Does music help or hinder coding? What developers listen to while working

«Some people can’t imagine working without their favorite tracks, while others choose silence to concentrate,» writes Stanislav. Do other coders support his passion for music while working?

1. «Personally, the works of composers of the classical era, especially Haydn and Mozart, help me concentrate, Bach helps me solve complex problems, and modern ambient helps me do routine tasks. Vocal music interferes if there are words, because I have to understand the meaning of the words,» — Frontend Developer Greg Terekhov .
2. «I work from home, music allows me to disconnect from my surroundings and focus on work. Although, I can do without it. Tracks according to my mood. The vast majority of rock in various forms (including thrash metal, metalcore and various variations). If you need to drown out the external environment, but concentrate as much as possible — trance without vocals. Sometimes everything gets boring and I work in silence,» — Android Developer Yevgeny Maslak .
3. «I don’t listen to music at all while working,» — Android Developer Oleksandr Filonenko .
4. «It absolutely gets in the way (music — ed. note) when you need to think. But (!) it really helps when you need to do routine work, not think (like copy-paste 3,000 localized lines, or transfer assets). Well, it helps for the most stupid routine work,» — Senior iOS & macOS Software Engineer Ihor Malovany .
5. «Music helps, it’s better without singing. The main thing is not to turn on new music, then you can’t concentrate,» — ITP from DTEK && Software Developer Oleksandr Markov .
6. «More often than not, songs with lyrics can be distracting, but lately I’ve learned to ignore just the meaning of the song, and rather listen to the voice as an instrument. And in such a case, everything works out OK) Well, I often listen to music while working,» — Android Developer Artem Pelevin .
7. «Antent, oneheart, reidenshi — for me, this is salvation, I write ambient music with them on YouTube and that’s it, the productivity is x100,000! Or soundtracks from Minecraft or Silent Hill,» — Game developer Anna Kolomoyska .
8. «Music is with me almost constantly, it helps me escape from a very cruel reality,» — BackEnd Developer Vlad Virchenko .
9. «When you need to abstract yourself from the world as much as possible and focus on your work, then only Arch Enemy. And then other people’s voices in your ears — ok. Timlid, lots of communication,» — Frontend Team Leader at ArtLabs Europe OÜ Tusko Trush .
10. «Personally, music (mostly rock of various genres) really helps me tune in to active and productive work (I do design), it’s a great distraction from external 'irritants'. However, I agree with other commentators — it’s still better to choose tracks without vocals, because often you imperceptibly start singing along and making unnecessary movements to the rhythm, which distracts from the task,» — web design Yulia Yemets .
11. «If it’s routine, simple tasks, then it’s okay, but if it’s something new, complex, and requires thinking, then it’s better to be quiet,» — IOS software engineer Yegor Nechvola .
12. «I always listen, but for some reason I stop hearing it, just like the video in the background,» — Project/Sales manager Dmytro Fedotiuk .
13. «It’s impossible to concentrate in silence. Even more so in the noise created by those around you when working from home,» — Content Team Lead and UX Designer Iryna Pravdych chooses music depending on the tasks:

• Music without words for creative work.
• Songs in languages ​​I don’t understand, for monotonous work.
• Heavy metal for sustained flow state — coding and complex tasks.

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