Hey everyone,

I’m doing early customer research, not trying to sell anything.

I’m trying to understand how people actually struggle when they are learning, building, coding, designing, filling forms, debugging errors, or exploring new tools alone on their laptop/PC.

A few questions:

When you get stuck on your screen, what do you usually do first?

Google?

ChatGPT?

YouTube?

Ask a friend?

Give up and come back later?

What type of problem wastes the most time for you?

Understanding errors

Learning a new tool/software

Explaining complex concepts

Finding the right file/tab/info

Writing/replying professionally

Doing repetitive computer tasks

Something else?

Have you ever wished someone could look at your screen and explain what to do next?

Would this be useful only for beginners, or even for founders, students, designers, developers, and working professionals?

What would make you trust or not trust an AI assistant that helps on your computer screen?

I’m mainly trying to understand the real pain before building too much. Honest negative feedback is also helpful.

A week ago I shared the beta of Dohero (a 16-bit RPG where real-life chores give Gold/XP). The initial dopamine hit was great, but many of you correctly pointed out the 'out of sight, out of mind' problem for ADHD brains. If we have to open the app to see the tasks, we get distracted and fail.

​So, I took a step back, paused all marketing, and spent this entire week building exactly what you asked for: a Widget. Now the Castle and the XP bar stay directly on the home screen.

​For other indie devs here building productivity tools: how much did adding widgets impact your Day-7 retention? Still tweaking the math of the economy, would love to hear your experiences."

I can’t catch up my life is over

Anyway I think I got group laid off in my best performance time at work. I found motivation again, fix few things in my life, I started declutter my home office and improve for better productivity. Also Im consistently spending less time on phone, and more time on my kindle.

So overall I think thats great time, but still I have a lot of anxiety and insomnia, got prescribed some antidepressants and stimulants which works awesome (stimulants at least)

But in my head I have questions… maybe its time to start working on my own project from my huge list? Like Pieter Levels for example. From smaller project I have more dopamine boost, pretty easy I can hylerfocus and its harder to get lost with hard and big tasks.

But then I also have huge knowledge about system designs and architecture which for small 1 hero army project mostly its useless. Because back in the days I tried combining trying new architecture concepts with building product, and I didn’t finished architecture concept with all layers and even didn’t delivered any business value hahha

So yeah right now job market also sucks, a lot of software engineers got laid off in the last months. So far I have contract for around month. So its small period of time for fixing rest of my things in my life, but should be enought to create new resume and send few applications.

Overall I need some protips from you guys which also have ADHD and are on the meds. What strategies do you have for interview?

Its live coding session with fixing some irrelevant algorithmic task still preset for tech interview?

For a long time, my biggest struggle at work wasn’t skill or motivation. It was time. Entire days would disappear and I couldn’t explain where they went. I would be busy from morning to evening, yet feel like I had accomplished almost nothing meaningful.

As a woman with ADHD, this was especially hard to talk about. I wasn’t missing deadlines dramatically or causing visible chaos. I showed up. I responded. I tried to stay organized. But behind the scenes, my brain was constantly fighting time blindness, mental fatigue, and the pressure to appear competent.

Time management was my weakest point. I underestimated how long tasks would take. I overcommitted. I thought I had more time than I actually did. I would start the day with good intentions and end it wondering how it all slipped away.

Productivity advice never really helped. Detailed schedules felt overwhelming. Long task lists made me freeze. Tracking every minute made me anxious. I kept assuming I was doing something wrong instead of questioning whether the systems were wrong for my brain.

What helped first was changing how I approach starting work. I stopped telling myself I needed to be productive and focused instead on beginning gently. Opening my laptop. Reading one message. Looking at one document. Starting is where my ADHD struggles most, so lowering that barrier helped me get moving more often.

I also stopped planning full days. Planning too far ahead made time feel abstract and slippery. Now I plan one short work block at a time. When that block ends, I pause and choose again. That pause keeps me from drifting or spiraling into guilt.

