Music has always played an important part in being the perfect background companion to fill in the gaps between silence. In addition, it’s always been the perfect element that escalates a tense scene in a movie to heighten your nerves, the very thing that ricochets through your bones in a football stadium to prepare you for a make-or-break last quarter, or simply acting as the motivation to feel inspired enough to keep working on a busy day. Regardless of where you enjoy hearing music the most, it plays a crucial role in many of our daily lives – in the forefront and the background.
But it does more than offers us something to tap our foot to. What music does to the brain when we hear and play it has been researched for decades to better understand that connection on a deeper level. There’s an overwhelming number of studies that point to the positive effects you experience in real-time when being around music.
A reoccurring blog post theme you may see pop up on the devCodeCamp blog is discussing the benefits of learning how to code. We believe (and so do current industry trends overall) there’s a long list of perks on why someone should pursue coding as a hobby and career. One of those reasons we like to touch on is the soft skills you are likely to pick up along the way. Specifically, how you could see a mental shift in how you intake everyday problems and experiences with a newly polished analytical mindset. If you were to look at the benefits of coding in general and the benefits of listening or playing music, you may start to see some matching key points align. In this blog post, we are going to combine the two into one and highlight the benefits of listening to music while you code. We also curated a Spotify playlist to experience everything mentioned in this post made specifically for your next coding sessions that you can learn more about at the end of this article.
3 Ways Listening to Music Can Help You Code
1. Engagement
Just because you may be pounding away at your keyboard for hours doesn’t mean you’re as fully engaged in what you’re doing as you should be. It’s easy to fall into autopilot rhythms when working on something for long stretches of time. As a developer, especially a seasoned one, that may become a common occurrence.
Listening to music while you code could give you the engagement to your work you need in order to stay on track and remain focused. Miles of written code on a screen doesn’t always have to be a mountain of stress. Similar to when someone is physically working out, listening to music while you work can give you that extra adrenaline to knock out the next stretch of code like a champion.
2. Keeps Your Flow Steady
Finding a comfortable pace while working isn’t always the easiest thing to discover. Especially during challenging sessions with deadlines looming over your shoulders. Listening to music may be able to assist in getting you on track and giving you the mental gas you need to keep up with your work.
But finding your flow doesn’t always have to be during high stake scenarios. On the flip side of that comes the mellowness you may find during one of your typical coding routines. Putting on some relaxing lo-fi instrumental beats to work alongside you could be the very thing you need to match your energy and finish out another successful day.
3. Distracts You From Repetition
As you know, the word distraction usually has a negative connotation attached to it. But having something that distracts you while you work isn’t exactly always a negative outcome.
Being a developer is usually exciting because of the unexpected that comes your way daily. The constant delivery of challenges and goals coding gives you could easily become one of your favorite aspects in a developer role. But just like practically everything, there will also be moments of less than thrilling repetition involved.
Listening to music during these specific times of coding could be the very thing you need to perfectly distract you until crossing that virtual finish line.
devCodeCamp’s Essential Coding Session Playlist
We recently compiled a Spotify playlist you can enjoy while you work with over 13 hours of music handpicked specifically with code in mind. The songs on this coding playlist range from slow melancholy hip-hop beats to racing dubstep drops. All compiled in one place to be your go-to playlist for whatever code you’re going up against. Just hit play and enjoy the benefits discussed in this blog of listening to music while working.
