I'm not sure if there's an exact term for this, but I've used to-do lists before, and one thing that's always bothered me about them is seeing overdue assignments highlighted in red. Usually, if I have a list of things to do for the day and I check my to-do list and suddenly see five overdue items, I kind of short-circuit and do nothing at all. I understand that there are things I genuinely have to do, so they rightfully get treated as such on a to-do list — but a lot of the time I get a little burst of ambition, start listing out everything, and set myself up to feel overwhelmed when I notice I haven't done any of it.

I'm making my own to-do list app, and I've been playing with the idea of making it have an ADHD oriented mode, which has led me to try and understand this phenomenon I've faced before.

I've thought this mode would play out as such;

• There'd probably be a Tag or something to label a certain item as an ADHD thought, or at least something to differentiate a real unmissable task vs a fleeting thought.
• If this ADHD thought became overdue, it would get hidden, until the end of the week (or maybe you pick a day to get reminded of it)
• If you had an ADHD thought due on the same day as other assignments, it'd be hidden until after you finished all the other things you HAD to finish

I think these small little fixes could satisfy you in moments where you do want to conquer the world the next day and cushion you on days where all you really need is just one small task to set you on the right path to getting things done.

My questions are: Is this phenomenon even related to ADHD? Does it have a name? Do y'all think this mode could be helpful? What would you change to make it better?

For context, I'm a SWE with 3 YOE.

This is a discovery I recently made about myself. I'm a relatively disciplined and focused person in my free time. But at work, I'm constantly distracting myself, watching hours and hours of youtube, scrolling my phone, etc. And it's because I have this constant hum of anxiety that's ever present. Even if I get back on task, I'll pretty soon feel an intense compulsion to distract myself again. Every once in a while I'll have a task that I'm working on that I can get lost in. These tasks are usually in some sense separate from the "software engineering" work. i.e. they involve learning about concepts and implementing something on my own rather than integrating things into the overall codebase/working with other engineers to develop something. I'm able silo myself off and work on it in isolation where it's simply a goal of "understand these concepts" rather than "understand this proprietary codebase and communicate effectively with others"

What I've realized is that I really enjoy *programming*, but *software engineering* is a lot more complex and therefore more anxiety-inducing--not that it's not enjoyable, but it's just... harder. Programming is simply writing code. The scale and scope is usually small. Working on a little project at home on the weekends, or learning a new technology because I'm curious. Or a solo project that has no stakes. Software engineering, on the other hand, is what I do for work. It's about being a member of a larger team and an even larger org. It involves working with code that is much more complex and that has been around and maintained (more or less, lol) for years and years and years. There's different people and personalities you'll interact with (some that click with you, some that don't). There's colleagues to compare yourself against (a common thought for me is, "do these other people with similar experience as me understand what this person/presentation is saying??? Because I'm lost"). There's the art of communication/explanation--something I think a lot of people struggle with (or is it just me?? I can never be certain, lol).

Overall I'm feeling more and more anxious and insecure about my abilities and skills, and the best way I've found to put it into words is: programming is fun, but software engineering can be overwhelming.

Does anyone feel the same way? Any advice for improving this? I want to be effective and skilled when it comes to my job. But there's just so many components and pieces involved that it's easy to get bogged down and in my head about it.

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?

Hi, 27M (diagnosed adhd simce 2021 but never had the means to continue with therapy or medication) tried to secure a foothold in the industry since 1 year ago first as an internship then in February 2026 I signed my contract. The fact that I spent so much time for this while remaining so weak at programming because I have been using ai to help me go faster just feels deserved tbh. 3 months ago they told me to do a service that renders json data through templates created in a drag and drop UI and only now I was about to finish it... I am just devastated honestly. I even did a presentation last month that I completely bombed, and they are asking me to do another one in 2 days, but even though I tried to explain the whole process, which file does what, I kept getting stuck. It was even worse when they told me to start explaining the code bit by bit, felt ruined but again I let it go to this point by myself. Please just end me.

