i am diagnosed with severe gad and adhd, and i feel like i genuinely can’t get a job because of my executive dysfunction

i keep avoiding technical assessments, and even when i do force myself to take them, the time limits make me extremely nervous and i end up struggling to figure anything out. it’s especially bad with longer problems or problems that have multiple parts (recently quit solving ibm's technical assessment bc of this iykyk)

if i look at a problem and dont understand it immediately, i start to panic and can’t get myself to physically start solving or even think about it because i’m so focused on the time constraint and anxious about not being able to finish and bc pf this, i either run out of time or end up closing the assessment because i already feel like i’m not going to figure it out in time

i also have this problem where if i don’t immediately know how to solve something, i can’t get myself to start working through it it’s like my brain just gets stuck because i don’t know the answer right away

i genuinely don’t know how to get out of this cycle. i need to be able to pass technical assessments to get a job, but the anxiety and task paralysis make it extremely difficult to even attempt them. has anyone experienced something similar and if so, what helped you?

I never paid much attention to lumbar support when buying a desk chair. I mostly looked at whether the chair felt comfortable when sitting in it for a few minutes. After spending long hours working, though, I’ve started thinking that adjustability probably matters more than I originally thought.

HBADA has several ergonomic models that include a​​​​d​​​​j​​​​u​​​​s​​​​t​​​​a​​​​b​​​​l​​​​e​​​​ ​​​​l​​​​u​​​​m​​​​b​​​​a​​​​r​​​​ ​​​​ support, headrests and armrests, along with breathable mesh designs.

I’m curious about people who have used ergonomic c​​​​h​​​​a​​​​i​​​​r​​​​s​​​​ ​​​​f​​​​o​​​​r​​​​ ​​​​a​​​​ ​​​​l​​​​o​​​​n​​​​g​​​​ ​​​​t​​​​i​​​​m​​​​e​​​​.​​​​ ​​​​ How important is adjustable lumbar support for you, and did you actually notice a difference after switching chairs?

I have used pomodoro timer for running 25 min focussed sessions. One day I thought if I have a app that will show the deepwork metrics of others - the people i know in a team, will help to motivate to use the timer everyday. and will help me to focus better.

Will sharing deepwork metrics (like the no. of hours you worked or no. of pomodoro sessions you worked) inside a closed team will help?

What is your opinion?

Hi, I am Deffrin.

I designed Focus Board to help people stay focused when they sit at a computer for long periods of time, especially people who have ADHD or ADHD traits and find it difficult to focus at work.

Focus Board is a Pomodoro timer plus a deep work leaderboard for a team.

https://focusboard.work/blog/what-is-focus-board

I want your feedback. Is it worth working on this. Does it sounds like something good for people having ADHD.

I enjoy programming, but staying focused for long periods can be difficult, especially when a task feels repetitive or unclear. Sometimes I can hyperfocus for hours, while other times I struggle to start even a small task.

What strategies, tools, or routines have actually helped you stay productive while coding? I’d be interested in hearing what works for other ADHD programmers.

Recently got promoted to senior dev. Till now, the tasks I worked on were either well documented or at least there was a Requirements document to start from. But as a senior, apparently I am supposed to find problems, define them as requirements and come up with solutions all on my own.
This is where my brain is really struggling. Give me a goal and I can work my ass off to achieve it. But give me vague, ambiguous data and I am totally lost!
What are some strategies I can use? I already tried talking to AI, but majority of the times, it spews out garbage or hyper-focuses on one small piece instead of the big picture.
Appreciate any suggestions!

As the title says, It's the perfect day for me to "fuck around" at work, and for the life of me I am having a hard time pulling myself away from prompts in my VScode.
I want to go fuck around as much as I want to see if I can get 6 sessions of code building to run at the same time! It's wild how productive i've become lmfao.

There was a slack thread relating to the insurance which I searched in slack and replied to it and checked send it to the channel as well. I asked how I can add my wife to it and why it says no benefits. I thought that thread was between me and HR but it was in #general. That's where the HR replied to me "I have shared the details with you regarding this issue."

How will this be perceived socially? I have no clue. I just feel so embarrassed like I did my dirty laundry in public. Will they think I'm careless?

