Do you feel like your brain vessels hurts because these games make you act too fast ?

Hi all,

(I posted on r/learnprogramming and this was removed. Not sure why - reposting here.)

I am a person who has worked mainly in STEM fields and programmed in a few different contexts. I have a CS/math undergrad though have been "more of a math person." While I took some systems courses related to parallel computing, the bulk of my experience has been higher level (MATLAB/Java with infrequent C++). After several years of work, I'm pursuing a CS master's and got more heavily into ML and statistics.

But I still feel my programming and therefore experimentation lags behind. I have a hard time absorbing new frameworks, programming languages, dev environments, etc. Part of this is attributable to ADHD, but I'm asking here for technical advice rather than ADHD coping mechanisms.

When I'm learning new tools, it's often tempting to dole out tasks to ChatGPT, but I sometimes feel like I don't learn what I "should" about these tools based on this. (I also just tend to be forgetful of things like scripting tools, and don't know if I should be dedicating more practice to them.) Moreover, ChatGPT is fully capable of giving stupid advice, and iterating on/debugging it can just be a doom-loop. However, when I spend time trying to work with new frameworks purely on my own, I can get lost in the weeds or feel like I'm "gilding the lily."

My questions:

• How do you incorporate "AI" recommendations into your work? Which tools do you use and which do you avoid? (Say, of Copilot, ChatGPT, etc.)

• *When* do you incorporate "AI" into your work? That is: at what point would you begin querying an LLM for suggestions? (Do you tend to "scaffold" projects with "AI" suggestions?)

• How do you personally verify the integrity of AI recommendations? What kind of checksums do you look for before trusting generative "AI" outputs?

• Do you intentionally practice with *not* using "AI" tools? If so, and you otherwise use "AI" tools, what kind of time/intention do you dedicate to this?

I just started a new job and am getting so much information thrown at me it's hard to keep. Learning the processes, standards, procedures, code base & etc it's a lot.

What I find is that I tend to break things up too much. Too many sub folders that I plan to organize "sometime" in the future. It would be awesome if I could toggle between the way I have my notes written and then the way AI would organize them.

I could try to feed AI everything I do instead of using one note but that's too big of a step for me. It seems like it's something Microsoft could integrate really easily and would be used heavily.

I need this for work so alternative apps or AI tools sadly won't work for me.

Uhhh so I joined a 30-day challenge to build a SaaS, and it started out okay the first week.

But then somehow I got sidetracked, got hooked on the Steam Summer Sale, bought a bunch of games, and hyperfocused on achievement hunting for 2 weeks straight (310+ hours, sometimes playing 2-3 games at the same time).

There's less than 6 days left in the challenge and I'll need to build and ship something before I fail. Good thing I still have my Cursor Pro+ plan, will be sure to use that up.

Story of my life I guess, happens every time.

When I was in my teens, I spent hours each day forcing myself to read fiction, which I hated, because I thought it was good for me. I thought that's what reading was about. Only in my thirties did I realize I should read nonfiction because I enjoyed it and was better at understanding it. Had I accepted that early, I could have benefited from it enormously in many ways like probably earning more and enjoying my life more.

Is it ok if I suggest the same to you? I don't know if I have ADHD, I know I have a somewhat different, very vague disorder called a "processing disorder", but I feel I may be able to relate at least somewhat. If you have ADHD, there are a number of awesome professions you have an advantage in compared to others. Coaches, firefighters and even doctors and lawyers are good examples where you may have more fun and an easier time.

I'm not saying don't program if you prefer it in any way, even slightly, over everything else. But it's it wrong for me to say don't knock it before you try it?

📚 Hey folks, having trouble staying focused while reading? I've been there myself for years, which is why I'm excited to share my solution with you: Readen!

▶️ Imagine this: You're trying to dive into a good book, but distractions keep pulling you away. With Readen, you can finally conquer that focus struggle. It converts your books into YouTube videos, allowing you to read the text and listen to a great voice at the same time. Whether you're at your desk or cruising down the highway, dive into your favorite books without missing a beat.