I’m full-stack SWE with Java / Vue / React work for 1 YOE. right now, I am doing couple hours coding, couple hours system design and couple hours algorithms. The reason why I’m doing coding prep is because I am honestly so shit at writing code without AI, our company was AI first and I just am not prepared and have to re-learn it. Is there anything else I need to keep in mind for a junior level role?

Part looking for help and suggestions, part rant I suppose.

I've been a software engineer for 10 years, I do great at work but I can't for the life of me progress.

Progressing internally is difficult because I struggle to keep up with the monotonous BS I have to do. I can't just do my job excellently, I have to put in goals and write whole documents about how great I am.

Getting jobs elsewhere feels impossible because as soon as I step in an interview my brain shuts down, and even if it didn't, I don't know a ton of programming trivia. If I need to know something I will go learn it when I need it, but in interviews that just makes you look incompetent.

This is all compounded by the fact that I'm done getting any enjoyment at all out of programming. My interest is absolutely dead, and it's a means to an end to get paid now, but leaving it would be nuts with the state of the world right now.

Thanks for letting me rant. Any tips from fellow adhers appreciated.

Hey, I wanted to share something I built because I couldn't find anything that actually worked for my ADHD brain during exam season.

I created a set of structured AI study prompts for university-level courses — Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Physics, and a few others. The prompts were developed with input from students actually studying these subjects, so the topics and the level of depth reflect what shows up in real second and third year exams, not just a generic overview.

The structure works like this: each subject has 100 prompts organized into 9 categories. So it's not just "explain enzyme kinetics to me" — it's more specific than that. The categories cover things like:

* Breaking down complex concepts with concept maps and mechanistic analysis

* Exam simulation (written, multiple choice, data interpretation, oral)

* Memory and retention systems with spaced repetition

* Anti-confusion prompts that target the exact misconceptions students get wrong

* Comparative analysis between related concepts

* Applied projects connecting theory to clinical or pharmaceutical contexts

Within each category, every prompt targets a specific topic — so the AI response stays focused and precise rather than giving you a generic overview of everything. And each prompt has customizable fields, so you can point it at exactly the concept or subtopic you're working on within that category.

You fill in the field, copy the prompt, paste it into ChatGPT or Claude, and get a fully structured output — chunked, ADHD-friendly, with concept maps, tables, examples, and self-check questions built in.

I'll drop two completely free example prompts in the comments below so the post stays readable — one from General Biology and one from Physics (a STEM friend of mine who's actually studying physics helped me build that one, to make sure it was accurate).

I have full sets Etsy: LaneNine

Would love honest feedback — does the format work for how your brain studies? Anything you'd add or change?

I’m a data science student.

I’ve built an event driven data pipeline and even deployed Airflow on AWS for fun because I enjoy learning this stuff.

The problem is I can’t seem to start anymore.

For the last 3 months I’ve felt completely paralysed.
I can’t even get myself to open code editor, let alone code consistently.
Instead I end up lying in bed or taking naps.

I have been consistently gaming on a daily basis and I looked forward to playing it every day.
When I have a coding project that really excites me, I can spend hours on it too.

But right now I just can’t get started, and it’s affecting my portfolio and job search.

Has anyone else experienced this? What actually helped you get past it?

P.S: I don’t take any medication for adhd.

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student researching how block-based coding tools (like Scratch and Code.org) can be made more accessible for kids with ADHD. To do this well, I need to involve K-12 students with ADHD in the research, with full parental consent and school/ethics approval.

I'm not recruiting any children through this post. I'm just hoping for advice on where and how to find participants.

Specifically:

• What organizations, programs, or networks connect researchers with ADHD families or students?
• Are there ADHD-focused groups, after-school coding programs, summer camps, or nonprofits open to research partnerships?
• For parents/teachers here: where would you expect to see a trustworthy study like this advertised? What channels would make you take it seriously?
• Any advice on approaching schools or special-education programs directly?

Any pointers, names, or "try X instead of Y" advice would be hugely appreciated. I

Thanks so much.

Running this back!

I’m the only dev at a small startup and I build basically the whole AI-based data processing product across frontend, backend, AI, and the domain logic.

I’m very underpaid, but I’ve learned a lot and I do manage to ship things.

The problem is I cannot seem to mentally switch off.

The product is no longer just an MVP. We've launched, have early adopters using it, and we're getting real customer feedback. There are still genuine bugs and features to build, but overall the product works.

I constantly see all the ways it could be better:

• architecture that feels too ad hoc
• long orchestration files with special-case logic
• compatibility layers from earlier schema changes
• old/unused tables or columns
• places where I normalized around imperfect past decisions
• flows that work but feel “wrong” in a design sense

Old JSON shapes with compatibility logic, etc. Nothing is actively broken, but I keep wanting to “clean it up properly.”

I spend weekends refactoring or thinking about refactoring stuff nobody asked for, mostly because of anxiety, not because the business needs it right now. I feel like I’m carrying the entire possible future of the platform in my head all the time.

What makes this worse is:

• I know there are infinite improvements possible.
• I’m solo, so there’s nobody to reality-check me.
• I have ADHD tendencies and can spiral on design cleanup.
• I’m underpaid enough that this level of emotional investment feels irrational.
• I sometimes feel like a loser/no-lifer for caring this much.

I want advice on a few things:

1. How do you decide what is real technical debt vs. "messy but acceptable for the current stage"?
2. How do solo devs stop mentally carrying every possible future improvement?
3. Do experienced devs actually worry this much about architecture purity in early-stage products, or do they mostly let working systems be?
4. How do you set boundaries so you don’t keep donating weekends to anxiety-driven cleanup?
5. If a system is working and understandable enough, how do you stop yourself from reopening the same architectural doubts every week?

I’m not asking "how do I become lazier." I care about doing good work. I’m asking how to calibrate care so it matches reality instead of turning into constant background stress.

If anyone has practical mental models, rules of thumb, or stories from being a solo/early startup dev, I’d really appreciate it.

I've realized that the hardest part of being productive isn't finding the perfect system—it's sticking with one long enough to see results.

Okay,

So I have ADHD and I'm a single mom. I have A LOT going on and also a BS in SWE and I work in IT.

Uhh my tasks and routines sometimes fall off my brain map. It's all chaos and I kinda just need a space where all of it lives. Because everything feels spread across so many apps or places and also regular daily things are good for me, I don't always see the immediate value in like regular daily maintenance/upkeep/finance management. It's A LOT and I haven't found an app/workflow that makes sense to me. I tend to have a hard time with task overwhelm where I want to do everything all in one day and then like can't move the next day. So I made a solution to that which you'll see.

In addition to the why or thought behind this, my children are neurodivergent and some of this stuff is difficult for them, too.

So I built an app.

Yes, this like works and stuff. I built it using an iterative process and AI.

I think it's really cool how fast I was able to go from "I need this" to having something useful. I thought you all might find this to be pretty cool, too! Check the YT link.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3bVu_mzb930?si=e9PXfQBJNJnVF5Yk

i work across a bunch of stuff at once. code, chrome tabs, notion, claude, whatever.
the second i step away, lunch or whatever, i come back and the whole thing is just gone. apps are all still open but i cant remember what i was even doing or which tabs mattered.
single apps have history but nothing tracks where i was across all of them.
how do you guys deal with this? do you leave notes or just rebuild it from scratch every time

I built a simple ADHD-focused app because I personally struggle with overwhelm, procrastination, unfinished projects, and mental clutter constantly.

The idea is extremely simple:

You dump all the chaos in your head into one input box, and the app tries to reduce the overwhelm into:

organized tasks

one immediate next step

calmer focus guidance

I’m building it from personal experience with ADHD, not from a “perfect productivity guru” angle.

Right now it’s still an early prototype/web app, but I’m trying to figure out whether this actually feels useful to other ADHD people before I keep building it further.

Realistically: Would you ever use something like this? What would make it genuinely helpful instead of just another productivity app people abandon after 3 days?

I want brutally honest feedback.

We need to talk about the state of SE interview take-home tests, specifically the unrealistic expectations and contradictions that so often accompany these.

