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Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

stackoverflow.blog

101–110 of 118 posts

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#101
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For procrastination - body doubling. It's very effective, easy to test, and works immediately. After an hour, you will know whether it works for you or not. You don't need to read a book or train for it; you don't get better at it. If you procrastinate a lot, this is the first method I would suggest. I don't know if I have ADHD, but I'm definitely a chronic, severe procrastinator. I've been looking for a method to ov…

I encourage you to go through the diagnosis process. There is much more to the disorder than just procrastination but it's easy to miss some of the more subtle differences and assume everyone experiences the world the same way you do. For example, after being diagnosed and doing some therapy and self-education, I realized that I interrupt people because I have shorter working memory. Now I have some steps I take to m…

While a lot of people with ADHD tend to procrastinate, the issue is not limited to them and affects other groups of people as well. Even people that seem highly organized and productive tend procrastinate in some aspects of their lives.

As for the diagnosis - I already talked with psychologist about it, and yes, I'm going to go through the process. My son went through diagnosis of autism recently, and it also ticked a lot of boxes.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#102
post #5

I have a pet theory that the role of old school sysadmins (what we refer to as DevOps today; yes Sysadmins coded, or the good ones did, I will die on this hill) was strangely attractive to those who would assuredly be diagnosed with ADHD. You have endless areas to noodle on solutions to avoid issues; you work hard to avoid working hard (strong ADHD trait) and interruptions are either fine and they fuel you completely…

It affects your insurance? MORTGAGES? What the hell? In the US, the only external downside of ADHD is when you change doctors and the new one automatically assumes you're trying to swindle them to get Adderal, so they make you do another psych evaluation that will inevitably say the same thing as the last one. Defibutely doesn't affect mortgages. I doubt that it would affect vehicle licenses.

Life insurance is way more expensive if you have an ADHD diagnosis

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#103

Everyone on here says they have ADHD so they can get access to Adderall which is sort of a cheat code for programming. Some people do this genuinely believing they’re suffering from some disorder, others do it knowing they would be fine without it but better with it.

Imo stims aren’t really a cheat code to programming, ADHD itself is a cheat code to programming and stims help you with all the other stuff ADHD messes up for you.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#104
post #8

[flagged]

Do you have a source for this? From everything I've researched, it's actually a chemical imbalance that affects the management of dopamine in the brain, making it hard to focus.

Oligoantigenic/elimination diets have been shown to improve symptoms, may not work for everyone and still may not be as effective as stimulants

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.0073...

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9257090

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It affects your insurance? MORTGAGES? What the hell? In the US, the only external downside of ADHD is when you change doctors and the new one automatically assumes you're trying to swindle them to get Adderal, so they make you do another psych evaluation that will inevitably say the same thing as the last one. Defibutely doesn't affect mortgages. I doubt that it would affect vehicle licenses.

> In the US, the only external downside of ADHD The FAA doesn't look kindly on ADHD diagnoses for people looking to get pilots licenses, even private. It adds a bunch of extra hoops to jump through.

Being on anti-depressants is also a no-no as well it seems.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These idiots are so eager to write off what they don't understand ADHD is neurostructural ... you can see it in an MRI

Ah so the vaccines did it then! Should have put onions in your shoes and walked it off /s In all seriousness an explanation I've seen banded around that seemed far more plausible is that it's an obsolete evolutionary mutation. Once we moved to farming and tribes/society, we no longer needed people who could stay up all night and be able to notice something miniscule like leaves ruffling in the distance

I read that paper too.

Even so, it's a mutation that leaves the person incongruent with the world in a way that limits happiness and self actualisation.

Evolution or not.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#107
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the article says is that he thinks it is overdiagnosed, not that it is a scam. This may or may not be true, it's hard to tell. With ADHD, as with autism, there is likely a spectrum. And given that stimulant drugs show some benefits to almost everybody, where do you draw the line between "needs them to function normally" and "needs them to function optimally"?

Over-diagnosed, yup I'd agree with that, but I'd stick to my original "mostly a scam" statement. The pharmaceutical companies have taken a real disease, and spun it into a scam where they're pushing for wider and wider definitions for diagnosis. It's happening in Europe right now, but it's more apparent for those watching because we're not used to this frankly evil practice over here. And it is evil, because you're e…

[dead]

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#108

Roughly 30% of people I work with at a MAANG have moderate to severe ADHD. Real ADHD, not some self-diagnosed or casual self-deprecation.

Just a couple days ago, my wife and I were having this same exact conversation. In fact, I wonder if big tech company — as dystopian as this sounds — tries to attract individuals that exhibit strong ADHD traits. Side note: I'm 34 years old and just 3 days ago, was evaluated by a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with adult ADHD.

Perhaps it's high functioning because or with ADHD and/or easier to control people who feel more vulnerable.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've long fantasized what the story of "Grog, the hunter-gatherer with ADHD" would look like. It's... not pretty. - Stepping on a branch while hunting because of a fractal pattern in the nearby tree. - Get drop-kicked by a puma because they spent too much time looking at the ground while trying not to break a branch while hunting. - Getting distracted and missing their ability to ambush prey. - Their spear breaking b…

I don't know if that would match up with reality. I know several people who have ADHD and are hunters. They seem to find it very easy to focus on the hunt and all of the associated preparation and activities.

Not hunting, but it matches my experience with wildlife photography. I can spend hours carefully stalking animals because it feeds my dopamine imbalance. My distractions aren't random, because my brain is primed to respond to specific sounds and movements in my environment. Compare that to a sterile office where my mind wanders because that stimulation can't be found anywhere.

Re: Developer with ADHD? You’re not alone

#110
post #15
post #8

[flagged]

I’m so tired of people dismissing ADHD as something other than ADHD. My diet has evolved throughout my lifetime, but you know what hasn’t? My ADHD experience. I’ve always struggled to stay focused, get started, finish tasks, manage time and set priorities since I was a young child. Claiming it’s a food allergy — with no evidence! — just reinforces the idea that ADHD is a moral failing rather than a developmental diso…

i think you should increase you medicine intake so that you can understand what you read. I didn't say ADHD is a hoax but if you have food allergies and having internal lesions etc due to it, you can show symptoms similar to ADHD (being unable to focus etc) and one shouldn't dismiss this before going to a psychiatrist.
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