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I'm studying computer science at university, and so for a long time I thought I'm a left-brainer (which I guess is the normal case for people working in the field of IT). But recently I noticed that I am in fact a right-brainer, and so I'm wondering what other right-brainers in IT do to work better and be more productive with respect to their preferred style of thinking.

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Consider management and design/architecture. There are more prominent 'right brained' things in those fields. Pure development is very left-brained. – Steve Evers Dec 21 '10 at 2:46
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"Labeling" can help to clarify your interpretation of the past. But it is damaging if you try to apply it to your present or future. – Macneil Dec 21 '10 at 3:23
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To become a good programmer, your both side of brains should be messed up enough so that you will not understand this right brain and left brain concept. – Manoj R Dec 21 '10 at 5:36
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This is a vague pseudo/vague Q it should be reworded or else closed. – Gaurav Dec 21 '10 at 14:19
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I'm not a psychologist, or cognitive scientist, but my understanding is that the left-right brain thing is as much a metaphor as a actual reality (cognitive science). So don't limit yourself by it. You might not have some of the common programmer problems: sivers.org/starving-artist of not understanding the client/user, which is excellent for a software/business analyst. – mctylr Dec 21 '10 at 18:52

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7 Answers

up vote 32 down vote

so I'm wondering what other right-brainers in IT do to work better and be more productive with respect to their preferred style of thinking

For a start, they don't think about all that pseudo-proven-left/right-brain-stuff and they concentrate on their actual work. Hard work, and only hard work pays off.

Talent helps (but isn't necessary).

Nothing else.

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I would say talent is necessary to do it well. Indeed, I believe the sort of thought processes involved are innate capabilities. – Orbling Dec 21 '10 at 1:58
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I'm a believer in that everything can be learned if worked enough. On the other hand, if (although talented) fella doesn't work, he'll accomplish nothing (regardless of that talent). Way of thinking is also learned - no one knows anything when he is born. – Rook Dec 21 '10 at 2:03
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Agreed. Whiffing about over your abilities or lack thereof deprives you of actual learning. Work hard and find something one is good at. – Paul Nathan Dec 21 '10 at 4:14
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When it comes to programming, it's clear that talent is needed. Some people just don't get it and can never become good programmers. Luckily, they usually give up some time during university, so it's not much of an issue. But the "rightbrainer-leftbrainer" stuff is hardly useful. – Lennart Regebro Dec 21 '10 at 9:39
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It's not pseudo-proven, it's just nonsense. – Matt Ellen Dec 21 '10 at 14:32
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up vote 13 down vote

This dichotomy is nonsense. There is no left brain vs right brain advantage when it comes to programming. I've been a visual thinker my entire life and I've never had any problems picking up technical matters that require a ton of logical or what people call left brain, linear, verbal thinking. Programming or any other domain that requires problem solving is all about knowing how to combine various bits and pieces of information into a coherent whole. How you go about it is absolutely irrelevant.

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+1 for a very concise answer. Not every left-brainer could write that. – user8685 Dec 21 '10 at 13:56
up vote 6 down vote

Right brain, left brain labels are very broad generalizations. They don't mean much except to pop-culture/pop-psychology blogs that want to appeal to the masses.

So I suggest you focus on what you feel comfortable doing. Don't know what that is? Then you haven't done enough.

Start doing more and you, and those working with you, will figure out if you have any actual talents. It may be discovered that you are one of the many "no brainers" out there. Or maybe you are a ambidextrous brainer.

In sort. If you are worried about this you probably are focused on the wrong thing.

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up vote 5 down vote

Study functional programming.

I'm guessing that you normally develop in an imperative, object-oriented language like Java. Learning a functional language will change the way you think about algorithms and computing, and will make you a better programmer the rest of your days, even if your primary language isn't a functional one.

Some potential language candidates: Clojure, Haskell and Racket.

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+1 ...and Lisp. – Michael K Dec 21 '10 at 3:08
@Michael: Racket is a dialect of Scheme, a variant of Lisp; it includes a lot of batteries, and comes with its own book ("How to Design Programs"). – Robert Harvey Dec 21 '10 at 3:10
+1, but Scheme has Structure and interpretation as a book, and I doubt anything can beat it. – cbrandolino Dec 21 '10 at 14:12
up vote 2 down vote

Become a software architect: http://www.infoq.com/articles/brown-are-you-a-software-architect

Right-brainers supposedly look at wholes, being a software architect you always have to work with the bigger picture, needing to be more creative and sometimes thinking outside the box.

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up vote 1 down vote

The so called right brain / left brain is a spectrum not an absolute. Every person has a range of abilities. Today "programming" covers a range of activities find what area interests you and go with it.

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up vote 0 down vote

My best advice is try to code what you were told in the lecture..

Before you open a book, get into details of an algorithm from the lecture notes, sit down with a piece of paper and try to come up with your own implementation or a formula.

University course (that one I've done) is designed for your left brain to work overtime; that is, by reading lecture notes, research papers (and trying to figure out what they are on about :p), so why not add some fun beside that!?

In my computer science study as a "right-brainer" I found it to be much more fun (and productive) to learn experience where you can, doing stuff, testing the things they tell you.

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