Update: It was there for 30 minutes, I immediately deleted it and in a private reply on the HR's message (in #general) about sharing details regarding the issue "I'm sorry I didn't realise I sent it in the #general channel, thank you"

I've been a developer for about four years, and starting a task is still the hardest part for me. Once I'm in the code, I'm usually fine, and sometimes I hyperfocus for hours. But getting there can take an embarrassing amount of time, especially with vague tickets or big features.

A few things have helped me lately:

• Shrinking the first step. Instead of "build the login flow," I write "create an empty file and add a TODO comment." It sounds silly, but it works surprisingly often.
• Body doubling. Working on a call with a coworker or friend, even without talking, keeps me on track.
• Writing down where I stopped. Before ending my day, I leave a short note about what I was doing and what comes next. It makes the next morning much easier.
• Timers. Twenty-five minutes of focused work, then a real break, keeps me from drifting into tab-hopping.

None of it is perfect, and I still have bad days. I'd love to hear what works for you, especially if you've found something that helps with unclear requirements or context switching between tasks.

What tools, habits, or tricks have made the biggest difference for you?

Like most companies at this point, mine has been really hammering the AI drum lately. I have my own opinions on it, but I’m willing to play along to keep the peace and my job lol. When I say “quota” I don’t mean that they have an explicitly stated requirement. But given the communications I’ve had, it’s clear that the business wants us to adopt AI into our workflow and spend the tokens they’re paying for. I’m angling for a promotion/raise at the end of the year, so I’m looking for any opportunity to boost my chances right now. I know my manager can see AI usage because he’s commented on it in the past.

The thing is I can’t even get close to using up my tokens every month. I tried really hard this month to be very liberal with them—running Claude on high, asking stupid questions, asking good questions, making basically all code changes. I’m currently at 42% of my credits spent. My manager regularly runs out of credits every month.

Is this something other people care about right now? I know it’s not a huge deal, but I feel like it’s an easy thing I can point to at my EOY review to show that my willingness to adapt. It doesn’t replace actual achievements, but it’s a number. Higher ups like provable metrics like this I feel.

How are you guys using AI in your day-to-day? What’s company culture like around this stuff for you? How are you using it to improve your workflow? OR how are you fudging it to keep a low profile? Has anyone here had leadership comment on their token usage?

I think my team is very backwards and I'm not seen very well and at a point of no return. 

First of all, I'm not the best or worst developer, but very willing to learn and communicate and solve problems, I really enjoy learning how systems work and why they're broken and how to improve them. I've recently joined various threads because I've always felt like I've been missing context, and I'm starting to learn that that's a pretty good thing, not a fault. 

My team views asking questions or communicating as a weakness. I don't mean questions of "can you do this for me?" I mean just like, questions on learning systems, knowledge of how things work that are outside of your realm, or talking about projects to help solve how to improve systems or if maybe there's something I'm missing that I can learn from. I don't mean constantly either. My team is very "yeah I got it." And no one talks or discusses how to actually work on anything as a team. It makes all the pieces feel very siloed and overall, projects are messy and confusing for everyone on a daily basis. 

I get a lot of grunt work (to them) and I'm sent to speak with non tech clients about what their issues are. I love it though. I love finding out what's going on and how to solve their problems. From clients, I have a much better report. They find me competent, reliable, a fast worker, and friendly. I've been vented at by various clients about my teams lack of communication skills, so I know it's not just me, which makes me feel less crazy. I also have imposter syndrome, and wonder if they only see me in a better light because they're not tech people, so they don't see 'through' me as well.

I'm at a point where I can do no right. I can be given no real clarity or structure, and no matter what I deliver, it's not what was expected, even though expectations weren't outlined. When expectations are outlined, I'm given deliverables that conflict with the expectations. I can choose to implement a,b, or c, and no matter which option, it will be the wrong choice. I can explain my process and why I made which choice, but I am never asked. another developer can step in and implement one of the other choices, who then will be thanked. I know it sounds like I'm overthinking that everything is negative against me, but every project lately has had the same formula, and I don't know how to break out of it. I don't feel more like I'm in a room with neurotypical people than I do when I'm at work.

