5 ms·
Ask HN: How to progress in career as a Software Developer with ADHD?
I have a decent job but I aim to get into FAANG or maybe work for a big startup or just ambitious folks. But my ADHD, doesn't allow me to focus on stuff that I don't find fun.
I can work on coding projects in a hyperfocus state for hours if I find it interesting. That is one of my strengths I would say.
Doing Leetcode religiously though, not so much.
- burner556 4y agoMedication is the only thing
- blamarvt 4y agoI feel like your comment is going to get some hate and I realize medication isn’t for everybody but it’s the primary reason for my career being moderately successful. I’ve been on basically the same dose for 15 years now and while it’s hard to say what my life would have been like without it I’m not sure I would have held a job for very long. The best glimpses I get are like right now when I’m preparing for bed my thoughts are everywhere. I remember vaguely how easily distracted I was and how I self medicated a bit with alcohol. Anyway, it works for me! I’m sure others have strategies that work for them.
- giraffe_lady 4y agoI don't hate the comment but I hate the reality it reflects. My unmedicated life is better in every possible way: I'm happier, more whimsical and joyous, I eat better and feel the music more, maintain a healthy weight and am a better friend and lover. But also I can't hold it together for more than a couple months of full time work without it. So I diminish myself in these ways, and those I care about most don't get the best of me as much as they could, and my health suffers in serious, concrete ways. I'm not young, and have done many kinds of work and had several careers, and am not looking for advice about this right now. I've established an adequate balance given the constraints, but god damn do I hate the constraints.
- magnetowasright 4y ago
- d--b 4y ago> But my ADHD, doesn't allow me to focus on stuff that I don't find fun. Look, I don’t want to be disrespectful but maybe you don’t have ADHD. From the accounts I have read online, adults with ADHD have a _reaaaaaally_ hard time focusing on anything. Like stopping sentences midway to chase butterflies. I find it utterly incompatible with being an engineer. So it’s not like you can’t focus (you said yourself), it’s that you don’t want to focus. Truth is everybody has a much harder time focusing on shitty half-baked non-testable legacy software than on greenfield interesting stuff. My former boss used to say: “remember, if you enjoy it, it’s not work”. It’s a bit effed up to be honest, but if you aspire to go to FAANG and be paid $250k+, you may have to agree to sweat a little.
- mjbeswick 4y agoI don't personally suffer from ADHD, but from what I understand it's a spectrum order with sub-types, so I affects everyone differently. Some people have trouble focusing their attention, while others are compulsive and suffer from lack self regulation and emotional issues.
- murph 4y agoAre you... gatekeeping a mental illness you don't have? :) I'm a software engineer with ADHD. I've been diagnosed by doctors, psychologists, and even imagery (SPECT scans). I work at a big tech company, and I'm very senior and well paid. They're totally compatible. It's not easy, but by adulthood most of us have a lot of skills to compensate, and sometimes medication. I'd liken focus with my ADHD to holding a firehouse - it's actually incredibly powerful, but difficult to control.
- elcritch 4y agoWhere did you get SPECT scans? > I'd liken focus with my ADHD to holding a firehouse - it's actually incredibly powerful, but difficult to control. Controlling the hyper focus can be hard. I liken my experience of adhd to learning horse riding and being given an unruly stallion for a brain while everyone else got well trained if slower horses. Except no one told you and blame you for not "wanting to work hard enough".
- epirogov 4y agoCould you please, look at a programming stone guide: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20293259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20293259 Alan Carter described ADHD as a power for programming in 2000 for me. https://www.datapacrat.com/Opinion/Reciprocality/add.html https://www.datapacrat.com/Opinion/Reciprocality/add.html My opinion is that ADHD is a tangle of questions that a person needs to understand. It may take half of his life, but the second half of his life will be excellent. Some people do not see those problems and inconsistencies in themselves that are visible to others and manifest as ADHD.