Developer Health Survey

[Matt Layman]

Hi DC PHP members,

Maybe you’ve had thoughts like:

• How can I possibly stay healthy if I’m sitting at a desk and coding all day?

• I’m overwhelmed by my looming project deadline. How can I manage to get all this done?

• I have constant pain in my wrists. Am I doing something wrong?

These kinds of things have crossed my mind over the years, and I’d like to understand how others have handled health concerns as developers.

My name is Matt, and I’m a software developer and Python meetup organizer. I’d love if you could share how creating with code has impacted your health.

The goal of this survey is to learn the issues that developers are worried about the most. Knowing the major issues, I hope to build a site for the community that can be a resource for those facing similar challenges.

Developers deal with specific physical and mental challenges from our work. We should be equipped to surmount these barriers to live our happiest lives.

With that in mind, can you help me identify our community’s biggest issues by answering a few questions? Your feedback would be immensely appreciated.

1. How and when do you think about your physical or mental health? Does it cross your mind often? Can you share an experience that makes you think about this topic?
   
   

2. What parts do you find hard about maintaining your health and wellness? Why?
   
   

3. What have you tried to do to improve your health and wellness? What worked? For how long?
   
   

4. Which aspect of your health do you find harder to maintain:
   - Your physical health (nutrition, exercise, sleep)
   - Your mental health (stress, focus, social connection)
   Can you elaborate why?

I’m listening and would be happy to keep you informed about my work if you are interested. I don’t expect to receive any soul gushing, but I can assure you that all responses will be kept in strict confidence.

If you’re willing to share, the survey is available on Google Forms at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hOMT8a0NAYG3Tge7T4D7F0VEAwPK3glf44Yw-6j6M2E/edit. Anyone interested in this subject is welcome to email me as well (matthe...@gmail.com). I’d love to chat about it with you directly.

Thanks so much in advance!

Matt Layman

Python Frederick organizer

https://www.mattlayman.com/

https://www.pythonfrederick.org/

https://twitter.com/mblayman

P.S. If you could share this survey with your friends or colleagues, that would be amazing!

P.P.S. Apologies if you’ve seen this survey message from multiple lists. If you’ve already filled it out, thank you! If you haven’t, would you consider taking some time to do so?