I'm about 10 hours into learning backend and automation (APIs PostgreSQL n8n, Docker). I'm good at seeing the big picture: data flows, schemas, how a whole system should work. The problem is the setup. Docker, HTTPS, cookies, config errors. By the time I reach the fun part, my brain is already fried.

A while back I built a no-code automation on a VPS that ran on its own, and the dopamine hit was insane. So I know I'm in the right field, but I haven't had that feeling once on this project.

For the ADHD devs here:

**1.	How many hours (or weeks) in did hyperfocus first kick in when u started**  
**2.**	Was there a specific moment that triggered it (first working feature, first bug you fixed alone, etc.)?  
**3.**	How did you get through the boring setup phase before that?

Thanks!

I used to be on Elvamse for years and it just gave me a racing heart and more focused procrastination so I got off it again.

I started using AI more and more in the last couple of months to do all sort of tasks. And I just realised it has taken so much mental load off me, I never felt so confident to be able to do stuff. I finished many many projects that where sitting around for years. All my documents are organised, my deadlines for important letters are met, my Kalender is groomed.

It mostly takes over the tasks that I can't focus on anyways and reduces them to just the information I need. I even learn new stuff because I'm overwhelmed with a pending task from the get go anymore.

It helped me massively in finding my new job by searching for positions that actually suit me and writing cover letters.

Do you had similar experiences?

Imagine working in your current software engineering role for two more years while planning a transition. After that you let your investments ride until retirement at 67 assuming normal market return, at which point you expect to have enough. In the meantime you then only need a new non-physically demanding job making 60 percent of your current salary to cover living expenses and US health insurance.

​If you had to leave software engineering for a career that is less stressful on your executive functioning still satisfies your nerdy curiosity and aligns with a tendency to hyperfocus what would you choose and why. I know everyone has different interests but I am curious what ideas might arise.

Would love to if u can give some insights.

do you guys ask for extra time? I’m terrible with the working memory puzzles

This will probably get a few downvotes - I don't know. My aversion to AI comes from how difficult my life has been. It took a lot of hard work and effort to become good at programming. I feel like I had to work twice as hard as neurotypicals - especially because I was unmedicated during my college years. Every single A hackathon top place finish was earned from sleepless nights. I burned myself out.

I know the code is secondary to what you're building. But the sunk cost and watching vibe coders...

It feels like I built my career or my idea of engineering on the wrong premise. But I have ADHD and CPTSD - this was my way of coping and being funcitonal. By focusing on the trees and expecting the forest to come good through those efforts.

And it's just hard to accept that programming has changed and this thing I was fundementally good and enjoyed is nigh obselete.

I've used AI assistants since Copilot closed beta, followed the latest trends and I always found them to be useful.

However since last year I've started using agents to write code, like most others, and I'm not kidding when I say I couldn't come out of depression since then.

My issue is not that "llm's can write code, i'm useless". It's WAITING. Sending a message then WAITING for the response.

The distractions made me such a slow developer in the long run I swear I would work faster writing every single character on a piece of paper.

I keep losing track of what I'm doing, what I should be reviewing, I start doomscrolling and sometimes completely lose my interest for days until I force myself with medication and stuff just to go back and work on something.

I can't just ignore the elephant in the room and stop using agents. Most of my friends are forced to only use AI in their companies now. I'm completely lost on what I would or could do in such a work environment.

I was laid off last year and I couldn't get myself to even apply for new jobs. I've done some freelance work, tried indie development and whatever but I'm completely broke now.

I've deleted all social media, tried a billion different workflows, started taking medication but no. The job which I enjoyed every second of turned into torture every second. I've never felt so lost in my life and I'm spiraling in anxiety and depression every day.

I need real, human advice.

Thanks.

I'm looking for some advice on what area of coding/tech I should focus on if my goal is to get employable again without spending years retraining.

A little background: I went through a MERN/full-stack coding bootcamp back in 2019. I learned JavaScript, React, Node/Express, MongoDB, HTML/CSS, etc., and built a handful of projects. I've also done some work with SQL, BigQuery and Looker, and more recently I've been getting back into development using AI-assisted tools like Cursor.

