The old adage goes, "A developer is a machine that takes in pizza and coffee, and outputs code.", and while that is a fun little quote, if it were the truth, most devs wouldn't live past 35.
Many of us are very busy little developers, and have trouble getting the time to grab breakfast or lunch, and an even harder time grabbing something that's good for the brain. So my question is, what are your go to foods for quick, no-time dev sessions? Also what techniques do you use to stay hydrated?
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I love coffee, so the adage is quite true on me. However, although I'm immune to most of the effects of caffeine (doctor-confirmed), I do have to be extra mindful of my hydration.
I've noticed that, if I keep a cup or mug of anything in front of me on the desk, I will instinctively drink from it, and refill it whenever it goes empty. Thus, instead of keeping my coffee mug there, I keep a water glass. If I'm bored of that, I'll switch to a mug of herbal tea.
In my country, especially in my state, there is a snack called "Tareco", which is some kind of bite-sized wheat and butter cookies. I can easily eat a whole sack of these in a regular day of work.
To make a combination, I just get black coffe or water, whatever it is available to get to work at the moment.
Interesting, they look a lot like Nilla wafers here in the ol' USA. But ours have vanilla flavoring and are the most important part of banana pudding....
These Nilla wafers looks delicious too, :3. I need to remind me to prove some when I get the chance.
Coffee? Yes, please. We have a very nice coffee machine in our new office that's great. I have to pace myself so I don't get a caffeine buzz. I also have to avoid the settings that make a sugary latte or the like.
Speaking of sugar and carbs, I used not to be careful with my diet. I'd eat almost constantly all day long as I coded. This caused me to develop health issues because I was 100 pounds overweight. I decided about 2 years ago to get rid of that excess baggage so now I'm about 90 pounds lighter and feeling better.
I mainly did it by eating healthier, low sugar and low calorie, and exercise. Most of my meals during the day were protein shakes with fiber to add bulk to make me feel full. While I'm not quite as strict now, I make sure that I maintain a limit on the amount of sugar, carbs and calories I eat so that I won't bounce back up.
Fun fact: I hate pizza. Anything with tomatoes, really. (except ketchup, but that's sugar and vinegar so it doesn't count)
This week for groceries I bought little breakfast cookies to dip into coffee at my desk at work for breakfast and turkey and cheese for lunch. So we'll see how this goes. I won't get my new drink tumbler in the mail until Wednesday, but I need to figure out how to cut out pop by the end of the year since I dislike being chubby.
Usually my go to is coffee but I do like tea. Lots of tempting snacks at work but I try to stick to non processed foods. Usually nuts, carrots, grapes, yogurt. Sometimes I cheat and eat potato chips or m and ms
I get by mostly on mixed nuts and diet coke (in addition to the standard pizza and coffee). I also keep a loaf of bread in my desk and a jar of nuts 'n' more for my chocolate craving and added protein.
I'm the weird sheep among my peers and colleagues cuz I'm not the type that eats junk food and gets little hours of sleep working on code.
Usually I have green tea when I'm about to go on a focused coding session and have some biscuits or small pastries.
I eat mostly healthy don't like fast food in general (maybe only pizza hmm)
In non-vacation times I usually have a routine for going to the gym and I become very strict with my meals. (not to the point of counting calories, I already have an app for that :p)
I consume litres of green tea, sometimes when i need boost, i use Pepsi Max (because i am fat) or RedBull because it is fuel :)
Kebabs
I'm a young developer so my answer might be different, but I typically go for tea and candy. Caffeine upsets my stomach so I really stick with green tea, and I usually eat Skittles or Mike and Ike's or gobstoppers
In hot weather it's zero-alcohol beer for me. It's low calorie, not full of chemicals, and not sweet enough to make you crave more.
Mmmmm ... beer.
Coffe and sparkling water. I kinda just live with whats served from work etc. Never eat big meals because foodcoma is not fun to code with.
Do you really have 'quick, no-time dev sessions'? Sounds quite a rough job if you can't even get a five or ten minute break to have a decent meal. The only time I've had that in a developer job is when there was a production issue immediately before lunch...
In the heat, smoothies, especially from frozen fruit with mint.
Also, italian salad, almost every delivery service has it here in Germany. It isn't as heavy as a full meal, but more than a regular salad.
Going to go against the flow here, but try to not do "no time" dev sessions. Take 30 minutes off to have an actual slow-paced lunch. Crunch time is not good, it doesn't earn you badges. In half an hour you can make eggs (any), fry bacon, make an avocado toast, or even put some chicken in the oven for 20 minutes and steam vegetables in 5.
Stay hydrated technique: I read somewhere that "if you don't have a bottle of water within reach of you RIGHT NOW, you're dehydrated." So always have a bottle (0.5L+) of water within reach on your desk. Plus having to stand up to refill it is great to move you.