I’m curious what works for you? Lyrics or instrumental music while you’re working? I find myself preferring instrumental music while I’m thinking about a problem. The music can be technical and busy or super chill, but lyrics always distract me.

Of course, If I’m just half focused and grinding out mock responders for my unit tests then lyrics are fine.

If it's just for background noise, lyrics are fine, if it's to tune out and focus then I'll switch to instrumental.

Depending on mood...

Anything.... It can be Folk when I'm in a better mood, Metal when it get's worse, Grindcore / Death Metal or anything harsh when the level of anger broke the "i wanna murder people" part on a measure scale

I like lyrics in a foreign language (eg. German), sometimes in English. I really can't focus with lyrics in my mother tongue though.

No music.

> Song lyrics distract me, I always end up singing along.

This.

@aviophile hit it on the head for me. I get too easily distracted with *any* type of music.

@aviophile now the question becomes Do you use noise canceling headphones or ear plugs to achieve silence in the workplace? 😄

I get use to environmental noise, like;
1. Computer fan
2. Keyboard sound from everyone
3. Programming related talk in office
4. Even construction site outside our building. We are 5 5 meters away from giant construction machinery when we leave building. Theyare noisy ad heck, vibrating our tables sometimes.

The noise i hate;
1. Not listed things in first list :). I think it might be pyschological.

Instrumental, mostly funk, jazz, but sometimes mellow beats, and that sort of stuff

Why isn't anyone mentioning the stuff viewed in incognito? 😞

Instrumental unless the lyrics aren't distracting but that varies on genre and band. Some genres are definitely better for coding imp, I love metal but my coding playlist is a bizarre mix of EDM, classical and jazz music haha.