graft/transplant is pretty much the last option. The recovery takes a couple of months, but for me the difference in vision is dramatic. For professionals dependent on vision like ourselves the fact that the surgeon can’t give any indication of your vision afterwards is a bit scary.
* If you’re in South Australia, I’m happy to give you the names of my optom and surgeon. Both are amazing.
* After surgery I’ve deferred thoughts of a career change, my vision is good enough that I feel I can continue “hands on” development for a number of years yet.
* “Hands on” above might give you a hint as to what I was thinking of in terms of alternate options. Look for things where your skills and experience can be utilised, but without full time screen work. Project Management, Team Leadership, etc might be worth considering. Teaching or Mentoring are other options to explore.
* It never occurred to me, but accessibility consulting would be an excellent idea.
* The degeneration in your vision slows down eventually. I was diagnosed in my early 20s and went downhill rapidly in my late 20s. My eyesight changed a somewhat through my 30s and has been pretty stable since I turned 40. From what I understand, this is pretty typical, but is scary AF when your young and “going blind” though.
I was really struggling with vision prior to surgery. I was fortunate to be able to discuss my difficulties with my employer. He said something at the time that stuck with me. He said that he’d always valued the thought (design/architecture) that went into everything I built. And that the way that had been captured in the past was with fingers on keyboard doing the building. We just needed to find a different way to do that going forwards. Which might have meant working with the juniors on our team to build their skills instead. Think about what your strengths and experience are and other ways to harness those skills.