Developers are emotional 😭

Today’s post is from the not-really-scientific-but-too-good-to-not-be-true department.

We developers often pride ourselves on being rational, objective, and data-driven. We laugh silently (or even out loud) at people who get worked up over celebrity gossip, sports team rivalries, or social media drama.

But are we really less emotional? I believe we are just less in touch with our emotions. We don’t even realize how emotional we are in our “rational discussions” about tabs and spaces, text editor choices, or why our programming language of choice happens to be the best. Even mundane questions such as whether a certain feature is necessary to release, of if we can put something into production without tests, can become emotionally charged.

Add to that the fact that many developers are naturally good at, or even enjoy, arguing. That’s the perfect recipe for long, heated discussions that lead nowhere.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve started a discussion aiming to convince someone about something, only to find yourself half an hour later trying to prove that you are right, even though it won’t take you any closer to that something.

The next time you need to make a decision or discuss solutions, take a moment to consider the actual goal. Are your emotions helping you reach it, or are they silently interfering? And don’t forget, you can be wrong.

However, emotion can be a powerful force for the better! I believe emotions and related states like curiosity, stubbornness, loyalty, and even pride are what drive us to explore, experiment, and to build beautiful things. But with great power…