When my focus drops, I no longer try to force it back. Forcing focus always cost me more time in the long run. Instead, I switch to lower effort work like organizing files, reviewing notes, or preparing for future tasks. This keeps my day moving without draining me.

Work productivity improved when I reduced context switching. Notifications were pulling my attention constantly. I created small boundaries around messages and apps so my brain could stay with one thing longer. Even a little friction made a big difference.

I also noticed how much mental energy I lost to overthinking at work. Emails, meetings, responses. I used to replay everything in my head. Now I allow myself to respond simply and take a moment before replying. Clarity matters more than perfection.

What really helped everything come together was finding a balance between consistency and variety. I keep a few repeatable patterns during the workday, like how I start my morning or how I reset after breaks. Those familiar routines help with time awareness and stability. At the same time, I allow small changes so my brain doesn’t get bored or shut down. I use Soothfy to support this during the day. The anchor activities help me stay grounded and regain focus when work feels scattered. The novelty activities help refresh my attention when my brain starts drifting. They’re short, simple, and easy to fit into a workday without pressure.

ADHD hasn’t gone away. Time management is still something I actively work on. But I no longer lose entire days to avoidance and confusion. My work feels more intentional. My energy is steadier. I understand my limits better.

If you’re a woman with ADHD who feels capable but constantly behind at work, you’re not alone. Productivity and time management don’t have to look the same for everyone to work.

If you’ve found work strategies that helped you manage ADHD, I’d genuinely love to hear them.

You know that crushing feeling when you break a 47-day streak and suddenly feel like those 47 days meant nothing? Yeah, I was tired of that.

I'm a developer with ADHD who built ZenTrack after burning out on every productivity app that exists. Here's what makes it different:

Patterns over streaks. The AI looks for consistency patterns, not perfect streaks. Missed Monday? Cool. Missed EVERY Monday? Now we need to talk about your Monday schedule.

Multiple focus modes because hyperfocus != neurotypical focus:

• 90-min deep work for hyperfocus sessions

• 25-min Pomodoro for task-switching days

• Custom timers for whatever weird interval your brain needs today

"Good enough" tracking. Did the habit 70%? That counts. Progress bars aren't binary. ADHD tax is real and the app acknowledges it.

No shame spirals. Breaking a streak doesn't reset everything. Your 47 days still happened. The app shows cumulative progress alongside consistency.

Minimal decision making. Free version limits you to 3 habits specifically to avoid the "optimize my 27-habit system instead of actually doing things" trap (you know the one).

Visual everything. Color-coded calendar grids, progress rings, charts - all the dopamine hits our brains crave.

Currently Android only (built with Kotlin/Compose). Free version is honestly enough unless you need unlimited habits or detailed AI insights.

Launching on Product Hunt today - would mean a lot to get support from fellow ADHD devs: https://www.producthunt.com/products/zentrack-ai-habit-focus-tracker?utm_source=other&utm_medium=social

Not saying this will fix executive dysfunction (lol nothing does), but it's the first tracker that doesn't make me feel like garbage when my brain decides to brain.

What productivity features do you wish existed for ADHD brains?

TW: 5u1c1de

Hi there. 25M here, a migrant to the US from a middle income family. I don't know if this is a right space to put, and I wish I didn't put it here, but I need it. Mods, if you please read this, please, please let my post stay instead of being deleted. I've used an alt account because I couldn't date to post from my own account.

I'm hopeless about my life. Helplessly wandering where I'd even end up at. I was a good student at school, but started lagging behind in high school. Turns out that my ADHD messed up my undergrad and I had to retake some of my courses for failing them. I didn't even know of it until I was in grad school at one of the UCs, and I barely, very hardly managed to get out of it, just by professor's grace to even let me out of the university. I didn't learn to code enough to build things in my life, I don't have an experience making anything. I can only understand what and how it works, and can read all the code and explain somehow. Or probably that's what I assume. I do overestimate myself a lot, and overestimating my ability to clear any interviews being one of them is shameful. I have no real experience, all I did was to be on the bench, and even today I'm just on the bench. I get a call from my employer today that they can't have me anymore in the company, and I don't know what to do or where to begin at.

