May 15, 2008 at 7:31 am
Just an FYI, this wasn't me. Ted Pin wrote this one and I thought it would be a nice editorial.
I hope I'm a better DBA and writer than musician. I played bass in a band in high school and fool around on the guitar here at home. Maybe I'll even get in a podcast someday. Not sure I'm quite brave enough for that one yet. 😛
Not sure how much of a correlation there it, but it does seem that music attracts lots of developers I've known. We even had 2 amps and 3 or 4 guitars in one development team that were out in the big room we worked in. Instead of foosball or ping pong, the developers would take breaks and jam for 10-15 minutes.
May 15, 2008 at 7:35 am
Myself: played clarinet, keyboard, bass guitar, saxophone with varying levels of proficiency throughout my life.
I see lots of overlap between music and IT. The main thing from my experience is that both require a blend of creativity and structure.
A great book that talks about this topic is "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter. It's been about a dozen years since I've read it, so can't really quote from it. It discusses three different areas
- Math/IT (Kurt Godel)
- Graphics (Escher)
- Music (Bach)
It talks about how concepts in one area can be expressed in one of the other two. Not a light read (I had to sequester myself in the library over the course of a couple weeks to read it), but very worthwhile.
May 15, 2008 at 7:43 am
I started college as a music major (playing trumpet). When I couldn't pass class piano and realized I didn't want to starve to death, I changed majors to Computer Science. I loved it and now can't imagine doing anything else. But my observation at the time was the the two departments were about 50% occupied by the same people, with major/minor crossover. All the band geeks were also computer geeks.
May 15, 2008 at 7:47 am
My background is in the physical sciences and many of the people I knew were either serious musicians (myself included) or liked to dabble in it as a hobby. When I got into IT I found a similar pattern. I've always wondered if there was a correlation between people who are technically inclined and music, but I never really looked into it. I'll have to take up some of the suggested readings by other posters.
May 15, 2008 at 7:53 am
I have to agree with the concept of a connection between music and the IT world and I would be willing to bet most technical based careers have a higher share of musicians than other maybe less technically oriented jobs. I come at it from a different angle. I grew up in a house full of music, my father was an electrician but played a mean trombone and bassoon and I think at heart he would have preferred making music than running conduit! I played piano and trumpet as a kid and quite all music (except for listening of course!)after high school. About 2 and a half years ago I took up the piano again but use it more as a way to 'decompress' after being "The DBA" all day. I never wanted to practice when I was a kid but now I can't wait to get home and play! I must say though my IT job has provided me with an income allowing me to purchase things I never would have been able to afford (I recently purchased a Hammond B3 a Leslie 122). While I like my job I would rather work a piano keyboard than a computer one! but hey I got a mortgage and a teenager and we do what we got to do. One last thought; I read somewhere there is a correlation between music study and the ability to learn math and as was pointed out by another poster there is alott of math in music. Didn't work for me when I was in school but my teenage daughter who has been playing the Viola for about six years now is at least a year ahead in math.
May 15, 2008 at 7:56 am
I agree that a high percentage of the population here has been involved in music at some point in their lives. But I believe that many of the points mentioned contribute to success in both fields.
One local company does like to hire musicians for technical positions. One reason is that trained musicians are accustomed to accepting criticism and even using self-ciriticism to improve on their performance. I also understand that the level of brain activity in playing in a band or orchestra is astounding. One experiment measured this in basketball players. When they tried to do the same for musicians that had to recalibrate their instruments up because it was off the scale for the musicians as compared to basketball players.
May 15, 2008 at 8:01 am
Recently there was an editorial topic about writing and a lot of IT people said that they just don't have time to write. Now, I know what they are all doing. 😉
I also think that the amount of people in the IT world that play music may have something to do with the major gender discrepancy. All of the people that I know that play in bands are men. Despite the fact that I am in favour of having non-gender-specific roles in the house, the case (currently) still is that most men go out and play and their wives are responsible for the kids.
I know that I am opening a big can of worms here, but have at it.
Mia
Mia
I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.
-- David M. Ogilvy
May 15, 2008 at 8:02 am
Whether the reason for the connection is common skill categories or not, I don't know. But to me, the thing that connects in me is the feeling I get when I am (used to be) "in the zone" playing, or now coding. The immersion in the in the creative activity, pushing the rest of the world outside my head and the satisfaction with a great performance or a beautiful software product.
