# Coder's Block

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2021-10-26
- Length: 1h 20m
- Episode: 19
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/bd16258f

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill and Brigid Gaffikin, hosts of the Oxide and Friends Twitter Space, explore the concept of 'writer's block' for software engineers, drawing parallels between creative writing and coding. They discuss remedies such as prototyping, writing debugging infrastructure, and taking breaks, while analyzing how the pandemic and tools like Rust exacerbate indecision and isolation. The conversation highlights the importance of collaboration, code review, and community in overcoming creative stagnation and burnout.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=0) Introduction: Bryan Cantrill and Brigid Gaffikin on Writer's Block
- [4:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=279) BattleTris Anecdote: College Gaming History
- [10:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=628) Defining Flow and Writer's Block in Software
- [21:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=1262) Remedies: Prototyping, Debugging Infrastructure, and Breaks
- [36:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=2193) Productivity Obsession and the Writer Emergency Pack
- [43:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=2618) Rust, Poetry, and Pandemic Isolation
- [56:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=3380) Collaboration, Code Review, and Google's Rust Adoption
- [1:17:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block#t=4655) Kendall Morgan on Code Review and Bill's Career Pivot

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Founder wellbeing](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/founder-wellbeing)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- BattleTris (product)
- ZFS (product)
- Rust (other)
- Google (company)
- Mozilla (company)
- Fuchsia (other)
- Darvin (other)
- Ubuntu (other)
- APL (other)
- K (other)
- NaNoWriMo (other)
- Gather.town (other)
- Commodore 64 (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode 122: So, you had a bad day…](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2017-06-02-episode-122-so-you-had-a-bad-day) (Making It)
- [Episode 095: Tandem Horse](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2016-11-04-episode-095-tandem-horse) (Making It)
- [461: Am I the Cow in This Scenario?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2023-10-05-461-am-i-the-cow-in-this-scenario) (Embedded.fm)
- [78: Happy Cows](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-11-25-78-happy-cows) (Embedded.fm)
- [439: Ditches and Psychology](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2023-01-06-439-ditches-and-psychology) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-10-26-coders-block. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.