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Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

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Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#271

Post by Eilene »

drugsthrowaway wrote: post #267

I'm a dev at a startup. I was a regular cannabis user in my younger days, mostly by smoking, but some edibles and quit years ago. In the past couple of years I've started to start using cannabis again. I now vape because I don't need all those combustion byproducts in my lungs, and it lasts much longer, and you can reuse the already vaped material (ABV). It helps me relax after work at night, and get to sleep some da…

Have you always found you need some way to decompress from the stress? I'm trying to learn how stressful your work as a developer is. Is it the work or the work environment (a startup). Do most of your peers find some way to come down at night, be it weed or drinking or something else?

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#272

Post by Eilene »

robg wrote: post #251

Please highlight if you can how questions of brain health are often ignored exactly because people seem productive. Learning to do good work under too much stress and with too little sleep is a big part of the problem. We condition ourselves to get the work done, then compensate with drugs and alcohol. But since we're productive, the latter is not seen as a problem. The pattern is repeating itself all over top univer…

I completely agree and absolutely intend to discuss that in the book, thank you. When you say "brain health" do you mean actual neurological changes taking place in the brain, or underlying mental health issues like depression and anxiety?

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#273

Post by [deleted] »

Eilene wrote: post #7
whalesalad wrote: post #5

Adderall and Cocaine. I remember a CEO of one of my early startups would give me 5mg addies to help me get more done. I appreciated it because it was great to get the added boost to focus. I eventually worked my way up to taking 30mg of XR daily (legally, doctor prescribed) and it was the most productive I have ever been in my life. I worked 24x7. I was working a normal consulting job while also working on a startup/…

Any chance you can explain why? Not enough hours in the day kind of thing? Is the only route to success in software engineering to work 24/7?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#274

Post by hnal943 »

Eilene wrote: post #7
whalesalad wrote: post #5

Adderall and Cocaine. I remember a CEO of one of my early startups would give me 5mg addies to help me get more done. I appreciated it because it was great to get the added boost to focus. I eventually worked my way up to taking 30mg of XR daily (legally, doctor prescribed) and it was the most productive I have ever been in my life. I worked 24x7. I was working a normal consulting job while also working on a startup/…

Any chance you can explain why? Not enough hours in the day kind of thing? Is the only route to success in software engineering to work 24/7?

This is an addict's (unreliable) perception, not reality. In reality, software engineers are so valuable and highly sought after that you can have basically any lifestyle you want and still be successful.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#275

Post by sulam »

In the 90's startup environment I knew a surprising number of engineers who regularly took meth and/or cocaine (and probably other uppers -- they were after productivity boosts). It tended to travel in packs -- particular companies had a decent percentage doing it, while others had zero (as far as I knew).

These days I hear more about the "focus" drugs -- which seem like pharmaceutical versions of the same stuff, with reduced dosage.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#276

Post by jpzisme »

Eilene wrote: post #173
jpzisme wrote: post #163

I have a daily shot of espresso at the office at 8am. It tastes good and helps me focus. Sometimes there's a happy hour on Friday. I don't drink, but some of my coworkers do in moderation. I'm sure there is a drug/party/binge drinking culture in some companies in the Bay, but it's the mildest I've seen in any industry/geography so far.

In your professional career, have you been in other industries and regions where it was far more prevalent?

I used to work in finance as a banker. It was more prevalent there. I'd say more so with those who were based out of NYC.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#277

Post by chatmasta »

medmj wrote: post #223

I work with information security. I have depression and anxiety (I know lots in infosec and software engineering who also has - maybe it's a mix of loneliness, impostor syndrome and the feeling of underachievement?) and I use marijuana (a blunt per night) to help me treat it. It doesn't affect on my daily work in any bad way. Besides that, on the past I've used a lot of alcohol and occasionaly MDMA to party on weeken…

The infosec mindset is really mentally unhealthy. Your literal job is to be unreasonably paranoid and distrusting of everybody. I can definitely see how this could take its toll on mental health if you’re not balancing your work with the rest of your lifestyle.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#278

Post by neveradmitmyid »

Eilene wrote: post #270
neveradmitmyid wrote: post #256

There is a population of media developers that are fairly heavy marijuana users. By 'media developer' I mean animation, VFX, games, and other graphics & entertainment related type of software. We tend to be older, having been in graphics and media for 20 to 30 years for most of us pothead graphics junkies. We have bongs and all the typical pot smoking accessories out in the open at our offices, and they are in active…

Do you think that the pot is countering any depression or down feelings that may come from being isolated for so long each day? That sounds really hard, even if you really like the work.

We are and are not isolated. The studios tend to put us all together in a less traveled part of the lot, and beyond the fact that we all prefer to stare at our screens 12+ hours a day, we are social with each other. As I said, the bongs are in active use throughout the day. Anytime anyone loads a bowl, it gets passed to everyone in that room, who will pause, take a hit, join the conversation or simply look back to their screen. It's social and isolated at the same time.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#279

Post by 7ero »

This isn't me. But there is Paul Erdős, who made great contributions to mathematics. He was known to use amphetamines regularly. He even made a bet with one of his colleagues on his amphetamine use, betting that he could give up amphetamines for a month. In which he ended up subsequently winning but complained that mathematics was set back by one month.

Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

#280

Post by klibertp »

mnm1 wrote: post #255
wcarron wrote: post #227

Well, there are recreational and performance-enhancing drugs. The attitudes about the two types are different. Coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and pot are all just normalized. Nobody cares. We chat about it in passing (e.g "so Friday I was high....blah blah rest of story"). Coffee is perf-enhancing but people treat it recreationally. The performance stuff is alluded to but not really in any detail. Cocaine, adderall, rita…

White trash drugs? Benzodiazepines, of which kolonopin is one are used by over 15 million people in the US and over 10 in the UK. It's one of the most widely used, widely prescribed categories of drugs and kolonopin one of the top prescribed in the category. And opiates? Who uses opiates who isn't addicted to them? You think being rich gives you a pass on addiction, and chronic pain?

Rare, but:

> Who uses opiates who isn't addicted to them? You think being rich gives you a pass on addiction, and chronic pain?

There's a difference between dependency and addiction. The former is physical, the latter (mostly) psychological. The former is much easier to treat.

That being said, it's almost impossible to not be both be dependent on and addicted to opiates if you take them for chronic pain over longer time.

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