May 15, 2008 at 8:03 am
Just to confirm, when I was hired at IBM I was told that they used to hire music majors for programming jobs before there were comp sci majors.
I played clarinet and bassoon in high school and started toward a music major. Also, play guitar. Currently play saxaphone at church.
I'm sure there are good programmers / dbas that have no music aptitude and vice versa but it is interesting to see the number of people with both.
Steve
May 15, 2008 at 8:15 am
Well as a data analyst (also dba), I would ask, show me the data on which you base your assumptions ... whilst working for my current client I was told "most of our data entry occurs on a Wednesday and Friday afternoon". So I analyzed the create dates and set update triggers on their dynamic data, and the clients assumption was completely wrong. Activity by end users was spread out over most of the week, slightly higher on monday on friday so it formed a graph that looked like the cross section of a molar tooth.
I have no musical skills what-so-ever, I have a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, a masters in computational molecular biology and IT is pleasure compared with standing around in a lab autopipetting 50ul of peptidase into an aliquot and then blah blah blah.
However as a scientist I would say, do not make statements without proof. Most musicians are skilled people, most skilled people are educated to some degree, educated people make certain career choices over others. All of you may nod your heads to these statements, but I have no proof for any of them. Anyone read 'Freakonomics'? I highly recommend, asks questions about common sense beliefs or non factually based observations or factually based mis-observations.
May 15, 2008 at 8:29 am
First of all, I want to say thank you everyone who has/is responded/responding, and thank you to Steve who decided to post this editorial.
tracey.cadwall (5/15/2008)
Violinist here. Started playing when I was 6. Performance was my first major in college. But back a step, when I was 12 I received my first computer - a Timex Sinclair 1000. I started programming that thing right away, and certainly it was natural for me. With nothing to go by but books, I did quite a bit of coding for a youngster. When reality hit me in college with having a family on my mind, I switched back to my second love - which was computers. Musicians have a much harder time making good money, benefits, etc than a programmer. So I switched to a CS program and degree.
Tracy, I think you make a really important point. It's very difficult to build a stable life around musicianship, if stability is something important to you. I know my wife would have second thoughts if I were a starving musician. Most of my friends and family are always puzzled by why I chose IT over any other "artistic" endeavor, but I give them the same reasons many of you have already articulated: 1) It pays the bills pretty well, and 2) It's not that different from other "artistic" activities.
I would submit that whatever success I've had with IT has come because I look at it as artistic process; from concept to design to execution, with many opportunities to exercise creativity.
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|Ted Pin >>
May 15, 2008 at 8:37 am
John Reid (5/15/2008)
It might of interest some readers to know that current professional music creation software now often uses SQL database technology, e.g. Sony's ACID Pro has used MSDE/SQL Server Express, while Steinberg's Cubase 4 uses SQLite to provide certain functionality; another example of a crossover development would be MusicXML.
This is very interesting... It makes me want to consider taking my development skills and trying to write my own plugins.... Just what I need, another new hobby.
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|Ted Pin >>
May 15, 2008 at 8:41 am
satz (5/15/2008)
Oddly, most of the avid mountain bikers I ride with are IT folks. There just seems to be some kind thread that ties them together. I wonder what it is...
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|Ted Pin >>
May 15, 2008 at 8:44 am
My Bachelor's degree is in Music Performance and my Master's degree is in Information Systems, so I definitely am able to see a connection between the fields. I remember reading somewhere that musicians sometimes make the best programmers. I think part of it has to do with the ways in which both fields/activities utilize the brain (though I have no research or evidence to back this assertion).
May 15, 2008 at 8:47 am
Ted Pin (5/15/2008)
satz (5/15/2008)
I did not think about this till now but most of the people on the motorcycle forums i visit are all IT guys. I ride with a big group of people from a few forums and i am sure 60-70% of them all ride motorcycles are from IT. I never really thought about this till now.Oddly, most of the avid mountain bikers I ride with are IT folks. There just seems to be some kind thread that ties them together. I wonder what it is...
We just all love GADGETS! 😀
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