Do hackers care about workstation ergonomics? | Hacker News Reader

Do hackers care about workstation ergonomics?

5 pointsinrev13 comments

Do hackers care about seat height, table height, monitor height and distance, etc.?

If they don't, they should. RSI sucks.

At Google, they've got ergonomics evaluators on staff. You can schedule one to come by and check out how you're working. They'll fix your chair, remind you how to sit, mouse, and keyboard, and also put in orders for special equipment should you need it. Things like vertical oriented mice, natural keyboards, and boosters for your monitor can make a lot of difference for comfort.

how you're working

Ass goes on chair.

They'll fix your chair

Ass goes on chair.

remind you how to sit

Ass goes on chair.

Or huge yoga ball (http://cache.lifehacker.com/images/2006/06/exercise%20ball%2...)

I see the certified color coordination evaluation engineer made a stop by her office.

Seats? Tables? What are those? ;-)

I suspect I'd give any ergonomic evaluator a heart attack. Right now, I'm lying down on the floor, propped up on my elbows. Other favored positions include cross-legged on the floor, kneeling on my bed with the laptop on my thighs, half-kneeling on the floor with my chin on my knee, prone in bed with about 3 pillows under my chest, in bed on my side wit my elbow propping my upper body up, reclining in a chair with the laptop on my lap and feet up, and sitting in a tree (no, I don't take the laptop up there, but I'll frequently bring pencil & paper to work out some design problem).

The one place I absolutely will not work if I have a choice about it is at a table or desk. Been like that since before I had a computer; in elementary school, I absolutely refused to do my homework at the table, always preferring the floor.

You'd think this would result in lots of RSI problems, but I haven't had anything since I was 12, which ironically was when my parents made a concerted effort to get me to sit at a desk and do my homework like a normal person. I suspect it's because I don't actually do anything repetitive at a computer. I get up to pace a lot - 5 times in the process of writing this comment, and I've switched to 3 different positions. That's another reason I really dislike desks - they make getting up a chore, so I don't get up, and so I find my productivity dropping off from lack of exercise.

Am I the only one who is not that thrilled by Aeron chairs? I took one over from my father, because he didn't like it, either, but I am also not happy with it. I find the plastic parts tend to cut into my legs and hurt me, because I sink into the rubber net too deeply. Also the settings are unstable, every now and then the chair collapses and I have to reconfigure it again.

OT: does anybody know how I can determine the exact model type of my Aeron chair, as I would like to put it up on ebay?

I have the exact same problem with "sinking in" and I'm not especially large (I'm 6'2", 180 lbs). I haven't had any stability issues, and I like the Aeron much better than most other chairs I've used, but it has some drawbacks in addition to the front of the seat jutting into my thigh:

The plastic on the sides makes it difficult to sit cross-legged in the chair. Granted, I've never had a chair that let me do this very well.

It's impossible to kneel on the chair comfortably. This sounds silly maybe, but the last chair I used had a very soft cushion to sit on, and the back was adjustable such that there were spaces where you could dangle your feet. It was possible to kneel without causing much strain on feet or ankles.

I've found both kneeling and cross-legged positions to be very stable, comfortable, and conducive to proper breathing-- so long as you don't wind up losing circulation in your legs.

I am also not "large", but tall. Probably I have the "oversize" version of the chair, as my father is also very tall. Perhaps the normal version works better (smaller size of net -> less sinking in).

If you don't now, you will in a few years. It gets more painful as you get older--by the time I was in my mid-twenties I had to have a good chair or I'd have serious back pain. I also had to find ways to work with less mouse usage, or it would lead to shooting pains in my forearms.

I've settled into a nice place now, with a good monitor that raises up almost high enough (a Dell 2005), an Aeron chair, an IBM small form factor keyboard with good IBM keys, and a Logitech mouse that I still try to use as little as possible. I still have occasional back and shoulder pain, but I have some injuries from bike accidents in my youth. But I definitely take ergonomics seriously. I can't concentrate when I'm in pain.

One thing that I've found makes a big difference for me: Exercise. Almost all of my various aches and pains are less pronounced and less debilitating when I'm getting regular exercise.

I think so. I care enormously much. I spent an inordinate amount of time finding a correct keyboard position and chair configuration. I ended up with a GoldTouch adjustable-angle keyboard I found lying around my workplace, plus two books taped together held up by a waterbottle stolen from a coworker to hold up my wrists. Then, I pilfered a sideways mouse that wasn't being used in another part of the office.

Nobody else at the company goes quite so far, but the two other main programmers do have Aeron chairs, at least.

Just a tip I picked up: if you're resting your wrists on anything, you're putting contact force on them that could lead to exhaustion if it's too hard or for too long. Try to keep your wrists floating, if possible.

The thing I care about most is my keyboard.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productde...

Yes, it goes with Paul's latest post. A crappy or messy work station can clutter your thoughts and keep you from "Holding a program in one's head"

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