Maybe the most essential skill for a developer is having a crystal clear focus. Some call it "the zone", a state of mind in which your mind is genuinely focussed on the very problem you are dealing with right at that moment.
Your surrounding plays a crucial role in that. In the office, you might easily be distracted by people coming and leaving or your co-workers' conversations. Even when working from home any distraction can snap you out of your "zone" – a dishwasher starts to beep, the postman delivers a parcel for your neighbour or what else can happen.
If it were just about creating a quiet environment, you could just go with a hearing protection aid, such as the 3M Peltor. I have tried it, but it did not convince me. I need to hear at least "something" in order to not feel lost.
Here are my personal top pics:
White Noise by TMSoft
The White Noise App by TMSoft is available for mobiles and Desktops. No subscriptions, no ads, and a great collection of background sounds. I use the creator to generate the exact noise setting I need.
Focus@Will
Focus @ will is a collection of music specifically designed to concentrate. I like the Electro Bach most. Downside: Subscription! However, if you have Spotify, Prime Music or Apple Music, you'll find some of their tracks here, too. Some are even on YouTube.
Music To Code By
Music to Code By is a collection of lofi music by Carl Franklin. You can get 9 hours of music for 20 bucks. Each track is 25 minutes, aligning nicely with the Pomodoro Technique.
Other Mentions
- Calmis an app that not only helps with focus but also contains guided meditations and sounds to improve sleep quality. It comes as a subscription but has a lot of value if you use it regularly.
- freeCodeCampRadioJust open the website, click play, and you will have a free stream of music designed to concentrate.
- brain.fm offers "functional" music and is similar to Focus@Will
- lofi.cafe - a lofi radio
- music for programming - another radio
- nightride.fm - and still another radio
- Classical Music Only is a collection of classical music
Some good YouTube Playlists
- WoW Ambient Music
- Solar Fields (onAppleMusic)
- Neotokyo by Ed Harrison (on Apple Music)
- Billy Childs (on Apple Music)
- Anachronist
- The Witcher Soundtrack
- Dreamscape
- Stimulus Progression The idea of special designed music dated back to 1934!
- Skyrim
- LOTR - Nazgul
- Rain Sounds
- Chilhop Music
- Lofi Hip Hop Radio
Suggestions from Friends and Co-Workers
Here are some more suggestions from friends and co-workers. Personally, I find most of these songs too distracting, but maybe there's something in for you!
Your turn
Feel free to post your favourite music in the comments or in this Twitter thread
Top comments (38)
I don’t know why Wu-Tang Clan is on every list from nearly every developer who recommends music, since the band started. Their music is fine, but trying to code with their music does not work for me.
With that rant out of the way, I recently moved my desk to a window so now the outside noises are keeping me in the zone.
I can really recommend several of the streams from Somafm if you are into electronica.
And you are always welcome to checkout my Spotify playlist /Music/Hacking
Don't forget their DefCon soundtrack, GrooveSalad, and GrooveSalad Classic channels. The first one is my favorite...they play funny soundbites from actual DefCon presentations.
Oh...and all their channels have streams, so you don't have to worry about closing a browser window or tab and loosing the music...
Do not forget the
Donkey Kong Countrysoundtrack for SNES.A true masterpiece.
Highly recommend everything on Ambient Music Guide, in particular the mixes and podcasts. Low on lyrics, big on electronica, but immensely broad coverage of many down-tempo styles.
ambientmusicguide.com
There's a really nice program for Linux, called Blanket. It can play nature sounds, as well as travel sounds and white/pink noise among others. The really neat thing is that you can mix the sounds and and adjust the volume for each one. You can also add custom sounds.
Is it this one? github.com/rafaelmardojai/blanket
I wasn't aware of it, but it looks nice ;)
Yes, that's the one.
Oh, thanks for these cool YouTube playlists! The Witcher soundtrack definitely goes to my favs ❤️
Since you are mentionning Pomodoro + background music, I suggest you give a look at Centered. It's an app that's designed to help you get in the Flow faster, and stay there longer. It combines background music + a virtual coach that nudges you from distractions + a rythm of work sessions/breaks and a couple more features…
I'm one of the developer being the project, and also a big user of it myself.
Hope that may help!
Arcane's album is pretty much on repeat. Really brings out my inner Jinx. Also depressing piano covers, Rok Nardin and overall film, video games and etc music scores.
🧸Arcane via Spotify
🧁my personal rando playlist
Nice list. Also film music is great for focus especially Terminator 2 soundtrack.
Nice compilation!
Definitely going to follow some of these :))
Hi guys, I like so much this playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=-5KAN9_CzSA
I used a lot of times brain.fm , for focusing it's a great tool.
Now I'm listening all the sets from Blume:
youtube.com/channel/UCq22aK0t0mrOEq676Be4ezw
Great list, Bas! 💯👍
I also created a fun side project some months ago 📻🎵
That looks promising! Unfortunately, I get a 500 from your API and can't hear anything... Maybe you want to have a look...
Sry, had to redeploy due to maintenance, should be fixed now 😉
This is a great list! I'll definitely be trying a lot of these out since I usually do movie soundtracks or classical music. Can't handle a lot of music with words because I'll start typing those!
I can relate to that! ;)
My 2 cents: I love “Purified Radio” by Nora En Pure, 1 hour episodes of great music, available in YouTube.
When I go out to Youtube for music, especially to code by, I look up the Iron Man Soundtrack(s) and find a playlist. Something about coding next to Tony Stark gets me motivated. :D