Are ergonomic products a must for a programmer?
Better tools make a better programmer. Hmm …
As a full-stack developer, I ask myself, is it worth investing in such products that claim to ease our health problems of the future? Let's find out together.
As a computer science student, I did not pay attention to the importance of having an ergonomic mouse, keyboard, or any of the other ergonomic tools or furniture. I remember having literally the smallest mouse one can imagine. Look, I’ll post a picture of it below.
The mouse was perfect for what a student would need. You could travel with it easily, pick it up, throw it in your bag and you were good to go. It would fit anywhere, it was durable and reliable. It only broke once, but I’ve managed to repair it easily. At the time, I did not see anything particularly bad about having such a small mouse, in addition to my colleagues who all had a gaming mouse or just used the trackpad of their laptop.
Interesting fact, I did not see one person use the pointing stick as a mouse replacement. If you have one on your laptop, give it a try.
Time passed, and as I started working as a junior programmer, I became more and more aware of the time I spent in front of the calculator writing code. On some days when I had class, I would use my laptop for more than 10 or 12 hours. I started to feel uncomfortable using my mouse because of the strange and unknown feeling of pain I was feeling in my wrist after the long days of work and study. I started reading about the more severe problems that may occur from having a bad wrist posture for long periods of time. At that moment, I decided to invest in a comfortable and more ergonomic mouse that would hold my hand more precisely and minimize the pain that was caused by the other mouse.
I got myself a nice and reliable mouse which in time was worth the investment. I started to feel more and more comfortable while coding. Even my wrist aches started to ameliorate over time.
In my opinion, the smaller mouse is definitely not a bad product, even though it is not ergonomically designed. It was not intended to be used on a day-to-day basis. I believe that the best scenario in which I will undoubtedly choose a small mouse is when I am traveling for a shorter distance on a train or when I am unable to fit the chunkier mouse in my pack. Every product has its use. You need to ask yourself which to use when.
Until today, I had only changed one aspect of my working environment, but I intend to make additional changes, such as trying out a new keyboard.
More and more, blogs are advising us to buy an ergonomic chair because of the posture, and I certainly agree, because my office desk has one too and it counts more than one could imagine, but there are other things as well that need your attention. Regarding this, I decided to write this article addressing a problem that is less familiar to the public or maybe not as a common topic and to give you first-hand experience of a programmer who has just started taking care of some problems which are part of the job.
In conclusion, it is not a must to buy everything that says that’s ergonomic, but it does count if you have good gadgets that help your work and still benefit your health.
