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Most of us who work in technology fields such as software development, systems administration, and cybersecurity often listen to music while we work at our computer. After all, music stimulates many parts of our brains, including the limbic system responsible for alertness, emotion, and memory. Psychologists have also shown that music also reduces anxiety and blood pressure, as well as improves mood.

However, to make the most out of it, you must carefully plan your music strategy. Unfortunately, all of the blogs and YouTube videos I’ve seen that cover this process are terrible - they usually focus on music theory concepts the average person will not know or care about, and offer little practical advice. So, in this post I’ll get straight to the point about how you can get the most out of your music as a tech professional.

Step 1: Define the general categories of work that you do

We often perform many different types of work at our computer, and each one requires a different mode of thinking and level of attention. Thus, a good music strategy involves recognizing the different categories of work you do, such that you can match a playlist to it that provides for maximum effectiveness. While you may choose to define your own work categories, most of the work tech professionals do outside of messaging and meetings generally falls into these three categories:

Research and exploratory work
- This could include reviewing program documentation or performing a tutorial to learn how a technology works, searching vendor sites for information or specs, researching the nature and impact of a particular security vulnerability/CVE, or even playing with a particular programming framework. Tasks of this category often require attention to detail, as well as the ability to formulate questions and research solutions, which additionally require correlation, organization, and subsequent question formulation skills.
Design work
- This could include designing a technology solution or strategy, a systems/cloud/network architecture, a response plan, a graphical or UI/UX layout, the modules for a software application, or even a microservice architecture. Tasks of this category often require a great deal of creativity and information recall, as well as the ability to look at design components from multiple angles.
Immersive work
- This includes any work where you enter a flow state that allows you to be immersed in a particular task to the point where you ignore time and other outside distractions. Many refer to this sort of work as being in the zone. Software coding, automation scripting, larger configuration tasks, and ethical hacking often fall into this category and require focus, organization, creativity, and information recall.

Step 2: Create playlists for each category

After defining the different categories of work that you do, think of the type of music that best fits each one. To do this, focus your mind on a recent task that represents one of your categories. Next, run through the song content in your music library. For those that you feel fit well, add them to a new playlist for the category. Wait a few hours and then repeat the process for another categories, and so on. Try to keep each playlist to under 50 songs, avoid slow ballads and Country songs (we want to get work done!), as well as choose songs based on emotional impact rather than genre. For the three categories I’ve defined in Step 1, following are the songs from my music library that I find fit well. You can start with these playlists, pick a few from my recommendations that you like to add to your own playlists, or ignore my playlists altogether and use your own (personal preferences vary).

