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Yes. I have ADHD and would never ever tell anyone in my workplace, especially my superiors. I don't want special treatment and I fully know that it would affect

Yes. I have ADHD and would never ever tell anyone in my workplace, especially my superiors. I don't want special treatment and I fully know that it would affect my chances of advancing into more leadership roles, because who would trust someone with a job who has a tendency to miss small things, be unorganized and other stigma. (If I were the decision-maker I sure as hell wouldn't) Yes it's hard for me and I often struggle, but I still feel great for bettering myself and powering through. Medicine is helping a lot for leveling the field, and ADHD hyperfocus can be surprisingly powerful for coding-related tasks.

girvo 5y ago
Only reason my boss knows is that he also has it and told me first lol. A solid 50+% of my office have diagnosed ADHD. Like finds like I suppose!
- artdigital 5y ago
  It's ironic that a common trait of ADHD is oversharing, so usually it's us having this urge to tell people first that we have it, rather than them asking
- taneq 5y ago
  Reminds me of that meme about neurodivergent people 'running in packs like poorly emotionally regulated wolves'. ;)
xwolfi 5y ago
But how would you describe to someone who is not diagnosed ? I have a child and would like to know signs: everything I read seems very normal, including that article. Like ofc it's better to transfer idiotic phone calls, block noise when focusing, not multitasking (multitasking is not even a thing, it can't be done, I've never seen it done perfectly, there's always a mistake made at some point even by the highest boss), or working from home in a controlled environment. Very honestly, I've always believed ADHD was something they told little kids they had so their parents wouldn't constantly scold them for being distracted by normal things and that would then scar them for life with a sickness... everybody has. The only thing that makes me believe it exists is I know I can focus monstruously for something very important, and I feel ADHD would prevent someone to even focus on something important ... but this article seems to say it's also possible, so...
- BirdieNZ 5y ago
  > how would you describe to someone who is not diagnosed ? Certain abilities that normal people mature in are stuck at the level of a fifteen-year-old for me and will be perpetually. Some of them are: Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly Ability to choose to do one task over another, and particularly an uninteresting task over an interesting one Ability to stop an interesting task to change to another important task Ability to stay on a single topic in thoughts and conversations Many people with ADHD also have the emotional regulation of a ~15 year old, perpetually. Most people can approximately remember how difficult those different abilities were when they were fifteen so there can be some level of empathy. When you were fifteen, university most likely "felt" very far away, and preparing for it "felt" not very important compared to your day-to-day. In hindsight, 15 is not far away from 18 and starting university, and there are many things you can do at 15 to make entering a good university easier.
  - emadabdulrahim 5y ago
    Everything you've listed (and more) have been major pain points for me for the last 14 years or so, but especially this one: > Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly I'm almost incapable of preparing and perceiving the nearness of future events until the panic settles in that I'm late, behind, etc. It is especially exacerbated for things that I'm not good at or have anxiety around, like giving a presentation, working on a large refactor/feature, buying gifts for an occasion, preparing for a trip that involves multiple transitions/transportation, interviews, etc etc. I'm getting evaluated for ADHD as I've recently been reading the literature and realizing that almost all the things I've been complaining about and trying to fix in myself for the last 10+ years, fall in the description and the features of ADHD.
    - skinkestek 5y ago
      > Everything you've listed (and more) have been major pain points for me for the last 14 years or so, but especially this one: >> Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly One way of putting it that I have found useful is that while other people have - now - in a minute - in five minutes - in an hour - tomorrow - next week for most ADHD people there only exist: - now - not now if it doesn't get done right now there is a fair chance it won't get done at all. This can explain jumping from task to task: the fear of not remembering it later. Also explains hyperfocus to aome degree: it is a learned trait to protect what little focus exist.
yata69420 5y ago
I mostly agree. I don't mind telling anyone if they're curious or if I do something very ADHD-typical that needs context. But the spin needs to be this makes me a more organized and diligent employee, which is probably true. I no longer have an interest in advancing toward leadership roles, so I get to be a bit more relaxed about it, but your point is well taken. > Medicine is helping a lot for leveling the field, and ADHD hyperfocus can be surprisingly powerful for coding-related tasks. This is true and I do it too. In a lot of ways I think I do a way better job than my co-workers at solving the hard problems. But the whole work dynamic has a very "take your amphetamines and get back to work" vibe which I'm not super happy about. I feel like I'm clearly abusing myself for money. But I have normie coworkers that seem happy to be doing the exact same job. And a lot of them have kids! I have no idea how people function. As far as I can tell, being employed in software is an exhausting and unfulfilling lifestyle (well, besides the money, that's great) and I'm literally counting the days until retirement.