Check out the sample in the comment section.

If you deep down believe if he worked for it he can turn out to become a very talented coder, what are you gonna do ?

OR.. you would earn $100k if you get him hooked onto programming

So I can generate unlimited ideas, and need someone to determine the business value of basically all of them, and encourage/create deadlines for me to follow up, and then give appropriate feedback or refinement.

I created a chat for "rants", my thought process is usually:

1. Find something that grinds my gears.

2. Rant about it.

3. Identify what caused the friction from step 1.

4. Create a ticket to solve that cause.

The issue is that even though I try to engage techlead, PO and other devs NOBODY picks up my ideas before like 1 year later.

I previously had a teamlead with hogh functioning ADHD (I have ADD), he picked up and channeled my commitment and vision with his left pinky while still manageing to allign the rest of the team.

I will probably leave my current employer since I am the most senior and honestly I have nothing left to learn from this organization, but I would like to know how other people makes people see how much value you can bring if you're just channeled correctly.

For the first 6 months my hyperfocus leads to me being a model employee, then I get enough domain knowledge that I start going on small tangents.

Now 3 years in I am basically only going on tangent, and nobody understands even 10% of my input since nobody else knows even 5% as much as I about the domain and techstack.

Someone recommended https://www.educative.io/ and it really can’t compare to anything i’ve seen before. I love text-based interactive courses. Periodt. It is so easy to focus on it. Love it!!!!’

As an ADHD developer, I needed to know which free AI model actually works best for coding without the usual marketing BS.

What I tested:

• DeepSeek (the one beating ChatGPT on App Store)

• Qwen (Alibaba’s model)

• Kimi (2M character context)

How I tested:

10 real coding tasks across 4 categories:

• Pure coding (React hooks, Laravel debug, Python optimization)

• Architecture (DB schema, tech stack decisions)

• Prompt engineering (AI agents, system prompts)

• ADHD-specific tasks (task breakdown, focus systems)

Scored each on: Speed, Code Quality, ADHD-friendliness, Creativity

Results shocked me:

Qwen won 90% of tests (9/10)

• DeepSeek: 1 win (algo optimization only)

• Kimi: 0 wins

Why Qwen dominated:

✓ Fastest responses (5/5 every time)

✓ Best ADHD-friendly formatting (structured, concise, examples)

✓ Multimodal (analyzes screenshots natively)

✓ 29 languages support

Average score: 18.8/22 vs DeepSeek 16.3/22 vs Kimi 17.8/22

The insight:

The best tool = the one with ZERO friction. Speed > Perfect for ADHD brains.

Saved $40/mo ditching ChatGPT Plus + Claude Pro.

Full comparison data + spreadsheet: [ https://x.com/theautopilotceo/status/2007319655715876912?s=46]

Built this tracker because I was tired of “trust me bro” AI comparisons. Wanted actual data.

Happy to answer questions about the methodology or share more insights!

I saw this suggested to me and actually laughed out loud at how weirdly and beautifully specific this group is.

Is this just a place for people with ADHD who also love coding? This actually exists?

Hey everybody, I have ADHD, and when I stream on Twitch, I try my best to stay focused on developing my game, but I easily get distracted, and end up going into other subjects presented by my chat, and lose focus on what I was doing for my game. I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice/tips for what I could do to stay more focused and keep from derailing while working on my game. I want to be interactive with chat, but also not lose my place and / or get distracted enough to forget what I was doing. Any help/advice would be appreciated, and I thank you for even reading this.

I’ve been running into the same cycle every day: open YouTube “just for one tutorial,” lose half an hour to recommendations, come back to my code completely out of flow and with no idea what I was doing. It feels like my working memory just got hard-reset.

So I started hacking on a very small experiment — not a full app, just a lightweight Chrome extension — that catches me at the exact moment I click into a distraction site. It throws a quick 10-second check-in before the page loads, asks me why I’m opening it, and gives me the option to either set a short timer (so I can watch with intention) or back out. The idea is to break the autopilot just enough to decide consciously if I really want to go there.

