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.<p>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: or you cannot work with interruptions at all.<p>Anecdotally: I was a sysadmin (that coded) and I got pretty close to an ADHD diagnosis but was warned off of it by the Swedish health authority (I've talked about it before on HN; basically that my insurances would increase and it could affect mortgages, cannot hold certain vehicle licenses etc;).
I appreciate the article's efforts to raise awareness, that said, as a developer with ADHD I wish 'hyperfocus' wasn't always trotted out as a kind of ADHD superpower. The inability to control your attention in order to achieve complex tasks and effect desired outcomes is ADHD. So called 'hyperfocus' is just as likely to waste your time on something unrelated and unhelpful to what you want to do. It's like telling a sleepwalker "Hey, cheer up, sometimes you end up in the office and you can skip your commute!"
I've been diagnosed with ADHD 4 times by 4 separate qualified clinicians and stimulant medication undoubtedly makes me more effective, so asked and answered I guess.<p>But I sort of philosophically struggle with the "disorder" bit of it. I live in a box with a glass wall facing other boxes with glass walls and type into a computer screen any time that I'm not actively going to the gym or doing something outdoors becuase the default thing I do is try to create enough material prosperity to exist.<p>This seems like something that would have a caveman climbing the walls, which is roughly how I feel about the glass box / computer screen routine when I'm not on ADHD medication.<p>Is is "neurotypical" to be perfectly at ease spending hours hunched in front of a screen under artifical light in order to eat, or is it "neurotypical" to be fantasizing that the pool cue next to my monitor would fly pretty straight if a lion walked through the door?
In my experience: yes, programming often pairs well with ADHD because it’s an ongoing stream of novel problems to solve.<p>That said, as we’ve injected more and more process into software development over the last decade or so I’ve found it harder and harder to engage. I respect its necessity but JIRA is nearly the opposite of the exploratory experience of programming.
Anyone have tips for how they manage their ADHD, specifically when you aren't able to get yourself motivated at all with the task at hand or feel like you have too may balls to juggle?<p>I really struggle with yak shaving and perfection being the enemy of good as well, my ADHD often devolves into OCD like behaviors.
<i>>A perfect fit?<p>>Many developers with ADHD feel their job is a perfect fit for how they think and approach problems. “Coding can give ADHD brains exactly the kind of stimulation they crave,” explains full-stack developer Abbey Perini. “Not only is coding a creative endeavor that involves constantly learning new things, but also once one problem is solved, there’s always a brand new one to try.”<p>>In addition to a revolving door of fresh challenges that can keep people with ADHD engaged, coding can reward and encourage a state of hyperfocus: a frequently cited symptom of ADHD that developer Neil Peterson calls “a state of laser-like concentration in which distractions and even a sense of passing time seem to fade away.” It’s easy to draw parallels between hyperfocus and the flow state, a distraction-free groove in which programmers, writers, musicians, artists, and other creators produce their best work (occasionally while forgetting to eat). Our paid platform, Stack Overflow for Teams, is popular with developers in large part because it helps them avoid distraction and protect the productive sanctity of their flow state.</i><p>How much of the "hyperfocus" is just from all of the Adderall these people are popping--both those with actual ADHD, and those just feigning it to get pills from their Dr to boost their productivity?<p>If anything, it would seem like people with autism spectrum disorder, who can hyperfocus without popping pills, would be the perfect fit (and were seen as such 10-20 years ago). I actually wonder what % of SV SWEs (especially at FAANG) would lose their jobs, or wouldn't have gotten them to begin with, if Adderall didn't exist.
Although presently there is a strong institutional drive to disconnect nearly everything from IQ, the traditional medical dogma is that median IQ for ADHD individuals is lower than average. That's not to say that there aren't higher IQ individuals with ADHD.<p>But if IQ skews lower, what explains the paradox between this traditional view and supposed ADHD concentration in STEM?<p>My working theory is that ADHD-PI is actually an autism spectrum symptom and skews higher IQ.<p>ADHD hyperactive is probably still clinically related to ADHD-PI, but I'd guess that the hyperactive expression is just enough outside of the spectrum to disconnect it from AS. And that the higher IQ related "symptom" is less likely to be present as well.<p>Possibly due to a less overactive visual cortex: the increased visual processing theoretically being related to the daydreaming symptom of PI. And the attentional fatigue that triggers the daydreaming being related to ADHD-PI as well, in addition to the possibility of it being related to AS.<p>Although I don't work in IT, I suspect that the presence of ADHD-PI skews higher than expected in comparison with the hyperactive expression.
I was astounded by the popularity of the term ADHD on HN. There are 48,000 posts and over a million comments. If you want to verify this, use ADHD not adhd in your search.
As someone with ADHD, sysadmin work is the most pleasant. I actually dislike programming most of the time. So many things I have to keep track of, and programming languages only get more and more abstract.
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.
_Super_ unpopular opinion; I think ADHD is largely a scam, as this guy claims:<p><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/big-pharma-s-manufactured-epidemic-the-misdiagnosis-of-adhd/" rel="nofollow">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/big-pharma-s-manu...</a><p>People react very strongly to this view. I have a theory on why that is, but won't rile you up even further by posting it.<p>I'm not trying to be controversial, but American pharmaceutical companies have started lobbying European countries governments to get kids diagnosed early with ADHD (as it is in America), and it's terrifying. Teachers are just letting it happen, because; surprise! little Timmy is so much better behaved now that he's on pills, and dealing with 30 kids is hard.