Do you experience “developer head” after spending 10-15 hours writing code? For me, “developer head” means difficulty socializing, difficulty being present and self-aware (being in my thoughts too much), impaired situational awareness, fuzzy vision, the tendency to lead with details and miss the headline entirely. The effect lasts about an hour after a long coding sesh. I see it in others all the time. Is there a name for this? It should have a better name than “developer head.” 😄

I definitely have in the past. What’s helped is taking regular breaks (once every 60 - 90 minutes) and structuring my work around the breaks. For me, sitting (or even standing) for more than 60 minutes starts to cause discomfort and misalignment in my posture (if you want to go deep on this topic, I recommend this book https://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Posture-Stand-Modern/dp/1594771243/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=new+posture&qid=1554459586&s=gateway&sr=8-3). I’ve also found walking around for a few minutes, getting water, and getting out of the headspace of the problem quite restorative. Sometimes, I also get some creative ideas (presumably b/c I’m able to use my full brain when walking vs when I’m sitting)! This is all anecdotal FWIW!

Another question, if this is something experienced, does it have it’s upsides? For example if you could never experience it again would that be worthwhile? Or does that state come with some enhanced coding ability?

@srini that posture book looks great. Reminds me of one called Somatics, which is all about developing proprioception and, consequently, a new relationship to posture. I do the Somatics 5 minute “cat stretch” a few times a week. https://www.amazon.com/Somatics-Reawakening-Control-Movement-Flexibility/dp/0738209570/

I never thought about it, but now that you describe it, I definitely “suffer” from “developer head” — it’s like you try to switch to another front most app in your head, but there are so many processes from the programming task still burning most of your CPU cycles. Because I haven’t really thought about it much, I can’t say how I usually get out of it. But now that I’m aware I’ll watch this closely. Sleeping definitely helps, but I guess that’s cheating because it’s like turning it off and back on again. 😂

Yes thanks for asking I have been always quite "good" being in my head. It probably should be distinct that you can be in kind of flow in your mind or very opposite while it looks the very same for outside. Nice place to visit but not so great place to live.

Well, i am not familiar with the "developer head" state, but am very familiar with what i call "Artichoke Mode", where after a certain point you tire and become as stupid as an artichoke, and enter the zone of negative productivity, where you remove good work, and introduce errors. Learning to stop before entering "Artichoke Mode" is part of learning to be a professional programmer.

Yeah, I'm with Edward on this. But if you interrupt me while I'm working on a problem I enjoy, I could have "developer head", sans fuzzy vision.