Not GP but I've been using Dvorak for around 4 years. Why did I switch? It was a time in my life where I was grasping for any change of scenery I could get. I

Not GP but I've been using Dvorak for around 4 years. Why did I switch? It was a time in my life where I was grasping for any change of scenery I could get. I guess you could say it was pretty arbitrary. Dealing with QWERTY keyboards: I type on my phone in QWERTY without a second thought. For a good while, even switching from my desk keyboard to my laptop was difficult, even though the only difference was the visible letters (I adjusted the keycaps on my mechanical keyboard). Today, if I sit down at somebody else's computer I have to change the layout or type with two fingers. I imagine it would be possible to practice QWERTY to keep up my skill with it, but it would not be worth the time for me. Split layout: I can't answer for certain—I think I reach less with Dvorak than I used to with QWERTY, but anecdotally I do hit 'F' with my left index finger—that's Y on a QWERTY. Speed increase: When I switched I could comfortably type in the 70-80 WPM range and could peak around 100-110 if I was really really trying. Timeline for switch with errors: - first few days: you're typing with 2 fingers; it's extremely frustrating - 2 weeks: 10-20 WPM, errors every other letter or so - 6 months: up to 40 WPM maybe, several errors per sentence - 1 year: up to 60 WPM, still several errors per sentence - 2-4 years: back to 70-80 WPM, gradual reduction in errors Timeline TL;DR: you'll type more slowly for at least a year unless you deliberately practice with a focus on reducing errors and improving muscle memory, and it will still be a struggle. It took me 3-4 years to get back to my fast typing speed, and I doubt I'll go beyond what I could do with QWERTY. Wrist pain: No noticable difference for me personally. I do feel like utilization of my fingers improved overall and there really are less awkward positions. However, with Dvorak you _really_ have to get used to hitting 's', '-', and '?' with your little finger. Is it worth it to switch? —When I read comments on HN from people that switched to Dvorak, when asked if it was worth it, most say that the ergonomics of Dvorak do not outweigh the difficulty of learning it and dealing with ongoing issues with using it. I mostly agree with that. However, I found learning Dvorak to be fun and challenging and I'm glad I switched. But do it mostly for the challenge and the geek cred and as a talking point when somebody is standing at your desk. A few things to consider with a non-default keyboard layout: - If you are a vim user, decide early if you want to memorize letters or positions. I chose letters, so I type the same thing a QWERTY user would, but if I want to use vim on a QWERTY keyboard I'm f*ed and I will have to look for the letters individually—but I'll know which to look for! On the other hand, if you memorize position, you can use existing muscle memory for vim and you will only have to worry about configuration in the short term, but learning new commands in the long term might be difficult. If you are concerned about this feel free to ask more. - macOS has a Dvorak + QWERTY Cmd layout, where if you hold Cmd to perform shortcuts like Cmd + C for copy, Cmd + V for paste, it'll defer to the QWERTY position. This is handy if you want to be able to copy and paste with just your left hand, and use existing muscle memory. I eventually switched to plain Dvorak and found it was a lot easier and I was confused much less often. I recommend doing this as soon as you can make yourself do it. Be prepared to accidentally close windows and random stuff in your browser/terminal/slack/whatever - Some video games will go by letters instead of character positions—be prepared to remap a bunch of things. This is not a problem on Mac, however. Browser games where you can't remap keys will be awful, you'll just have to switch layouts.