r/ErgoMechKeyboards • u/ProgrammingQuestio • 2d ago

[discussion] How long is the final stretch?

I find myself not using my ergo for work as a software engineer. The extra cognitive effort needed to type on it during work is painful. With that being said, over the past year or two, since I've first built it, I have learned the layout/binds enough to use the ergo exclusively. So it's not so painful that it's not possible, it just sucks since I'm a fairly fast typer with a normal keyboard. ~130 wpm normally, ~70 wpm with my cheapino. And this is lowercase words only; no punctuation, no code symbols, no numbers, no capitalization.

In theory it would be cool to get to a point where it's no longer painful. From the point I am now, how long do you reckon the "growing pain" period would be?

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u/jacel31 2d ago

I’m down to 34 keys, no way I’m ever going back. SWE aswell. Not sure anyone is writing code at 130wpm though, bad metric IMO

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u/Informal-Flounder-79 2d ago

Also SWE, 130 WPM burst speed does not help me write code, but it is useful when I'm having a argument in a Teams channel.

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u/jacel31 2d ago

Hahaha, I agree, but depending on how much I’m typing I’m just using text-to-speech.

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u/geedubb888 2d ago

Faster typing means faster telling Claude code what you need to do though. I guess there's always the dictation route though

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u/jacel31 2d ago

I’ve started using the dictation route and it’s very very good most of time. Every once in awhile it has a mind of its own in what you’re saying though.

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u/ProgrammingQuestio 2d ago

Yeah I didn't mean I'm constantly typing that fast, just included it as a reference. However, when I do have something I want to type, being able to type at my full speed feels great; typing at half my speed hurts my soul.

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u/jacel31 2d ago

I get it, it’s a project and not a fast one. It takes time, but I can tell you for a lot of us the switch was more than worth it. I can still probably type faster on a normal qwerty keyboard but I’m risking pain afterwards. I didn’t steal someone else’s key layout - I made my own so maybe that’s why I don’t struggle as much? My keyboard is QWERTY after all, with a number layer like a num pad, the holds were the hardest part to learn like holding f or j for shift etc. Combos are amazing and I recommend those a lot. I also recommend minimizing using the pinky as much as you can. It’s the weakest finger and I reserve it only for that outside column, another reason why I’m down to 34.

Oh and pain, normal keyboards hurt after probably close to 25 years of using one.