Yhyjyk

The effects of a genetic disorder stated affecting one of my hands. Now it's barely visible and only causes mild discomfort and a slight loss of agility, but upon reaching its final stage my hand will look visibly deformed and I won't be able to move my fingers. This will happen at worst case in around 2-3 years, and if I'm very lucky, it might take 10 or even 20 years (there were confirmed cases with other patients where it lasted that long, but that's very rare). There is no known treatment besides a surgery which will at most have cosmetic effects, but won't restore much if any mobility.

How will this affect my career as a programmer? I started working approximately 8 years ago in the field, and I know that typing speed is by far not the most important thing which makes someone a good programmer, but we often do need to type a lot of code, and losing one hand will drastically limit my typing speed (and cause my remaining hand to tire faster).

I'm right-handed, and fortunately my left hand is the one which is affected. Still, as I use IDEs with mouse and keyboard, I rely a lot on my left hand.

One solution would be to move upwards to management, but as I like coding, I don't like the idea of a purely managerial role where I do no coding. Currently I'm in a senior role where I can delegate tasks to other people, but most of my work does consist of coding, and I like it. I like both my current job and my current company. However, I'll have to adjust for my reduction in typing speed as my condition worsens. My wrist will remain useable, so pressing large keys at the left side of the keyboard (ctrl, shift, etc.) with my left hand will probably remain possible.

Another problem is if something happens with my current company and I have to find another job. Now, for half a year or maybe a year, I will probably still be able to hide my condition, not that I would find such a thing ethical (but "advertising" it in the interview is also not a thing which I know whether it's a good idea). But after that, why would someone hire me if they can find someone of similar skill and experience who has two healthy hands?

I'm in my early thirties and could still learn a new profession, if that would be really necessary (but I would prefer not to).

Are there any among you who are professional programmers and have only one useful hand? Is it possible to adjust, and be an effective programmer with only one hand?

_{I'm a long-time member of this community, but for this question I'll keep up anonymity for the time being}

It need not have a significant impact. Many programmers work with medical issues ranging from quadriplegia, to blindness, to carpal tunnel syndrome. Some programmers have long and productive careers without ever learning to touch type. I personally have found that being able to touch-type reasonably quickly does help my productivity, but after working for 35 years as a developer I've found that I spend way more time reading and thinking than I do typing.

I'd suggest getting in touch with an occupational therapist and start getting up to speed on assistive technologies that will help you maintain your productivity.

Don’t panic - you know yourself how fast the computer world has progressed.

If you do end up find typing too challenging, and others have pointed out keyboards etc, the advances in « speech to text » recognition will probably provide a possible solution.

In fact that type of motivation has been the spark for someone to create the next generation of many things...

Best wishes.

I used to work with a developer who was missing most of his right hand. He had some of his index finger, and a thumb, both very small and weak compared to his good hand, and no other fingers on that hand. This had no obvious effect on his programming ability, and he was regarded as quite talented. He did not try to type with that hand at all. He could move a mouse with it, simply by resting his hand on top and moving his arm muscles, and had a special mouse that he could click in some way that I never quite understood.

He did play minor practical jokes, like shaking hands with the mutilated hand with people who hadn't spotted it, but everyone reckoned that getting some fun out of it was reasonable, giving the limitations it imposed on him.

So I don't think this problem needs to limit your career at all. You'll have to work out some adaptations to it, but problem-solving is what programmers do.

As others have commented, typing speed isn't really that useful for a developer.

That said, it can be useful to keep your eyes on the screen while typing, so you might be interested in using a keyboard that allows you to touch-type with one hand, such as a chorded keyboard or a single-hand keyboard.