I'm not learning it for speed. I am already a good touch-typist, able to freak kids out by rapidly typing things they say on the screen while scanning the classroom and making eye-contact with the kids. If you're already good at typing, then the Dvorak method doesn't promise to dramatically increase your typing speed.
I decided to make the Dvorak switch for 3 reasons:
1.) For joint health. The efficiency of the key placement means your hands move a great deal less over the course of a typing session, and thus over the months and years it can save miles of hand movement.
2.) To go awkward-feeling steps in learning. This one sounds counter-intuitive, but anything you learn is going to have these steps, so I think everyone should learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable toward greater learning goals. In my profession as a teacher, it is especially important to experience learning awkwardness so you can have more compassion for your students who are learning.
3.) It give me a knew field of things to learn and play around with. Such as this video:
So because of Dvorak, I have discovered the engineerguy Youtube channel, which I imagine will serve me well as I try to develop skills with mechanics and building.
This benefit should not be minimized. One of the reasons to do something like learn is so you can find new sites you never would have been able to find otherwise. More and more frontiers open, whether it is Dvorak or Dutch, and you never know where it will lead. And that is a big part of the joy.
Update
I now type in Dvorak and have to search and peck (more or less) whenever I am stuck on a QWERTY keyboard. But, yeah, I love Dvorak, and probably find it worth investing all the time (and awkwardness) over the summer to learn.
