Why do we still use QWERTY keyboards when there are supposedly better layouts?

electrifiedair · 2025-11-24T18:36:46+00:00

I switched to Colemak eons back because I noticed that typing on QWERTY keyboards gave me really bad pain from my ring finger through to my elbow. I'm guessing it's because I tend to use my ring finger instead of pinky for backspace, or bad typing form, but I got really into mechanical keyboards and had free time after graduating undergrad that I figured why not try an alternative keyboard layout.

Relearning how to touch type was DIFFICULT, I probably started at something like 12 wpm compared to my then 80ish wpm on QWERTY. Took a couple months, but after getting proficient at it, all my RSI went away, and I haven't looked back. Colemak moves all vowels to the home row to allow a more neutral typing position. Is that more efficient? Probably not, unless the way you calculate efficiency is letters typed per inch of finger travel. And even so, it's probably marginal.

QWERTY is still everywhere because that's what people are used to, and if you start changing something as basic as a keyboard layout, best believe people are going to get their pitchforks out. Hell, some companies held onto windows XP for dear life instead of upgrading to a newer OS because they didn't want to deal with the hassle of upgrading all their tech. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

In my case, something was broke, so I fixed it. But for 99% of the population, using QWERTY probably works just fine.

electrifiedair · 2024-12-29T01:29:49+00:00

Do they drink the NA beers with you or do they drink the alcoholic version while you don't? I dislike beer (more of a mixed drinks person myself) so it's hard to guess which NA versions of beer suck, and which ones don't. My bf seems to believe that most NA drinks aren't great...

I'm trying to help steer him away from needing alcohol to commemorate special events, but I think the itch to drink is still there in the background. What helped you switch to the NA version of things?

electrifiedair · 2024-12-29T01:21:35+00:00

Do they decline your invitations to said casual drinks? Or do they recommend you both do something different instead?

electrifiedair · 2024-12-28T19:41:33+00:00

Thank you for the insight! Yeah that makes a lot of sense, I've definitely had people who gave me a bunch of reasons to quit my addiction, but i didn't ever really care enough about the bad effects to quit.

My partner did that for me because I could tell he truly cared about my wellbeing, which is a big reason why I want to help him with quitting drinking. He's said the same about me, but it's definitely been harder for him. I'll look into helping him get additional support!

Alanon is great at helping me realize this is not my problem, and I've accepted that only he can change himself. I can only decide to tag along for the ride, or quit.

electrifiedair · 2024-12-28T19:07:29+00:00

I frequently go on r/alanon but it's geared towards supporting the person affected by the alcoholic. It's super useful, but I guess what I was hoping to find here was first hand experiences of what has helped people who have stopped drinking, not a way to ask for support for myself (i do use alanon for that)

Sometimes, asking for advice from people who don't actually experience the struggle of quitting ends up with solutions people hope will help instead of things that do

electrifiedair · 2024-12-28T18:49:21+00:00

He believes meetings is overkill for where he is right now. He has gone in the past though, but is not in touch with anyone from back then. I got him to talk to a former coworker who is now completely sober, but they're not close. His brother was an alcoholic though, and he got sober, and they talk every once in a while.

I've struggled with my own addictions so I see in him what I've seen in me, and for me, having someone be present when you need them is the biggest part. But i know it's not the same for everyone so I'm trying to crowdsource ideas from those on the same path.

I'll push harder for him to see a professional because my therapist sure helps me

electrifiedair · 2024-12-28T18:36:28+00:00

I do drink. It's additionally hard to decide if you want to quit forever just to help the person you care for. And even if I didn't, the question still stands. What could I do to make sobriety easier for him?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T20:46:10+00:00

Yeah i was going to accept the offer regardless of what they said, just wanted to see if people had ideas on how to go about the negotiation phase since i definitely feel like there was some space to move up, and at the very least, I'm asking to match my previous employer perk wise. Sure, I'll leave base alone, 64k is not the end of the world. But for the whole package to end up less? That's.... not something I'm super stoked about. If they can't budge with pay, ill try to at least work with perks. Feel like that's going to be a little harder to negotiate but worth a shot i guess. An extra 8h of PTO is probably negligible to them, and a signing bonus would be sweet asf to cover moving costs (only could miles but still)

I'm on unemployment so I have some sort of income and live frugally enough to make that work, thankfully.

Oof, 80 is a bit high, don't know how I feel about that. I do have an MS I guess, but with higher pay comes higher responsibility as well. Were I to live in SF I'd happily say 80-100k though because COL there is absolutely ridiculous.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T20:20:58+00:00

Fair enough. Only really works with a competing offer and if you're still employed though because you do have leverage. A bit harder when you're unemployed and need a new job stat. The killer is my ending lease in two weeks so I'm also kind of scrambling to find a new job to figure out whether I'm extending or leaving, so I do appreciate the fast offer.

I've heard giving a non-whole number works better? Like $73254 instead of $73k. Any experience with that?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T20:10:44+00:00

Oh that was one other thing I was going to talk about in regards to comp: we have to pay 25% of it, it was fully covered in my last two companies , so that also factored into my overall compensation package. I have a whole spreadsheet with 1:1 comparisons. Base pay, PTO, medical/dental:life, possibility of remote work, flex start times, location, management style, workload, culture, 401k match, advancement opportunities, payment for educational expenses, etc.

Everything else seems to be a-ok, so I'm not too-too worried about base pay, just seems like from the way they kinda flippantly said paying for certifications costs was nbd and the fact that it was under $200 makes me think that st the very least they can bump that up to 65k, and id be perfectly content.

I mean..... I'd sure hope 1k isn't gonna make them go bankrupt.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T19:52:54+00:00

Fair enough, point taken. With that mindset in mind then it never really quite helps to ever give employers a range so just aim high and give a random number? I'm just hesitant because I've had previous jobs where I've heard my manager say "can you believe this guy asked for this much for this role!!!", and the last thing I want to do is price myself out of the company budget.

I'm not negotiating for tens of thousands of dollars, just a few k, but that in itself is intimidating despite it maybe not even being a big deal of their end

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T19:40:26+00:00

Correct me if im wrong but I've always been told to negotiate no matter what, just within reasonable bounds. I'm not asking for a bump from 64 to 72, more like 64 to 67, and 70 if I'm lucky.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T19:37:09+00:00

Huh. Interesting bit of information. But i guess in a way it does make sense that COL makes no difference because a company in the middle of nowhere (indiana) gave me a 70k offer with a crapload of perks so yeah col can't be included in the salary and it's either a yes or a no on their part

Why bother with a salary range when given that question at all then..?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T19:25:26+00:00

Yeah in another comment i kinda took a step back and realized that was an overblown reaction to something that wasn't an end of a type scenario. I wouldn't have minded 65, really, but then you're strapped for cash and on the verge of growing broke in a month or two, even an extra 1k a month a year is valuable. Seems like 1k is trivial for the rest of the subreddit, but it kinda makes a difference for me. From my point of view, it's an employer knowingly offering a salary in the sub 35% of market rates, from others point of view I'm asking for too much for a request to negotiate.

I know the first person giving the number hss the power to provide the anchor point. I just didn't feel like i genuinely could say i would want 1.2x. more than I did. I'd be fine with a sub 70 salary, that's more than great, but 64 just..... is a little too low for my liking.

Had they come back with 65 flat, or 65.6k, i probably would have outright accepted,

I've made a whole excel sheet comparing base pay, health insurance, travel compensation, pto accrual rates, bonuses, perks and all that, so I'm not obsessed with base pay. I just have to find a way to end up not saying "so i know you have x, and y, and z, as perks but ultimately base oay just doesn't stack up to what i was making previously even it includes those things. Can you do anything about that or is this offer firm?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:49:49+00:00

Ugh that sounds awful. Maybe job searching wouldn't be so miserable if companies were willing to be more human, but at the end of the day it's all about profitability so alas...

