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Why do engineers shake their legs behind a desk??
It is just me or is it that when engineers are programming and sitting behind a desk, they constantly shake their legs??
- jgrahamc 14y agoI don't.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- akx 14y agoNope, I don't do that. I have a neighboring coworker who does, though, which can get annoying as it ends up making my monitor shake too.
- factorialboy 14y agoDon't do that. But I switch about once an hour between sitting down and stand up desk.
- jvzr 14y agoI do, but I'm not an engineer. My brother does too and he actually is an engineer, though. I guess it depends. I've noticed I'm more prone to nervously shake my legs (usually one at a time) when I'm being overly creative.
- Maven911 14y agoSome people have restless leg syndrome, some are more productive this way (think of a clicking pen for some), some have anxiety and need to diffuse it
- jstelly 14y agoRestless leg syndrome has some correlation with caffeine as well. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001810/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001810/
- eran_rl75 14y agoI do - and most of my team do the same :) Funny that you mention it..
- dphnx 14y agoMy girlfriend does this and she's not programming or engineering-minded. It's just a habit that people seem to have adopted lately – we see other people do it and pick it up because it's comforting.
- mbeattie 14y agoIt isn't just engineers... Everyone does this. It's just a habit that people have like pen clicking or nail biting.
- skopp 14y agoI do it. I think it sort of gives me a sense of comfort. But it seems to run in the family - on my father's side. My dad shakes his leg. As do my brother and yours truly. My paternal grandfather is a leg-shaking champion. I can't say for sure, as he is dead, but I'm pretty sure my paternal grandfather's father would out-leg-shake us all combined. And then, on my mother's side, nobody I can think of does it. My mother hates leg-shaking. I try to be decent about it when she's in the room. Fortunately, my wife - who doesn't approve of legshaking, and seldom shakes a leg - doesn't really give me grief about it. Guess she's written me off as a leg-shaker, and accepted it as one of "those" things.
- sentinel 14y agosomeone's quitting smoking i see
- norswap 14y agoI do it mostly when I'm slightly stressed: close to the deadline or something like that. It's very unconscious.
- stevenameyer 14y agoIt's a habit some people have. When I'm really trying to get a lot of programming down I am trying to shut out distractions so I can focus on what I'm doing. For me this means having everything just so, my monitors a certain way, programs laid on it a certain way, headphones on, music loud, some sort of snack and drink right next to me. Anything that seems off bothers me and I'm sure I do some weird things physically while I'm programming, likely move around to the music I'm listening to, but I don't really think about it. Thats just what I do when I'm trying to shut everything out. People who shake their leg likely aren't thinking about it, it just happens.
- razibog 14y agoEngineers usually drink a lot of coffee / tea, thus are hyperactive lots of the time. A lot of them are nervous, have a tick, find it relaxing. Sitting in the same position for hours on end also does not help.
- codegeek 14y agonothing to do with being an engineer. My dad does it and he is not an engineer. I guess it is just a habit.
- Cacti 14y agoGeez... why would this have anything to do with "engineers"? Engineers are not some special creature.
- skopp 14y agoWhaat? I had a stint in college studying Mechanical Engineering. You have to basically chain yourself to a desk and become an actual recluse-hermit mutant creature if you want to get through. I'd say that's pretty 'special' - in a certain context.
- manicdee 14y agoPerhaps a better wording would be: why do you consider leg shaking to be exclusively the realm of Engineers?
- bertomartin 14y agoI thought everyone did this, nuh? -_-
- trebor 14y agoI think it's a combination of factors, one of which might be that the lymphatic system requires motion to cause it to flow (it has no "pump"). So "fidgeting" feels good.
- canadev 14y agoNo real answer to add, but when I was younger I used to play chess pretty regularly. At every tournament there would be people shaking their legs like crazy under their tables.
- techdmn 14y agoI think leg shaking is mostly harmless, the habits I worry about are: 1) Constant muttering stream of expletives. 2) Unconsciously drumming along on my desk to whichever song I happen to be listening to while waiting for code to compile / servers to start / etc. I don't think I actually do either very often, but I worry about it. ;)
- sarabellumac 14y agoIf you are not doing "1" then you are doing it wrong :-)
- ddmf 14y agoI find that the first option mixed with an extreme amount of self deprecation is like taking a riding crop to the part of my brain that works really well. Unlike the rest which is a procrastitative mess.
- DrinkWater 14y agoI am surprised people comment on this "question" including me. Engineers are strange people.
- moron4hire 14y agoUh, engineers are just people. They aren't any different from other people in the wild.
- DrinkWater 14y agoThat was sarcasm. I know we are just regular people. But the question implies we are aliens.
- moron4hire 14y agoah. sorry.
- skopp 14y agoAre you available for hire this weekend?
- chewxy 14y agoAmazing how you can almost always find a relevant xkcd: http://xkcd.com/228/ http://xkcd.com/228/ (also, why is this on the front page?)
- thelukester 14y agoBrilliant! How do you guys always manage to find the relevant ones? There's hundreds of them, and I tried a few google searches using site:xkcd.com and some related terms and couldn't pull up this one.