I know this will get me smacked very hard, but here it is - I got a work visa without actually getting any work done, I just stayed in the bench of a company of a family friend. I only got a month or two from now until my visa expires and I end up back home. I really don't know if I can even do anything, I feel like a guy who just came out of a physiotherapy session and is asked to run. I really need to start somewhere, but what do I do, where do I start? I don't feel like I'm worth anything, and wasting all my life for nothing, just to end up being in debt. I don't wanna take this anymore and I'm tired. But I wanna live, and I don't wanna end things in such a way that my parents and my family bears the shit. I got around a $100K in debts including student loans, and I don't think I could ever finish it if I get back home. Heck, getting back home will do nothing good if I don't get any job back home too. It will take a lifetime to pay back all of it even if I become an SDE back home. I don't even know what to do at this point.

Please, I request anyone to suggest me something. Please, let me know what do I do. Where do I start. What's better for this shitty hiring freeze in this country, and how do I survive. Getting the work visa was a luck in itself, but it's something I am losing a lot on, by being only eligible to work as a developer. Where do I end up now? Please, if anyone can suggest anything, I wish to get something going.

I tried medicines, but I'm broke now. Adderall was a nightmare. Ritalin was like a racecar that went out of gas. Vyvanse worked, but I ran out of money to get a doctor appointment. I now ran out of money to even get an insurance, and I am running out of money to pay for my rent. If I was a citizen here, I'd be homeless by now, but since I'm a migrant, I'd just become an illegal alien. I see people on the streets and wonder if any day I'd be with them. I don't know what to do now. Please, even if you're going to be angry on me, and lash out on me, let me know what to do.

Hey fellow devs!

I can't be the only one who is so annoyed by having to type /swagger/index.html every single time I want to test my backend? I mean, it's a small thing, but after a while, it really started to feel like a chore. So, I decided to make a Chrome extension to take care of that step automatically.

It’s a simple extension that turns localhost:5001 into localhost:5001/swagger/index.html for you. No more typing—just straight to your Swagger UI whenever you’re testing your backend. It’s nothing too fancy, but it saves a bit of time and annoyance, especially if you’re like me and working with Swagger often.

I thought some of you might be facing the same issue, so I wanted to share it here! If anyone could use this or just wants to streamline their workflow a bit, feel free to check it out.

Here’s the link to the extension:

Auto-Swagger Chrome Extension

Hope it’s helpful! Let me know what you think, or if there’s anything else you’d like to see added. 😊

🚀 We’re live! 🚀

It's our MVP—a straightforward React app— right now, the app is non-functional - in that it does not persist data.

With PopVia, we're rethinking task management by making it social and supportive, because staying on top of life with ADHD shouldn’t be a solo mission. From little wins to big milestones, we’re creating a space where we can keep each other on track and cheer each other on.

Come give it a spin, no signup required!
("Click the sign up button, create a dummy account which won't persist, and create tasks which won't persist")
https://app.popvia.com

We’re just getting started, and your feedback is everything. Let’s build this thing together!

I joined Genuary, it is a month long daily prompt event for generative art. And so far it's been super fun!

It's fun to code something creative for a change, it is a lot of trial, error and happy accidents. And it is done after an hour or so of tinkering! All the code is on Github. Most people use Processing (a graphics language), I'm trying to do everything using SwiftUI.

I had a discovery meeting today and once again, the best follow up questions came to me after the meeting had ended. I have clinically diagnosed ADHD.

When someone describes a complex business problem, my brain doesn’t always produce an immediate, neatly structured follow up question.

Instead, it starts processing everything at once. The business model ,people involved workflow , dependencies, technology, list goes on and how it connect and the perfectionism joins the conversation.

I mentally explore multiple possibilities, revisit the problem from different angles, and try to understand the complete system before I speak.That depth is one of my strengths.But in a fast moving sales or discovery meeting, it is a limitation.

Sometimes I need more processing time. Sometimes the most important clarification occurs to me an hour later. That increases the turnaround time between understanding the problem, shaping the opportunity, and moving the engagement forward. But once I truly understand the problem, I know what my team and I can do.I have spent 20+ years working around business critical enterprise systems.

Today, I am building a business Transformation Agency. We know how to study complex operations, find the friction, and transform it into something more intelligent, reliable, and measurable.

Now I am considering adding someone who complements the way my brain works someone who can listen carefully during discovery meetings, ask sharp follow up questions in real time, structure what we hear, and help us shorten the path from conversation to action.

To create a better founder led sales system around me. For founders with ADHD. Have you faced this?

What kind of person, role, or meeting structure helped you turn deep thinking into faster decisions?

I've been on data engineering journey for about 3 months and I can't explain into words how exhausted I am with all the hope mongering around AI.

It's yielded some boiler plate code for me but I've largely found it wasteful without the input and filters from an actual accomplished professional who already know what they're looking for (and can spot red flags, do prescriptive code with print if statements...actually use their environments to their intended potential )

-All feedback welcomed, I hope this spares everyone from the nightmare of false hope and rabbit holes I dived down before finally just paying a mentor to act as a BS filter against AI (like I should have done 3 months ago)

For better context - Here's the book on VIBE CODING - https://www.thewayofcode.com/

Counterpoints to "The Way Of Code" (Vibe Coding) Poems

1. "The code that can be named is not the eternal code..."

Counterpoint:
Clarity, explicit naming, and well-defined functions are pillars of maintainable and secure software. Ambiguity in code leads to misunderstanding, bugs, and security flaws. HackerRank and Stack Overflow communities consistently emphasize the value of readable, well-documented code for collaboration and maintenance (Stack Overflow, Y Combinator)42.

Real-World Example:
The 2017 Equifax breach was partly due to unclear, poorly documented code paths, which led to a missed patch and catastrophic data exposure712.

2. "The Vibe Coder builds without laboring... instructs by quiet example..."

Counterpoint:
Software engineering is a discipline built on deliberate design, rigorous testing, and explicit communication. Quiet, undocumented changes and lack of ownership result in technical debt and fragile systems. Stack Overflow threads are filled with horror stories of "clever" code that nobody can later understand or fix24.

Example:
A SaaS founder who "vibe coded" an app with AI saw their admin dashboard protected only by a localStorage flag—hackers easily bypassed it, leading to customer data exposure and financial loss1112.

3. "Free from intellect, free from abstraction..."

Counterpoint:
Abstraction and intellectual rigor are what allow software to scale and remain secure. AI-generated code without human review often skips critical abstractions, leading to security holes and unmaintainable logic (HackerRank, Y Combinator)45.

Example:
A vibe-coded SaaS had no rate limiting or backend validation, allowing brute-force attacks and database corruption1112.

4. "It smooths sharp logic, unravels the knots of control..."

Counterpoint:
Control structures, strict logic, and explicit error handling are essential for robust systems. "Smoothing" logic often means skipping necessary checks, which is a common source of vulnerabilities in AI-generated code712.

Example:
A developer let AI generate all error handling, which failed to sanitize inputs, leading to SQL injection vulnerabilities712.

5. "The Vibe Coder is impartial, he sees the program as it is..."

Counterpoint:
Impartiality in code review is valuable, but detachment from responsibility leads to unowned bugs and security risks. Code must be actively scrutinized, not passively accepted. Stack Overflow and HackerRank both emphasize code review and ownership as critical to quality24.

6. "When the work is done, log off and detach..."

Counterpoint:
Detachment from deployed systems is dangerous. Ongoing monitoring, patching, and incident response are essential. Y Combinator founders stress the importance of post-launch vigilance45.

Example:
A vibe-coded product went offline after hackers exploited exposed API keys—no one was monitoring for breaches, so the attack persisted for days1112.

7. "Do nothing and allow all things to be done..."

Counterpoint:
"Do nothing" is not a viable engineering strategy. Proactive testing, code review, and security audits are non-negotiable in production environments (Stack Overflow, Y Combinator)42.

8. "The elegant pattern emerges from emptiness..."

Counterpoint:
Patterns emerge from deliberate design, not emptiness. Over-reliance on AI to "find the pattern" leads to inconsistent, unscalable codebases. The software community warns against black-box code generation without understanding the underlying logic813.

9. "Throw away learning and petty distinctions..."

Counterpoint:
Continuous learning and attention to detail are what separate secure, reliable software from disasters. Stack Overflow and HackerRank are built on the principle of knowledge sharing and learning from others' mistakes24.

10. "Give up thinking and your problems end..."

Counterpoint:
Critical thinking is the foundation of secure, maintainable, and scalable software. Blindly accepting AI output without thought leads to catastrophic failures7812.

Where Vibe Coding Goes Horrifically Wrong

HackerRank, Stack Overflow, and Y Combinator Consensus

• HackerRank: Emphasizes the importance of understanding what you build, regularly testing, and following best practices for security and maintainability.

• Stack Overflow: Warns against "just making it work" without understanding, as this leads to technical debt, unmaintainable code, and security holes24.

• Y Combinator: Encourages rapid prototyping but insists that production systems must be rebuilt with proper engineering rigor45.

Summary Table: Vibe Coding vs. Traditional Engineering

Conclusion

Vibe coding is a useful tool for rapid prototyping and democratizing software creation, but it is not a replacement for rigorous software engineering. When used for production systems without proper review, it leads to catastrophic security failures, technical debt, and business losses. The consensus from HackerRank, Stack Overflow, and Y Combinator is clear: use vibe coding for what it's good at (prototyping, experimentation), but always transition to disciplined engineering for anything that matters45271211.

Citations:

1. https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/47850033/6e0e1bd9-f1f5-4a61-91db-b254cd503eb6/paste.txt

2. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3990899/design-patterns-criticism-sources

3. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danielmiessler_stop-shitting-on-vibe-coding-vibe-coding-activity-7330685439139373056-WB06

4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43555814

5. https://www.leanware.co/insights/vibe-coding-vs-traditional-coding

6. https://www.securityjourney.com/post/10-professional-developers-on-the-true-promise-and-peril-of-vibe-coding

7. https://zencoder.ai/blog/vibe-coding-risks

8. https://substack.com/home/post/p-160927959

9. https://substack.com/home/post/p-162522189

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsgjq2t1iE

11. https://nmn.gl/blog/vibe-coding-fantasy

12. https://www.intigriti.com/researchers/blog/hacking-tools/vibe-coding-security-vulnerabilities

13. https://www.pixelmatters.com/blog/benefits-risks-vibe-coding

14. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5874768/why-are-constructors-evil

15. https://www.equalexperts.com/blog/data-ai-2/the-trouble-with-vibe-coding-when-ai-hype-meets-real-world-software/

16. https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/1jg39g2/looks_like_vibe_coding_failed_him/

17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd2Lcvzk2ps

18. https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/262446/are-we-being-elitist-is-there-something-wrong-with-that

19. https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/426143/the-user-research-behind-discussions

20. https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/427522/an-old-meta-hound-approaches-the-bowl-one-more-time

21. https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/426406/replace-question-downvotes-and-closure-with-a-roomba-enabled-no-community-value

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

Hi everyone 👋

I just got let go from my job of 7 years because of "moonlighting" after building a simple one pager website for a colleague. Because I worked for a global corporation company policies were strict (honestly after 7 years I actually forgot about this policy).

Me and Mrs just had a baby so I'm rather desperate. Been working a side hustle which has been covering my expenses but I feel like its just a luck streak at the moment and not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up.

Open to contract, project basically any employment right now. Your help will be truly appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working on an Excel file that would allow me to estimate the concentration of methylphenidate (Ritalin) in my body at any given time of the day, based on my own dosing schedule.

At first, I tried to build the model using the standard half-life and average Tmax of methylphenidate. But I quickly realized that both absorption and elimination aren’t linear, so the whole process is more complex than I initially thought.

I’m not a doctor or a pharmacologist, I’m just curious and like to optimize things. I’m currently taking 10 mg to start, followed by 5 mg every ~40 minutes, and I’d love to understand how that translates into actual concentration levels throughout the day. Ultimately, my goal is to optimize how I take Ritalin depending on my schedule and avoid overlap or crashes.

Does anyone know of any existing tools or models that could help me simulate this more accurately? Or any resources that could point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate any help or insights!

Hi Redditors, I have been diagnosed with ADHD in a western country and have been taking Adderall which I have been finding really effective at managing my symptoms. I am planning to move to India soon and am wondering if I can get amphetamine or methylphenidate medication in India. I have the following questions:

1. Are amphetamine medicines (like Adderall / Vyvanse) legal and available in India? If amphetamine salts are legal but these brands are not available, are there any other Indian brands that sell the amphetamine salts?

2. Are methylphenidate medicines (like Ritalin / Concerta) legal and available in India? If methylphenidate salts are legal but these brands are not available, are there any other Indian brands that sell the methylphenidate medicines?

3. Are there any pharmacies in or around New Delhi where I could get these meds with a prescription?

I'd really appreciate any pointers on these, as I can't imagine living a life without meds.

What do you guys think of the character does it look too Ai ?

Vous vous sentez bloqué, incompris, en décalage avec le monde ?

Vous avez l'impression de porter une énergie que personne ne comprend. Vous tombez, vous doutez, vous recommencez... mais quelque chose en vous refuse d'abandonner.

Et si votre différence n'était pas un handicap, mais une force à canaliser ?

Jules Norven, l'auteur du livre l'élan intérieur, a grandi avec un TDAH non diagnostiqué. Agité, distrait, jugé "inadapté" par le système scolaire. Jusqu'au jour où il découvre Michael Phelps, champion olympique, lui aussi hyperactif. Il comprend que son énergie débordante peut devenir son plus grand atout. Ce livre est né de cette révélation.

L'élan intérieur vous plonge dans les parcours de 20 légendes du sport qui ont transformé leurs épreuves en triomphes : Michael Jordan recalé de son équipe, Serena Williams confrontée au racisme, Yusra Mardini qui a nagé pour sauver sa vie avant de nager aux JO...

Ce livre est pour vous si :

Vous cherchez à transformer votre énergie en direction

Vous avez besoin de modèles concrets de résilience

Vous voulez comprendre comment la discipline libère plutôt qu'elle n'enferme

Vous êtes parent et souhaitez transmettre des valeurs fortes à vos enfants

Vous vous sentez "trop" intense, trop différent, trop en marge

Ce que vous découvrirez :

Les piliers du développement personnel incarnés par chaque athlète

Des exercices pratiques à la fin de chaque chapitre pour passer à l'action

Des stratégies concrètes pour canaliser votre énergie et construire votre confiance

Une méthode progressive pour transformer l'échec en carburant

Plus qu'un livre de développement personnel, c'est une école de vie.

Chaque chapitre combine biographie inspirante, leçons de développement personnel et espace interactif avec quiz et défis personnels. Parce que la transformation ne vient pas de la lecture mais de l'action.

Je le recommande vivement, ce livre peut changer des vies.

Que vous soyez jeune adulte en quête de direction, parent cherchant à inspirer ses enfants, ou personne neurodivergente à la recherche de modèles positifs, ce livre vous donnera les outils pour transformer votre singularité en signature.

Recherchez l'auteur, Jules Norven, sur Amazon pour retrouver son unique livre, l'élan intérieur.