Ask HN: Why does writing code physically hurt my brain?

When my brain was younger and I was going through my first real programming gig/hazing ritual I felt largely the same. I was lucky to have a boss that let me go at my own pace and build up from small self contained procedural scripts, to several related classes, to practicing design patterns by writing my own datase abstraction layer and dB access objects, then controllers, then templating scheme, and by the time I was done “practicing” I was only halfway lost and broken when I jumped into a sprawling framework that handled all this for me :-)

It is just exercising your short term memory that hurts your brain and causes all that stress and you’ll get better. Soon all those layers of abstraction and the way they relate will be more muscle memory. Like driving. You’ll “glance at your mirrors” when merging and it won’t seem so stressful. It just takes time and practice

Also, stackoverflow is man pages for programmers

Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?

You may benefit from seeing a neurologist over possible migraines. Everyone's symptoms/triggers are different, and some factor of the screentime, workload, thinking with programming, and stress could be giving these symptoms.

Once you are used to highly regularised way of working, anything kludgier is pain.

And you spend half your time wondering, "who would allow such a thing to exist like this, where is the pattern?"

This just further erodes at the stack of items you hold in your head while trying to process all the edge cases and other unexpected crap.

One thing though, and I have no idea if relevant, but many people get anxious or struggle because they don't breath out enough.

Especially when a little confronted in some way, they unconsciously keep on topping up on breath without fully breathing out.

Then they find they can't breath in enough, a little panic starts and goes from there.

The number of people I have come across that were "topped up" like this is amazing, and many did not even realise until it was pointed out to them.

Three deep, push out breaths, and start again - fresh oxygen, room to breath, often calming and feels a whole lot better.

Me too that's why I stopped coding all together and took the sysop pill

Once you get used to it, you really start to like it. Trust me, I've written so many programs at this point, but most of them are dead projects :D

It might "physically hurt" if you aren't really comfortable with the language, too. I've found this especially true with Bash, as I just don't like the syntax, so you might be trying too hard to understand it.

Anyways, you should have fun developing at one point. Good luck :D

learning a new skill is like exercise- it’ll hurt in the beginning but you’ll adapt

If it feels like you've had a seizure, may I suggest you see a medical doctor?

Here are what might help you through the pain:

Treat mistakes as learning process

Treat errors as a tool

Treat difficult workmates and bosses as children

Treat scripts as writing stories for computers in different language.

If it affects you physically, it may be stress. Try to think that the whole process, whether it results in a good thing or a bad thing, is actually a progress.

There are indeed some frustrating part in scripting, unclear library docs, no static typings, slow feedback loops.

Keep in mind your end goal, being sysadmin right now is where you are and maybe a stepping stone. Do it one by one. Take a step back, calm yourself, see what's around you and take some steps to easen the pain and achieve your goal, whatever that is.

At the end of the day, the machines you maintain are designed to run code. There’s only so much that can be done to provide you with non-code ways of managing said code.

The industry is trending towards AWS + “the cloud” because people who know how to code are providing themselves the tooling required to bypass traditional IT.

If coding physically hurts your brain, you might consider another field altogether. I mean you no disrespect but that sounds like an awful reality. There are plenty of ways to make a good living that do not require one to be tormented daily.