I launched a new website devoted to developer health called Full Health Developer. The site focuses on physical and mental health topics that are relevant to software developers.
Toward the beginning of the year, I surveyed meetups in the Washington D.C. area to find out the issues that developers think about concerning their health.
The survey responses mentioned what you might expect from a health survey:
- Unable to get to a gym
- Hard time maintaining good nutrition
- Bad sleep habits
There were also topics closer to developers:
- Bad posture from typing frequently
- Overtaxing work culture
- Stress from job deadlines
Equipped with this knowledge, I set out to make a site that could be a resource for developers.
Since I’m a developer, I thought “What do I like about websites?” Using my own experience as a benchmark for what might make a good site, I settled on these qualities:
- Interesting data and stories
- Uncluttered user interface
- Longer content where I can steep my thoughts
- Links to resources where I can learn more
My mission was to make a site that I would like to read.
After a few months of setup, research, and writing, I created Full Health Developer. Full Health Developer is two primary things:
- A website where developers can learn how to improve their physical and mental health.
- An email newsletter where developers can do the same thing.
Some developers have a very strong distaste for email and email subscriptions. While I respect their point of view, my research shows that mailing lists lead to highly engaged audiences so I want a list to be an option.
With Full Health Developer, I plan to release the same long form articles to both the website and to the mailing list. My hope is that those who dislike lists can ignore the FHD list if they choose.
Speaking of articles, the first content article is available. You can check out The Sleepy Developer: How Sleep Affects Your Code on the site.
If you like what you read, I’d love to hear about it! If you don’t like what you read, I’d also love to hear about it. Community feedback will help me make the site better for everyone.
Full Health Developer sits nicely at an intersection of software development and physical and mental health. I’m hoping it will be a valuable resource for a long time to come. Please check it out!