Research and exploratory work
- Mostly upbeat songs that maintain interest throughout. These songs usually have strong lyrics that can be sung aloud to, but can also be easily ignored, if necessary.
  - Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion
  - Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket
  - America - Ventura Highway
  - Angélique Kidjo and Dave Mathews - Iwoya
  - Annie Lennox - Walkin On Broken Glass
  - Aretha Franklin - Rescue Me
  - Avicii - Wake Me Up
  - Bachman Turner Overdrive - Let It Ride
  - Barenaked Ladies - Lovers in a Dangerous Time
  - Bedouin SoundClash - When the night feels my song
  - Ben Harper - Steal My Kisses
  - Biz Markie - Throw Back
  - Blood Sweat and Tears - Ride Captain Ride
  - Blue Rodeo - Hasn’t Hit Me Yet
  - Bob Marley - I Shot The Sheriff
  - Bonnie Raitt - Have A Heart
  - Britney Spears - Crazy
  - Bucks Fizz - The Land Of Make Believe
  - Buffalo Springfield - For That Its Worth
  - CCR - Fortunate Son
  - David Bowie - Golden Years
  - Des’ree - You Gotta Be
  - Digital Underground - All Around the World
  - Dustry Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man
  - Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
  - Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
  - Flo Rida - Let It Roll
  - Galantis - In My Head
  - Green Day - When I Come Around
  - Hall and Oates - Rich Girl
  - Hootie and the Blowfish - I Only Want to Be With You
  - Jackson Five - I Want You Back
  - Jessie J - Price Tag
  - Jimmy Buffett - If you like Pina Colada
  - Joel Plaskett - Nowhere With You
  - Journey - Any Way You Want It
  - Kool and The Gang - Kung Foo Fighting
  - Kriss Kross - Jump
  - Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain
  - Macy Gray - I Try
  - Michael Jackson - Thriller
  - Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline
  - Owl City - Fireflies
  - Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
  - Prince - Little Red Corvette
  - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
  - Simon and Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson
  - Sister Sledge - We Are Family
  - Snow - Informer
  - Spacehog - In The Meantime
  - Spin Doctors - Two Princes
  - Stevie Wonder - Superstition
  - Sugar Ray - Fly
  - Sugarhill Gang - Rapper’s Delight
  - The Band - Up On Cripple Creek
  - The Corrs - Ohh La La
  - The O’Jays - Love Train
  - The Weeknd - Save Your Tears
  - Tom Petty - Wildflowers
  - Toto - Africa
  - Trans-X - Living On Video
  - Trio - Da Da Da
  - U2 - Mysterious Ways
  - Wild Strawberries - Crying Shame
Design work
- Mostly songs with a strong or unusual beat and memorable melody. Progressive instrumentals, gym workout songs, and custom DJ spins often work well.
  - 50 Cent - In Da Club
  - AC/DC - Highway to Hell
  - Aerosmith - Cryin'
  - Anastacia - Don’t Stop
  - Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
  - Bif Naked - Spaceman
  - Black Eyed Peas - Pump It Louder
  - C&C Music Factory - Everybody Dance Now
  - Cab Calloway - It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Go
  - Chicago - Saturday in the Park
  - Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
  - Earth Wind and Fire - September
  - Edwin Starr - War
  - Enya - Orinoco Flow
  - Fatboy Slim - The Joker
  - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
  - Hanson - MMMBop
  - Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl
  - Katy Perry - Hot ‘N Cold
  - Kool and The Gang - Get Down On It
  - Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
  - Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
  - LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
  - Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk
  - MC Hammer - Can’t Touch This
  - Merry Clayton - Yes
  - Michael Jackson - Love Never Felt So Good
  - No Mercy - Where Do You Go
  - Parry Gripp - Raining Tacos
  - Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes
  - Pentatonix - Daft Punk
  - Pharrell Williams - Happy
  - Queen - Killer Queen
  - Ria Mae - Bend
  - Rick James - She’s A Brick House
  - Rednex - Cotton Eyed Joe
  - Rose Falcon - Fun
  - Run DMC - It’s Tricky
  - Santana - Black Magic Woman
  - Shaggy - Mr. Boomastic
  - Sia - Cheap Thrills
  - Smokey Robinson - Tears of a Clown
  - Snap - Rhythm is a Dancer
  - Snow - Informer
  - Spice Girls - Say You’ll Be There
  - Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong
  - Taio Cruz - Dynamite
  - Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
  - The Doobie Brothers - Listen to the Music
  - The Eagles - Hotel California
  - The La’s - There She Goes Again
  - The Ting Tings - That’s Not My Name
  - Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life
  - Van Halen - Jump
Immersive work
- Mostly songs that are consistently bold, have a strong and varied melody, or plenty of repetition. Because flow state is different for everyone, personal preference weighs in heavily here.
  - AC/DC - Thunderstruck
  - Ace of Base - The Sign
  - Aerosmith - Walk This Way
  - Avicii - Levels
  - Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out
  - Barenaked Ladies - It’s All Been Done
  - Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night
  - Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing
  - Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance
  - C2C - Down the Road
  - Carl Cox - Phoebus Apollo
  - Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
  - Crazy Town - Butterfly
  - Daft Punk - Get Lucky
  - Daft Punk - Castor
  - Daft Punk - Derezzed
  - Daft Punk - Technologic
  - Diana Ross and The Supremes - Dancing In The Street
  - ELO - Don’t Bring Me Down
  - Elvis and JXL - A Little Less Conversation
  - EMF - Unbelievable
  - Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
  - Eric Prydz - Call On Me
  - Eurythmics - Would I Lie To You
  - Fatboy Slim - Praise You
  - Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank
  - Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice
  - Fun - Some Nights
  - Fountains of Wayne - Stacy’s Mom
  - Green Day - Holiday
  - Green Day - When I Come Around
  - Groove Armada - If Everybody Looked The Same
  - Stereo MC’s - Connected
  - Jackson Five - ABC
  - Jain - Makeba
  - Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl
  - Ke$ha - TiK ToK
  - Kraftwerk - Autobahn
  - Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
  - Las Hijas del Sol - Africa
  - Len - Steal My Sunshine
  - Madonna - La Isla Bonita
  - Marilyn Manson - This Is Halloween
  - Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk
  - Merril Bainbridge - Mouth
  - Moby - Southside
  - Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
  - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
  - Nu Shooz - I Can’t Wait
  - Orbital - Halcyon On and On
  - Paul McCartney and Wings - Silly Love Songs
  - Phil Collins - Sussudio
  - Propellerheads - Spybreak
  - Prozzak - Sucks To Be You
  - Queen - Killer Queen
  - Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noize
  - Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade
  - Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive
  - Right Said Fred - I’m Too Sexy
  - Robbie Williams - Rock DJ
  - Skrillex - Bangarang
  - Sky - Some Kinda Wonderful
  - Smash Mouth - Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby
  - Spiderbait - Black Betty
  - Steriogram - Walkie Talkie Man
  - Steve Miller Band - Take The Money and Run
  - Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam
  - The Commodores - Machine Gun
  - The Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane
  - The Killers - Mr. Brightside
  - The KLF - Doctorin’ The Tardis
  - The Weeknd - I Feel It Coming
  - The Who - Pinball Wizard
  - Tom Cochrane - Life Is A Highway
  - U2 - Elevation
  - Weird Al - Albuquerque
  - Yello - Oh Yeah
  - Young MC - Bust a Move
  - ZZ Top - La Grange

Step 3: Get some good headphones to listen to your playlists

The hardware you use to listen to your music is almost as important as the music itself. You’ll want high-end noise cancelling over ear headphones for the richest music experience, and to ensure that you’re not interrupted by other sounds while working. There’s a big difference between low-end and high-end headphones when it comes to music quality, and when you listen to that difference in the store it’s easy to justify the higher price. I thoroughly tested the Sony WH-1000XM5, Apple AirPods Max, Sennheiser Momentum 4, and Bose QuietComfort 45. I chose (and recommend) the Bose QuietComfort 45, as I find it the most comfortable and prefer the sculpted audio experience Bose adds to their hardware (rich bass, crisp highs).

Bose QuietComfort 45

Step 4: Periodically revise your playlists

It’s important to keep things fresh. As a result, you should periodically review your playlists - remove any songs you’re tired of or don’t work as well as you think they should and add some new ones. I often find that I’ll hear a song when out at some social event and think to myself that it’d be perfect for a particular playlist. Sharing your playlist with others (e.g., on your tech Slack) and vice versa allows everyone in your circles to get some new songs too. Your playlists will get better over time - some songs will stay across all revisions, while others will be replaced successively until you have an arsenal of songs that maximize your productivity for any tech task.

How to Leverage Music for Maximum Tech Productivity