I am a dev, and I enjoy the odd distraction. Sometimes. But not when I’m in the zone.

It’s not about being a dev or not being a dev. It’s about whether the tasks you are doing require you to hold a lot of state in your head. Sometimes you can’t write everything down. And when someone calls you in for a quick chat about TPS reports, all that state is thrown out and has to be rebuilt from scratch.

If I’m writing a short script where I can find my place again just by reading the screen, it’s not a problem. Me mentally refactoring code that goes across dozens of files and isn’t documented anywhere? Please, I’ll need some focus time. As a dev I’m not always in flow state, but when I am, I prefer if you let me finish what I’m doing.

Are you referring to this?

Yep. You still get the measurements done and can get a piece of paper with the numbers on it from the optometrist.

Things have improved over time in the US. As someone mentioned, you can submit your prescription to an online store and get cheaper glasses that way. It used to be I had to go to an eye doctor’s office for that.

They still try to convince you to stay with them, of course. When I needed bifocals they tried to tell me I had to come in for training on how to wear them. I declined.

As is typical for the US, if you have good insurance you’re generally in good shape. I haven’t had out of pocket expenses for glasses for years, and I only paid a small amount to have laser surgery later.

I’m addition to what was already mentioned, I will say that is not like that everywhere. In Europe I can go to an optician and they will do the eye test and sell you glasses without any kind of medical prescription. I would only see the actual eye doctor if I had some medical issue (e.g. diabetes).

I suspect some of that relates to reimbursement. My insurance in the US covers my eye glasses and checkups. In Europe my glasses were not covered.