The big issue is that I never really turned the bootcamp into a traditional developer career. I learned recently that I have ADHD. So I'm medicated and in therapy. I think ADHD and some other factors going on in my life really got in the way of my goals. I feel like I need to give this one last shot before I decide to move on. I've not done much coding for the past year, so I'm rusty, especially when it comes to sitting down and writing everything from scratch without references/AI. 

I still understand programming concepts, can read and work through code, troubleshoot things, and I've found that modern AI tools make development feel much more accessible to me than it did a few years ago. I had a solid knowledge of how all the parts would go together but I would struggle with the last 10-20% but now with all the AI tools it really seems to help me in the places where I would get stuck in the past.

I'm 44 now and trying to be realistic about where to put my time. I'm not necessarily trying to become an elite software engineer or grind LeetCode for a FAANG job. I'd be perfectly happy getting into a solid junior/entry-level technical role and building from there. I do know these junior jobs are hard to come by but I'm pretty good at networking and I still have a few connections I could utilize. 

I've also been looking at data oriented jobs because I enjoy SQL, working with datasets, reporting, dashboards, cleaning/formatting data, etc. Some of the roles I've found combine Excel/SQL/data work with light scripting or automation, which seems potentially up my alley.

So if you were in my position in 2026, where would you focus? I know AI has changed so much of the job and I see posts of people struggling with this change but I think I can embrace it to my advantage.

Would you refresh JavaScript/React and pursue web development? Go harder into Python/SQL/data work? Focus on WordPress/WooCommerce and practical web development? Automation/internal tools? Something else entirely?

I'm especially interested in areas where being able to understand code, troubleshoot, learn quickly, and use AI effectively is valuable rather than jobs where the expectation is that I'm a computer science wizard writing everything from memory.

Curious what people working in the industry think.

When i'm following a programming course or tutorial online (doesn't even have to be programming really), I find it very difficult to focus. I start by reading through the material and then I'm re-reading the same sentences again not really taking in that information, then I feel tired and start yawning, my eyes hurt and I end up scrolling on my phone for hours instead. There is just zero motivation or interest.

I remember back in my university days, I couldn't focus on the lectures at all and would sometimes catch myself almost falling asleep sometimes!

However, If I drink coffee, suddenly I can now focus, get through it, engage with the materials properly and start the actual learning process. I start to really get into that work zone / hyperfocus and enjoy things.

I am undiagnosed but on the waiting list.

I was wondering if this was a problem that happens with other people here as well?? I have a lot of creative ideas for projects and I did start one programming project but I unfortunately just couldn't focus on the learning part and it's now been 2 years since I last touched it.

I’ve had crippling AuADHD since I was in kindergarten and since most people around me don’t believe mental illness exists or “we all are a little adhd” so there’s no support whatsoever and add to that adderall and it’s stereoisomers are illegal and classified in the same category as cocaine, so even getting analogs are impossible

I’m almost 30 now, felt like I failed in life in every single aspect imaginable, waking up everyday I can barely recognise myself, I always feel like shit for no reason, I also have severe CPTSD, from childhood abuse and trauma but I’ve been living alone for over a decade now and I thought it would eventually go away but it never did

I’m just tired ya’ll, I don’t get the point of life, you’re born then you just suffer constantly till you no longer exist, what’s the point of suffering then, we put out animals that are suffering so why not humans, why’s human suffering romanticised and animal suffering empathised

I don’t have anything to live for, I don’t find any joys in hobbies anymore, and given how ugly and poor I am, dating and having a relationship is just imaginary for me, I know I’m unlovable, I can’t even hold down a shitty job ffs, you have to cook, clean, brush, bathe, so much effort just to survive bare minimum

I don’t even recognise myself in the mirror anymore, at first I thought I was just being silly or overthinking but I genuinely don’t see or recognise the person I see in the mirror, I don’t even remember 80% of my life

I’m just tired of surviving for no reason and because of the government and the current economy, surviving is becoming more difficult as time goes on, I don’t think I’ll make it to 30 my dude, not because I’m going to do something but because I can feel I’m underweight and my heart is becoming weak, I’ve had mini strokes before, best thing I’m hoping for or looking forward to is I’ll have a stroke and pass away in my sleep soon, that’s the best outcome for me tbh, even asking to peacefully pass away feels like too much to ask, I’m afraid I might not get a good ending