- fakeer 14y agoIt's an art. You are either born with or have to learn it "the hard way". ;-)
- skopp 14y agoKinda like spitting (with high initial thrust and decent precision). Or doing a double-snap thingy with your thumb or other extremity. I was born capable of all three. I still wonder if I'm destined for Great things, or just a freak
- fakeer 14y agoEither way you must have made a name for yourself in your circle and more. I envy you for the 'snapping' prowess. However, as far as spitting goes I might qualify to be a master spiter(please read as in sniper). By the way, just high initial thrust and precision are not enough you have to got to use the ammo in the right amount w.r.t. distance and all. Not to mention you have to mind wind conditions, otherwise the drop might land at someone standing/sitting/moving near by.
- skopp 14y ago" Not to mention you have to mind wind conditions..." I can calculate the vector angle, wind considered, to almost 0.99% accuracy. Zero dot nine nine, my friend. While driving on the freeway. "...otherwise the drop might land at someone standing/sitting/moving near by." But then there's no reason to spit in the first place, is there?
- coldtea 14y ago>It is just me or is it that when engineers are programming and sitting behind a desk, they constantly shake their legs?? It's just you. I've worked in several teams and maybe one in five does that. So no "engineers" as in "the majority of them". Occasionally of course (once an hour or a couple of hours), all do it and SHOULD do it. For the same reasons you are told to do it in an airplane. Thrombosis et all.
- skopp 14y agoCan someone pie chart this?
- petercooper 14y agoIAMA under-desk leg jiggler, AMA. (P.S. I also chew pens.)
- fakeer 14y agoYuck! Or maybe okay. I chewed few when I was in school. Was spanked without mercy and the spanking got rid me of the habit. Can't complain. Q: Any favourite colours or flavours? Fountain or ball pen?
- petercooper 14y agoAny pen that's going, really, other than if they're metal (impossible to chew) or seemingly poisonous (e.g. dry markers). No real preference, although I tend to regret chewing biros as they shatter into pieces easily.
- otikik 14y agoVenous and/or lymphatic systems use muscular contraction and movement for fluidity. It is specially important to counter gravity. The "need to move your lower extremities" is a natural instinct. So it's not "an engineers thing". I'd say it's not even a "humans thing". Try "animals" (with lower extremities and veins and/or lymphs). Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or a vet.
- shanghai_noodle 14y agoI've made a google form to record every time my coworker sitting less than a meter away from me does something annoying (such as make "chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga" noises and whistle). I'm not proud of it but it keeps me sane. Link if you're curious https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Amo8gQTQJ0NbdFJqNnZ6RXNFT3lmd1pLQmxveU92TlE&gridId=0#chart https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Amo8gQTQJ0Nbd...
- racbart 14y agoFor me it's not only shaking legs behind a desk. It's also walking in circles when talking on the phone. It's also doing something with my hands when I'm not at the computer (preferably with some item like pen or phone or anything what's nearby). I consider it as a soft version of light ADHD, but I doubt it has anything to do with my profession. It might be the other way around - I chose a profession where I create new things because of that trait (which might also be connected to me being easily exited about new things).
- andyhmltn 14y agoI do it just because it helps me focus for some bizarre reason.
- awjr 14y agoI don't shake my legs. Once in a while I scratch my balls (subtlety). I have found women in the office don't scratch their balls. They adjust their bra straps. Unfortunately I don't wear a bra, otherwise I'd join in. There do seem to be a lot of moles on people around here though. There also appear to be a lot of sex toys around (It's where I work, see my profile). What I'm getting at is that you are asking an environmental specific question. You probably find that the 'leg shaker' has a higher metabolic rate or is possibly on the thin side (studies have shown some people are thin because even when sitting, they keep moving).
- skopp 14y agoDid a survey once on the balls thing. We concluded that 100% of women don't ever scratch their balls
- manfredz 14y agoTo burn extra calories! You'd be surprised how much the energy required for such a small movement, performed continuously over longer periods, adds up over time.
- fakeer 14y agoFret not. It's normal. I do it too. And I did it when I was not an engineer. As a primary school student and then as a secondary and then college student. I think it's good for us engineers. It gets us little bit of movement for otherwise immobile ourselves. I even move around my legs and I stretch it a lot and when stretching I forget that my workstation switch is right in the corner and I switch the entire damn thing off once or twice a month - that was the reason I had to get my (our corp) backup settings on my PC modified to a little more frequent period (15 mins from an hr). Happy shaking!
- Mamady 14y agoI wondered about this for years - because I do it all the time. The answer finally came to me from trial and error of something else. This is caused by caffeine - usually from coffee. Engineers dring lots of coffee, so often suffer from this. It is a type of "jittering".
- skopp 14y agoI swear, I was shaking my legs when I read this. I'm a "software engineer" - you didn't specify which type of engineer. I just had to comment because it felt like you were talking to me; like in some of those weird movies - "You! Yes, you - there's no one else in the room. YOU, the one leg-shaking. Listen up..." - kinda thing
- jonvideo 14y agoTheir brains work at a high rate and it puts the brain on an additional task to slow their processing rate as not to cause a jam up in the firing of the neurons. They would shake their hands (and some do tap) but they use them for writing. This is not a joke, this is why some of them do this.
- o4tuna 14y agoIt's Klein syndrome. You can see a rather severe case at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0L6t0xh-Dc (Warning: video may not be suitable for all audiences.)
- o4tuna 14y agoIt's Klein syndrome. You can see a rather severe case at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0L6t0xh-Dc (Warning: video may not be suitable for all audiences.)