Tag: psychology

Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD

I really enjoyed Jon Richardson’s documentary on the obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).  OCD is one of those weird mental disorders where almost everyone has it to some degree.  It can even be funny at times (especially during those code review or paired programming sessions).  But it can get extremely serious, to the point of people actually dying from it.  And it can progress real quick too.

It’s OK to have a laugh here or there, but it’s also important to remember that it’s not just a hip thing to say, and that there are people who suffer significantly from the OCD.

Very eye-opening. 

How Privileged Are Programmers? Are You a John, Too?


I don’t think I’ve ever met a technical person, who didn’t exhibit at least some of the traits described in this article.   And that includes myself as well. It’s usually not all that bad, but still …




What is the hardest part about learning to program?


Quora runs an interesting question – “What is the hardest part about learning to program?“.  As always, there are plenty of insightful answers with suggestions, tips, shared stories, research and statistical data, and more.

For me personally, this answer in particular was useful, as I’m very well familiar with the phenomena, but never knew there was a name for it – Dunning–Kruger effect.