Why do engineers shake their legs behind a desk??
It is just me or is it that when engineers are programming and sitting behind a desk, they constantly shake their legs??
Engineers are not some special creature.
1) Constant muttering stream of expletives.
2) Unconsciously drumming along on my desk to whichever song I happen to be listening to while waiting for code to compile / servers to start / etc.
I don't think I actually do either very often, but I worry about it. ;)
(also, why is this on the front page?)
I was born capable of all three. I still wonder if I'm destined for Great things, or just a freak
By the way, just high initial thrust and precision are not enough you have to got to use the ammo in the right amount w.r.t. distance and all. Not to mention you have to mind wind conditions, otherwise the drop might land at someone standing/sitting/moving near by.
"...otherwise the drop might land at someone standing/sitting/moving near by." But then there's no reason to spit in the first place, is there?
Once in a while I scratch my balls (subtlety). I have found women in the office don't scratch their balls. They adjust their bra straps. Unfortunately I don't wear a bra, otherwise I'd join in. There do seem to be a lot of moles on people around here though. There also appear to be a lot of sex toys around (It's where I work, see my profile).
What I'm getting at is that you are asking an environmental specific question. You probably find that the 'leg shaker' has a higher metabolic rate or is possibly on the thin side (studies have shown some people are thin because even when sitting, they keep moving).
And then, on my mother's side, nobody I can think of does it. My mother hates leg-shaking. I try to be decent about it when she's in the room. Fortunately, my wife - who doesn't approve of legshaking, and seldom shakes a leg - doesn't really give me grief about it. Guess she's written me off as a leg-shaker, and accepted it as one of "those" things.
It's just you. I've worked in several teams and maybe one in five does that. So no "engineers" as in "the majority of them".
Occasionally of course (once an hour or a couple of hours), all do it and SHOULD do it. For the same reasons you are told to do it in an airplane. Thrombosis et all.
I consider it as a soft version of light ADHD, but I doubt it has anything to do with my profession. It might be the other way around - I chose a profession where I create new things because of that trait (which might also be connected to me being easily exited about new things).
Link if you're curious
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Amo8gQTQJ0Nbd...
So it's not "an engineers thing". I'd say it's not even a "humans thing". Try "animals" (with lower extremities and veins and/or lymphs).
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or a vet.
I have a neighboring coworker who does, though, which can get annoying as it ends up making my monitor shake too.
The answer finally came to me from trial and error of something else. This is caused by caffeine - usually from coffee. Engineers dring lots of coffee, so often suffer from this. It is a type of "jittering".
I've noticed I'm more prone to nervously shake my legs (usually one at a time) when I'm being overly creative.
It's just a habit that people seem to have adopted lately – we see other people do it and pick it up because it's comforting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0L6t0xh-Dc
At every tournament there would be people shaking their legs like crazy under their tables.
You'd be surprised how much the energy required for such a small movement, performed continuously over longer periods, adds up over time.
Or maybe okay. I chewed few when I was in school. Was spanked without mercy and the spanking got rid me of the habit. Can't complain.
Q: Any favourite colours or flavours? Fountain or ball pen?
I think it's good for us engineers. It gets us little bit of movement for otherwise immobile ourselves.
I even move around my legs and I stretch it a lot and when stretching I forget that my workstation switch is right in the corner and I switch the entire damn thing off once or twice a month - that was the reason I had to get my (our corp) backup settings on my PC modified to a little more frequent period (15 mins from an hr).
Happy shaking!