Programmer Psychologists Needed

It strikes me as a rather necessary specialization of the field of psychology: programmer psychologists. And indeed, there is a huge economic incentive. After all, if programs are products of the mind, and programmers are intellectual people, it makes perfect sense to keep that grey matter in peak form. Combine this with the fact that many have social issues and might have a difficult time talking to others, this is a concept long past due.

So forget the chefs, and the massueses: bring in the psychologists and counselers. Or better yet, don't forget the chefs and massueses.

What about just improving the health-plan to include counseling? This is certainly better than nothing, but not optimal. An in-house shrink will better understand the context of whatever problem the programmer is bringing her. The will understand the political, social, and economic environment. And it would probably be cheaper for the company, to boot.

Certain conditions must apply: there must be anonymity. There must be an unbreakable patient/client priviledge.

In many ways this function is already filled by HR departments. But really, its not adequate. First, there is no priveledge (AFAIK), there is not enough time, and most importantly, that is not the HR persons job and they don't have training. Certainly they tend to be empathic and naturally good counselers, but that's pushing it.

No comments: