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The Ballmer Peak: An Empirical Search

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arxiv 2404.10002 v1 pith:QSILIJR7 submitted 2024-04-02 cs.SE

classification cs.SE
keywords peakabilityalcoholthereballmercodingdrinkseffect
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The concept of a 'Ballmer Peak' was first proposed in 2007, postulating that there exists a very specific blood alcohol content which confers superhuman programming ability. More generally, there is a commonly held belief among software engineers that coding is easier and more productive after a few drinks. Using the industry standard for assessment of coding ability, we conducted a search for such a peak and more generally investigated the effect of different amounts of alcohol on performance. We conclusively refute the existence of a specific peak with large magnitude, but with p < 0.001 find that there was a significant positive effect to a low amount of alcohol - slightly less than two drinks - on programming ability.

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