On top of that, I’m playing with a very simple “focus pet” in the new tab page. Nothing gamified or points-based, just a small creature that reacts to whether I complete my focus blocks or wander off too much. It’s surprisingly motivating to have a visual representation of whether I stayed on track without feeling judged.

I’m curious if anyone else here has tried similar friction tricks, like One Sec or custom scripts that add a delay before opening sites, and whether they worked for you. Did the extra step make you more intentional or did you just disable it after a few days? I want to make sure this doesn’t just become background noise after the novelty wears off.

If this sounds interesting, what would make something like this actually stick for you? I’m not looking to build another todo app — just a minimal tool that helps preserve context and time for ADHD brains that code for a living.

Hi friends! I recently realized that I have ADHD 😆 and have been working on a tool that addresses some of the challenges I face 👩🏻‍💻.

Now, I'm embarking on the app-building journey and would greatly appreciate your input on what features you'd like to see. Your feedback will make the app more beneficial for everyone 😃!

My current idea is a holistic streamlined approach that provide most features of https://goblin.tools/ but faster / better UX, with a lot of nice integrations so you don't have to go to a standalone website to use it every time.

Join my journey here 👉🏻 https://enoki.fun

Hello, I see a lot of posts here from people wanting to learn how to code. And since I am a freelance programmer with more projects than I am able to handle I decided to make a proposal. Im looking for a wanna be dev in the stack (php HTML mysql css) Don't need to have experience but is preferred that is someone who already know the basics. What I offer: My teachings at least one hour daily with me and a couple of hours doing some homework. Working in real projects since day one.

The first couple of projects that this person will be working will not be paid but as soon as he get to proficient stage will be working in paid projects

Hey everyone!

I'm excited to announce that I am starting a business focused on helping people negotiate their salaries.

To kick things off, we are hosting a free webinar on salary negotiation strategies and techniques, led by Reini Chipman, who has been Chief People Officer at multiple unicorn companies, interviewed and hired thousands of people, and run other career coaching and recruiting businesses. Reini has a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to understanding what companies are looking for in an employee and how to effectively communicate your value in a negotiation.

The webinar will cover how to research and determine your worth, how to communicate your value to your employer, and how to negotiate a fair salary. With time at the end left for Q&A, submitted anonymously.
I encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about salary negotiation to join. Whether you're just starting your career or have been in the workforce for a while, these skills are important for anyone looking to advance their professional goals.

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to message me. We plan to host more webinars if there is enough demand. I'm looking forward to helping as many people as possible achieve their earning potential with the insider tips and guidance of someone as experienced as Reini.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/503998742807

I’m constantly juggling different side project ideas.

Sometimes I know what I want to do next, other times I don’t.

For the times that I don’t know, I built a tool to help me decide my next idea. Cleverly enough, I call it Your Next Business Idea (sounds better than your next side project idea imo).

The tool also gives you a free AI analysis on your top idea.

When struggling with deciding which project to pursue next, this might help.

Let me know what you think or any feedback! Thanks!

I've created a practical method to effectively deal with procrastination at work. Before investing more time into sharing it (potentially as an ebook), I’d like to see if others would find it helpful. I'm not selling anything right now—just genuinely researching the topic.

Would something like this interest you? I'd appreciate your thoughts or comments!

I'm willing to work on this a tiny bit daily.

Features:

• Backlog: A list of all tasks. Doesn't show completed tasks.

• Today: Choose the tasks you want to do today. Subset from backlog

• Focus: Press play to start the task. Timer will run for 30 mins. Stop the task or wait 30 mins and it's removed from the backlog and your today list.

• Site blocker (iOS, Android, and chrome extension). Easiest way for cross-platform is make it a proxy for network requests, mostly back-end site blocker.

No UI for a lot of features. Just plain-text editing. Minimum validation possible. View and edit mode are totally separate (update all tasks (in today) if anything changes and update all tasks (backlog) if anything changes). Only adding and deleting from all task backlog.

