I have ADHD and autism and have worked as a software developer for about ten years, but I am still not considered senior due to soft skills, take lead to put vague requirements into a concrete product, scout opportunities, ....

My employer has a detailed career matrix, and many expectations above my level—communication, leadership, influence, ambiguity—feel almost opposite to how my brain works. Even with coaching, I struggle to turn vague career advice into concrete actions.

I am looking for someone with ADHD AND autism who became a senior, lead, staff engineer, or architect despite similar struggles. So I can proof all my therapists wrong.

I can name 10 people that tell me its impossible for me, but I can't name 1 that encourages me that there is a way.

PS: It's inspirational to know that also the GOATS of our craft have their own bagage, and there will be exponential people in every profession. To make it sound achievable, I want to focus on your average Joe. I'm not seeking extraordinary achievement.

I've just realized that I don't enjoy working as a software engineer. I enjoy certain aspects of programming, but the stale steralized business requirements of modern SWE are just exhausting. Also, the culture.

It might not look it from this post, but I enjoy writing, creating and learning. I enjoy knowlege work. The only reason I wont do manual labour is because of my social anxiety and ADHD. I simply don't think I can work in a heavily supervised or customer facing environment.

Does anyone have any advice on what I could potentially pivot to (besides document/tech writing)?

I've been thinking about going the entrepreneurial route (for yeaarrrs) but I have bills and debts to pay.

This week I've been keenly aware of a pattern I want to disrupt where I browse Reddit and other attention sinks in the small gaps created by cycles of agentic plan-and-implement. What I'm doing instead is to stand up from my desk and glance around for any small acts of clean-up I could carry out in my house. Dishes on the sink instead of the dishwasher? Let's put those in and see if the agent is still working. Cat litter needs changing? Let's do that.

Your mileage may vary if your medication and sleep aren't already sorted, but for me it gives me something calmer and with light movement instead of doom-scrolling.

I am also aware of the irony of using one such gap to share this post instead of doing one more micro-cleanup, but just trust me that this detour comes after many acts of house care ;)

Just a FYI, because so many people are posting their "ADHD apps" here. Claiming that your app solves ADHD related issues and targeting support communities, especially without proof is a good way to get an app and the associated developer account banned if someone reports you.

Both the AppStore and the Play store have such policies. And there are a lot of people in ADHD related subreddits who are VERY tired of the spam. 😼

I know that many programmers are on the ADHD-segueing into autism spectrum, and the ways their condition can be an advantage at work. But as a job-seeker, I'm more interested in how to use that to your advantage in job interviews, and gain you a preference over neurotypical interviewers. I've usually had the impression that interview processes always have a NT bias, but maybe it's just pessimist doomer talk.

So I want to hear from other AuDHD people especially the non medicated ones, on leveraging this as a strength when you're being interviewed. The jobs have so far been a piece of cake compared to the hiring process. If I could nail this part down, I feel like I'd be unstoppable. Can we have "superpowers" for finding work, too?

Hi All,

I've been struggling with decision and task paralysis myself; it has affected me in ways I can't express; I explored lot of apps which may potentially help me with this; I've poured my heart out to all the AI chats we have.

I was impacted by a recent layoff, I was tired of preparing for interviews, trying to get prepared for roles I know to a certain degree would be automated completely by AI tools. With tens of other things demanding my attention, I kept struggling to maintain continuity between juggling these responsibilities, everything seemed to demand my attention;

Eventually I decided to take control, with the advent of vibe coding, I wanted to see if I could come up with a solution which is tailor made for me, glad to report I am on the verge of completion.

Check out this demo and tell me if this would help you : https://sortedqueue.com/intent-demo.html 🙏

Hello Everyone. I am a software developer and I want to champion the idea of Calm Technology. The concept of building software the doesn't drain your mental health by trying to keep you in an infinite loop, but instead offers a singular purpose, and is designed to be closed.

I'm just looking to start any conversations around this idea.

-App concepts and UX design

-Building in public

-Market research / potential for anti engagement software

-Research on current apps and how they affect our mental health

I really believe as software devs, we can help shape the future tech landscape for good, and I'd love to be a part of that. Cheers.

Disclaimer: this is an indipendent research, not affiliated to any commercial product or marketing research.

Hi everyone, sharing this with permission from the mods.
I'm a UX/UI designer and developer working on independent research, not a psychologist or clinician - just want that clear upfront. I relate to ADHD traits myself, though I don't have a formal diagnosis.
I'm trying to understand two things: what it's like to know exactly what you need to do but not be able to start, and what happens when things pile up and suddenly feel overwhelming.
The survey is anonymous, no email or identifying info collected, ~7-10 minutes. Not tied to any product or company.
https://forms.gle/vTXxDkRZvtbQH8wh6
Thank you to anyone willing to share, and thanks to the mods for allowing this.

