What is the best chair for software engineers?
What is the best chair for software engineers? It’s also the best office chair for most people. Software engineers often sit for very long periods. Coding and debugging often require lots of concentration, such as sitting and staring at the computer screen for long periods. You’ll want to find a chair that has all of the right ergonomics to avoid hurting your neck and back when sitting for very long periods of time. When the pandemic started, everyone went remote; I had a very cheap office chair. I realized my back and neck were hurting.
I needed to decide on a chair that would be adjustable to my body plus supportive. I did a lot of research to find just the right chair. I narrowed it down to about three different chairs. All of them were very expensive. It was hard for me to imagine spending that much on a chair. I figured I would be using the chair a lot, and avoiding back and neck issues would be worth it. It was honestly still hard parting with that much money, but I’m glad I did. I really like the chair. This chair is so unlike other chairs it is hard to understand without experiencing it.
The best chair for software engineers and best chair for software developers is…
The Steelcase Leap chair with headrest (available on Amazon – click here).
Comfort
I was definitely looking for comfort, which meant adjustability as well.
The seat and back
One of the competing chairs I looked at had a mesh back and seat. I used a chair like that at my office and it was ok. It was a little stiff and not super comfortable, but it was ok. Some people who get hot sitting on their chairs might like the mesh. But if overall comfort is your main concern, having a comfortable fabric and padding is way better than mesh. Think about it. A chair with the mesh needs the mesh to be pretty taught to keep it holding you up. That translates to pretty firm. Not to mention, over the years, if the mesh stretches or loosens, it won’t support very well.
The Steelcase Leap, on the other hand, has a good fabric cover and great padding on the seat and back. It’s a good springy padding that is comfortable and supportive.
The seat itself is designed so you can easily sit back and have your back against the backrest, but the seat won’t hit the back of your knees, which is great for comfort. The front of the seat near your legs allows for a little flexibility so it doesn’t dig into your leg like some chairs. This chair is flexible in ways most chairs aren’t to improve comfort.
(This is the back of my 4 year old chair. Still in great shape. See those back ribs those flex when you lean back, giving this chair a great feel.)
Lumbar and Back Support
Since with this chair you can sit with your back against the backrest comfortably, it cradles your back nicely. The backrest cushion is a little firmer than the seat cushion, but it feels good. I mentioned that this chair flexes in ways other chairs don’t. The backrest and seat have a little give in the mechanical portion as well as flexibility in the cushioned and plastic back material. This allows even the back to have flexibility beyond a normal chair. It’s hard to describe just how good it feels to be able to shift your weight and move around a bit without the chair digging into your back. Instead, the chair has a little give and flex to it, which makes it even more comfortable to sit in for long periods.
My previous home office chair didn’t have a high back to provide good upper back support. That was definitely the cause of some of the back pain I had after long periods of use. Having the high back on the Steelcase Leap chair has been a game-changer for back support.
When I first got my chair, it didn’t come with the extra lumbar support part. Steelcase had no problem shipping me the part. I installed it, though, and found after using the chair for a week without it, I really did not like how the added lumbar part made it feel, so I just left it off. It feels great without it.
Headrest
My previous home office chair didn’t have a headrest. I would bet most of you haven’t used an office chair with a headrest. If you did and you had a good one, you would never go back. Just like the seat and back, this headrest has a little bit of give to it when you lean back, even more than the rest of the chair. This feels great allowing you to tilt your head back and getting comfortable and flexible support rather than a hard unmoveable surface. The headrest really flexes, allowing a great feel when you lean back. Having the head support is an excellent way to add more comfort and the ability to sit for longer periods without the aches and pains a normal chair might cause. That’s why you shouldn’t wonder why this is the best chair for software engineers.
Adjustments
The headrest has an up-and-down adjustment. Just sliding up and down, it clicks in place.
Adjustable lumbar support can be adjusted up and down. I mentioned before I just took mine off as I thought it felt better without.
Lower back firmness adjustment is a dial again with click adjustments to make it a little more or less firm.
Seat height adjustment, like most office chairs, lets you adjust up or down to better fit your body.
Variable back stop is I think one of best features on the chair. Most chairs you buy are locked in one position or you need to use a control to recline it. This chair let’s you adjust the tension in the back to just allow you to lean back to recline. Mine is adjusted so it’s supportive and takes an intentional lean to the back to recline. You can adjust how far it will let you recline as well. This feature is amazing. If you sit in one position for a while, you tend to shift your body, sometimes leaning back a bit to stretch out a bit. This again allows this chair to have an amazing amount of flexibility, moving with your body when you want it to. You can set it to not do this if you want, but I can tell you I love this feature. Leaning back does squeak a little and has a bit of a spring tension noise, but not enough to be any concern.
Seat depth adjustment allows you to fit the seat to your body, allowing you to have great leg comfort and back support. The seat can slide forward or back a little for this adjustment.
Adjustable arm rests for height, Width, Pivot, and Depth. This allows you to get the armrests to just the right height, width, depth, or even angle so you can do your work comfortably.
Durability and Quality
This chair is definitely very solid and made of both metal and plastic. The plastic gives it amazing flexibility in just the right spots.
Rolling your chair
You can get your chair with carpet wheels or floor wheels. I got the carpet ones. It will move on carpet but not nearly as well if you buy yourself a plastic mat to go over the carpet to roll on. It rolls nicely on the plastic mat.
Warranty
Steelcase warranty is a limited lifetime warranty as long as it is purchased from them or an authorized reseller. However, if you read the warranty carefully, it breaks down the parts into things it covers for 12 years, some for five years, and some for three years. So far though, this chair has been super solid, and I’ve been using it for over 4 years with no issues.
The shipping box
Wow! The box is big. They send these chairs fully assembled! That’s right, no worries about getting it together wrong. That does make the shipping box rather large. It still was pretty amazing to just be able to get the chair out and sit on it right away.
Conclusion
This is an all-around great chair for your home office. It’s definitely the best chair for software engineers who often sit for long periods of time. The way the chair flexes on the seat, back, and headrest feels great. Most office chairs don’t have a light of flex to them; this one is different. It’s definitely on the expensive side, and it was hard for me to come to grips with paying that much for a chair when you could get cheap ones for one-tenth the price. All I can say is I’m really glad I did, and so is my back. My wallet is still sore, but I’m going to have to get over it because this is a great chair. My wife got a chair around the same time. Her cheaper office chair was worn after about two years. Mine is still going strong.
The Steelcase Leap chair with headrest (available on Amazon – click here).
The runner-up chairs I considered were the Herman Miller office chair and the Steelcase gesture. But after reading the reviews and trying some mesh and other chairs, I settled on the Steelcase Leap. Hope you enjoyed the article.
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