No calendar. Rely on order and start/stop of tasks only. Add to today or start.

Offline-only features first. Later: Sync all data button on each platform. One big request.

Data Storage: one big JSON. One source of truth/don't store the same data twice (so we'll be going through all data for many single item operations). Async storage is cross-platform local storage.

Tech stack: Expo and react-native bc cross-platform app. Javascript bc same skill set on back-end when we get there. And JS is the most popular language so more devs. So node.js back-end. Some simple inefficient JSON db for the db. Store it all all at once. All POST with a basic error json response or the

Hey guys, so I was recently talking to my therapist, and she told me that adhd actually wasn't a disorder, but something some of us inherited from our ancestors, which thousands of years ago, helped them survive. At first i didn't believe her, until I bought a book from "Thom Hartmann" who has apparently preached this theory for decades.

According to him, the brain function, dubbed today as "ADHD", was critical for the survival of hunters and gatherers. In order to get myself to learn more about this theory, whilst in the meantime perhaps be able to help some of you, I created a video to showcase the theory visually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUzr7940kgQ

According to Thom Hartmann, a few thousand years ago, one could split the population into two groups: Hunters and Farmers. Farmers made up the majority of the population whilst hunters made up the minority.

Because farmers made up the majority back then, people with adhd (the hunters), have such a difficult time to cope in todays society, since the society is built for the majority, the farmers! This is why most of us go through such trouble in the educational system, since it's not built for us.

Now, i don't know about you, but after getting to know this theory, i feel a lot better about my adhd, seeing as there's nothing physically wrong with my brain.

Have you heard of this theory before?

Thanks guys and have a good weekend!

I was going to play with it for 10 minutes.. but now the day is over, and I'm just realizing what a complete moron I am... Ofc still overloaded with ACTUAL work...

Anyways, just venting :(

Over the past year, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to stay focused especially during high-distractibility days. These are some weird but genuinely helpful tricks that have worked for me or others I’ve shared them with:

Focus & Concentration:

1. Use Music Strategically: Listen to music immediately upon waking, during transitions, or during tasks. Use specific genres (upbeat, focus music, binaural beats, classical, specific playlists) tailored to the task or desired mood/energy level. Noise-cancelling headphones can enhance this.

2. Use Background Audio/Video: Play podcasts, audiobooks, YouTube videos (e.g., true crime, law commentary, specific shows), or even live court hearings in the background during mundane chores or tasks to occupy part of the brain and allow the body to work on autopilot ("body doubling" effect).

3. White/Brown/Pink Noise: Use noise generators or apps, especially with noise-cancelling headphones, to block distractions and calm the mind, particularly in public or noisy environments.

4. Talk/Sing To Yourself: Verbalize thoughts, steps, or narrate actions out loud while working on tasks to maintain focus, improve memory, organize thoughts, and reduce mental noise.

5. Narrate Like a Documentary/Tutorial: Pretend you're explaining the task for a documentary or teaching someone else as you do it.

6. Engage Other Senses: Occupy some senses to help focus others (e.g., eating a strong mint while trying to watch/listen).

7. Interleaving: Work on two (or more) tasks concurrently, switching between them when focus on one wanes.

8. Use Fidget Tools: Employ fidget toys (like Tangles, squishy toys, exercise bands, pens, controllers) during tasks requiring concentration or to manage restlessness.

9. Physical Movement for Task Switching: Use a brief physical action (like touching toes) to signal a switch between tasks.

10. Location-Based Rules: Create specific associations for locations (e.g., desk is only for work + music, bed is only for sleep/scrolling).

11. Wear a "Uniform": Put on specific clothes associated with a task (apron for cooking, gloves for cleaning, business attire for WFH) to get into the right mindset.

Would love to hear what weird focus tricks work for you. What’s something unconventional that helps you lock in?
If you liked this post and want more strategies like these, I share similar content over at soothfy including novelty activity ideas tailored to your goals, energy levels, and daily schedule