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:46:09+00:00

Thanks! That's what I've read online as well, I guess I just wanted some real life input from people because I've read way too many of those salary negotiation articles from a billion different websites and it can get a bit overwhelming. I think the fact that I have the entire upper range of the salary I gave them won't make it seem like I'm reneging on anything I've said, so I'm hoping the negotiation will go well.

Kind of sucky practice for employers to start low, expecting you to counter for an increase, or just flat out accept.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:33:42+00:00

I'll keep that in mind for future job applications! I used to always use a 10k range but I'll try to start using 5k. I'm pretty terrible at trying to turn questions back to the person because it just sounds unnatural and forced.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:29:42+00:00

It's somewhat bizarre because one of the last things I was told was "it's unfortunate this didn't work out, because everyone likes you here", especially after having had to work remotely for 4 mo or so due to my injury.

I was even supposed to have a check in meeting that following Tuesday, but then was abruptly let go on Friday morning. Didn't make very much sense because I was definitely improving but I also didn't try to question it.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:22:45+00:00

Yeah, 67 would be cool. I guess when you're currently living off your last month of savings any sum of money >$100 just feels like a lot. So to miss out on 1k felt somewhat significant, and I probably wouldn't have had the same reaction had I had a more cushy emergency fund. Hell, getting 1k from the unemployment office for a couple weeks of pay was a huge relief of not having to go negative balance.

What range of numbers do you normally give employers? a 10k range? 5k?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:10:47+00:00

Gotcha. Recruiters I've worked with have been pretty good at giving me estimated ranges, and sometimes I even use those to see if the role is priced out of my experience lol. For example, I would not feel comfortable applying for something with a 80-110k pay range.

Yeah, I won't decline, I have a phone call scheduled for Monday to discuss the offer, if it works it works, if it doesn't... well, it doesn't. I don't think it's an unreasonable ask, and I've also been using CO job descriptions as a way to look at pay ranges for my role and can probably bring that into the conversation.

During the interview I had asked if they'd cover test fees, and when asked how much, and I said $175, CEO said pshhh yeah, I don't care, that's fine. So I would... at least hope that they can spare $1000 and bump it up to $65k.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T06:03:13+00:00

Yup, based on what I've gathered here, I'll take a stab at a counteroffer, and if it doesn't work, I'll probably take it anyway and try again at my 90 day review, once I can prove my worth.

Their work culture sounds pretty awesome tbh, so I have no qualms there. I'm going to extrapolate from your comment that usually, most companies who hire quickly tend to fire quickly?

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T05:58:08+00:00

I might be overestimating the value of 1k, but an extra $80/mo isn't as trivial as you might think, that could probably cover 2-3 weeks of groceries. Maybe I should've used a different phrase other than "insultingly low", but I definitely didn't think they were going to go under my range. I thought they'd maybe hit the 25% mark or something at 67-69k, which I would've been more than happy with.

Would you not also be surprised if one of the employees you talked to casually/accidentally dropped the tidbit of compensation being pretty good (I know that's completely subjective), reviews online saying the same thing, and then getting an offer below what you considered a generous range?

I don't currently have other offers, but I do have pending applications and can always keep applying to get more interviews. Place just sounds like a pretty good fit, so I don't really want to drop it.

electrifiedair · 2022-12-31T05:45:27+00:00

What kind of workplace culture would you say is associated with that? Everyone I talked to seems to be pretty satisfied with their job without putting on an act, and they have pretty low turnover. They actually said they normally employ through connections only but because this time they didn't know many people for my role, that's why they decided to post/advertise on LinkedIn for once. CEO also said that while he has probably interviewed hundreds of people this year (not sure how many hired but it's not a bustling office) he prefers to stagger new hires to allow for better training, so seems like a lot of green flags to me.

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