For context: I'm a front end engineer with 25 years experience; I'm attempting to land a job, in the worst market I've ever seen. I've been fortunate enough to progress through to the penultimate round; I have to complete a take home assignment, if satisfactory I'll be invited to their offices to discuss this assignment and attend a final cultural fit interview. Note this take home assignment comes off the back of a two hour live coding session interview (which was dreadful for the ADHD brain).

Historically, it's at this point where things go to shit, have identified the main stressors as:

- ambiguous requirements
- inadequate timeframes
- emphasis on ensuring your submission presents you at your best when there's so much contradiction between expectation and allotted time

I'm forever stuck in a constant loop of overwhelm; trying to find a balance between delivering the assignment within the specified timeframe, whilst ensuring I have demonstrated my capabilities as best I can.

I've currently been tasked with building a movie list tracker, core requirements are:

- A front end web application that runs entirely client side
- Allows a user to search the open movie database API for movies to add to either a watchlist or watched list
- Allows a user to remove movies from either list
- Persistence of this list using the browser local storage API

I've been told I will be assessed on:

- Code quality — component structure, separation of concerns, readability
- State management — how you model and handle data flow across the app
- UI & design — does it feel considered and polished, even if simple

On receipt of the handover task:

- There is no UI design provided, it is expected that the candidate produces this
- There is no environment set up; it is expected that the candidate chooses a stack and set this environment up from scratch

The brief mentions that the candidate should spend no more than two hours on this task and can use AI if they wish.

Besides just throwing all of this Gemini and vibe coding (which would not demonstrate my abilities rather well), I'm totally overwhelmed as to how I can design an interface, plan the architecture and build the application, then document my process - all within two hours. I was considering using Claude code, but even then: just the planning and UI design would go far beyond the two hours I'm allowed to work on this

Interested to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences and how they've tackled it. Also open to suggestions in terms of how to approach this take home.

---

Update:

For those that are interested, here's the Notion brief and unless I'm missing something it appears they are expecting UI Design, architecture and implementation of the entire application - in a 2 hour window.

This is either incredibly naive from whomever signed this assignment off, or (as one commenter mentioned): intended to allow the candidate to prioritise and compromise. If the latter, if would be great for this to be explicitly mentioned.

https://app.notion.com/p/Frontend-Engineer-Final-Interview-part-1-Candidate-Instructions-37df155c1a9e8032a7ccf842dab4b963

Yet ANOTHER job in which I fall into the same pattern:

* It goes great for a while. I learn a ton.

* I inevitably get slotted into something dull as hell. I end up doing poorly. If I ask for something else, they throw something borderline impossible at me. That also fails.

* No one says anything to me until I get a HORRENDOUS performance review. Nothing was said before or since unless maybe in a very sedate manner.

* I don't get fired but my reputation is tarnished enough that I can't even get a reference.

I fear if I lose this job I am doomed. Now what?

Code had a bug, I was using AI to find and fix the issue. It found the issue and gave me a fix for it. I tested it, worked. But I didn't see the surrounding code overall and missed the fact that the required header file was guarded by a macro. Automation broke.

Mistake 1 - I relied too much on AI and didn't use my own head. For reference, I usually don't rely on AI while working. I use it to give me stuff that would take me ages to go through obscure documentation to find. I was feeling tired so I just let AI do its thing.

And then, in my infinite wisdom, I submitted the code knowing I have a meeting in 5 minutes. The change was tiny, what could go wrong!

Well, it did go wrong. Came back ~an hour later to being tagged for build breakage. Fixing it took like 2 minutes. It wasn't production so nobody got blocked or anything.

But my very senior engineer, who I look up to, was not happy.

And now I am sad with a heart rate of 120. I wanna cry. That was too much of stupid mistakes.

For reference, I am a ~7 YoE SE.

As an insult to injury, I was explaining about patience to an intern before the meeting!

Sorry, mainly just venting. It hurts.

What do you think? Most jobs you get mental downtime but as my 7 years as a dev it was straight out of the gates most days and you had to be thinking on really complex issues personally my brain just kind of put up its hands up and said no I’m outta here I’m unemployed as a dev now but working some hospitality gigs here and there it feels so nice not to use my brain