girvo 5y ago

Only reason my boss knows is that he also has it and told me first lol. A solid 50+% of my office have diagnosed ADHD. Like finds like I suppose!

artdigital 5y ago
It's ironic that a common trait of ADHD is oversharing, so usually it's us having this urge to tell people first that we have it, rather than them asking
taneq 5y ago
Reminds me of that meme about neurodivergent people 'running in packs like poorly emotionally regulated wolves'. ;)

xwolfi 5y ago

But how would you describe to someone who is not diagnosed ? I have a child and would like to know signs: everything I read seems very normal, including that article. Like ofc it's better to transfer idiotic phone calls, block noise when focusing, not multitasking (multitasking is not even a thing, it can't be done, I've never seen it done perfectly, there's always a mistake made at some point even by the highest boss), or working from home in a controlled environment. Very honestly, I've always believed ADHD was something they told little kids they had so their parents wouldn't constantly scold them for being distracted by normal things and that would then scar them for life with a sickness... everybody has. The only thing that makes me believe it exists is I know I can focus monstruously for something very important, and I feel ADHD would prevent someone to even focus on something important ... but this article seems to say it's also possible, so...

BirdieNZ 5y ago
> how would you describe to someone who is not diagnosed ? Certain abilities that normal people mature in are stuck at the level of a fifteen-year-old for me and will be perpetually. Some of them are: Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly Ability to choose to do one task over another, and particularly an uninteresting task over an interesting one Ability to stop an interesting task to change to another important task Ability to stay on a single topic in thoughts and conversations Many people with ADHD also have the emotional regulation of a ~15 year old, perpetually. Most people can approximately remember how difficult those different abilities were when they were fifteen so there can be some level of empathy. When you were fifteen, university most likely "felt" very far away, and preparing for it "felt" not very important compared to your day-to-day. In hindsight, 15 is not far away from 18 and starting university, and there are many things you can do at 15 to make entering a good university easier.
- emadabdulrahim 5y ago
  Everything you've listed (and more) have been major pain points for me for the last 14 years or so, but especially this one: > Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly I'm almost incapable of preparing and perceiving the nearness of future events until the panic settles in that I'm late, behind, etc. It is especially exacerbated for things that I'm not good at or have anxiety around, like giving a presentation, working on a large refactor/feature, buying gifts for an occasion, preparing for a trip that involves multiple transitions/transportation, interviews, etc etc. I'm getting evaluated for ADHD as I've recently been reading the literature and realizing that almost all the things I've been complaining about and trying to fix in myself for the last 10+ years, fall in the description and the features of ADHD.
  - skinkestek 5y ago
    > Everything you've listed (and more) have been major pain points for me for the last 14 years or so, but especially this one: >> Ability to "feel" the nearness of the future, and plan and act accordingly One way of putting it that I have found useful is that while other people have - now - in a minute - in five minutes - in an hour - tomorrow - next week for most ADHD people there only exist: - now - not now if it doesn't get done right now there is a fair chance it won't get done at all. This can explain jumping from task to task: the fear of not remembering it later. Also explains hyperfocus to aome degree: it is a learned trait to protect what little focus exist.

yata69420 5y ago

I mostly agree. I don't mind telling anyone if they're curious or if I do something very ADHD-typical that needs context. But the spin needs to be this makes me a more organized and diligent employee, which is probably true. I no longer have an interest in advancing toward leadership roles, so I get to be a bit more relaxed about it, but your point is well taken. > Medicine is helping a lot for leveling the field, and ADHD hyperfocus can be surprisingly powerful for coding-related tasks. This is true and I do it too. In a lot of ways I think I do a way better job than my co-workers at solving the hard problems. But the whole work dynamic has a very "take your amphetamines and get back to work" vibe which I'm not super happy about. I feel like I'm clearly abusing myself for money. But I have normie coworkers that seem happy to be doing the exact same job. And a lot of them have kids! I have no idea how people function. As far as I can tell, being employed in software is an exhausting and unfulfilling lifestyle (well, besides the money, that's great) and I'm literally counting the days until retirement.