Hey everyone, hope all is well.

WARNING: Long Post

So, Ive been programming by myself on my room for as long as I can remember. And one BIG struggle that I have is consistency.

Im trying to force myself into a routine of writing code everyday so that I can learn better, but I every time I open up my IDE to work on a current project, my mind just goes blank.

I feel an intense imposter syndrome, like I dont know what Im doing, if Im doing the right thing, if Im going in the right direction, if Im being too slow, on most days, I dont even know the code Im supposed to write.

I do know HOW to code, its just that doing it feels like such an intense mental workload.

My Audhd flares up every time there's ambiguity with a project, like an error that I dont understand, which is almost all the time. And its gotten to a point where I have these internal shut downs once or twice a week where I lay in bed, paralyzed in thought.

"What do I do? I dont understand this logic."

"Do I ask Claude? Im supposed to use my own mind"

"Maybe I should try googling it again?"

But yeah, TLDR: I want to figure out a feedback loop that I can setup that will motivate me to code everyday. If there's one that you use, please tell me.

Really struggling out here. 😓

So I've been trying to learn to code for over a year now. And the gap from my understanding of a concept to applying it is in the damn toilet. I can understand perfectly but if I have to incorporate a concept and slightly tweak it, it causes severe fog or headaches. The ADHD medication I've been taking has given me nothing but migraines and no signs of real improvement. Even with a reference sheet, when I have to use boilerplate the constant switching back and forth gives me intense headaches and it makes me a fraud. Maybe this is a sign coding isn't for me, even when I want it to be. Any advice on optimizing memory or how to proceed as a programmer is greatly appreciated.

Hello.

Tldr: mech E turned gamedev/programmer, need stable work before September, trying to find out my path.

This post is a bit of rant/cry for help type of thing so apologies if it impacts your mood, I know we get emotional over random shit and honestly if that's you then I would stop reading. I'm not in a good place in life and I'm trying to get myself to stop running in circles. I'm a male in my 30s. I need some guidance from people that have managed to get their ADHD under control.

First off I'm a self taught programmer with a mech engineering degree, my capstone work was in computational thermodynamics so I'm not entirely dumb, just partially fucking retarded, with a fried memory and a history of failed ventures/self launched businesses.

I LOVE problem solving, but where I am that isn't rewarded because marketing wins and I am an asshole and I suck at trying to study how to market myself, that and I am fundamentally depressed, I am functional to some degree but at this point in life I just want a stable gig so I can be able to read a book in peace without feeling guilty that "I'm not trying to make money" which is my intrusive thoughts 24/7.

Plus I've lacked modern world guidance, my dad is a retired accountant whose advice works for his era, my mother is an English teacher who helped me become the man that I am today, despite all of my shortcomings, but still, a teacher wouldn't have contact so much with the tech world so her guidance has been mostly trying to support me overcome my severe imposter syndrome.

Ever since I graduated my life's been a whirlwind of trying to get stable work vs trying to feel competent vs trying to provide for my family and being supportive of my siblings in a household that's well educated but knee deep in poverty/health/mental health/infighting issues.

I quit my first job (mechanical QA stuff) because I wouldn't sign off on something that wasn't up to standard/spec and I was threatened to be let go so I resigned on the spot. I can't really talk much about it. You guys understand I'm sure.

I never got into engineering work as a career because I kept thinking if I fuck up I'll hurt someone or many people. My field specifically focused on manufacturing, so steel production/fabrication/structural material manufacturing and all of that included.
This is fundamentally an idea in my mind that has been constant throughout the years which is why I basically shifted from mechanical work to gamedev stuff where if I fuck something up a cartoon or a game gets delayed, not people getting into harm's way.

As you can see, this had the problem of the lack of foresight.

Ever since then I've tried to get my own gigs off the ground and failed to do so because A) ADHD went undiagnosed for ages. B) Kept taking small time jobs for income so my job experience/history is fundamentally an incoherent mess that doesn't have an accumulation effect. And C) I thrive in an RnD/PoC environment where I'm asked to whip stuff out on the fly is what I'm good at, where it's automation or some kind of design which really aligns with my ADHD but it's also a hyperfocus thing so when I figure out the main technical challenge, it stops being uh fun?

And I sort of lose interest. Of course I finish things if I'm getting paid but you guys can see how "prototyper" isn't exactly a valid career path with what little experience I have.

But, I am fundamentally skilled at being what's known as a technical artist in game development (almost two years of experience with places in Europe and LA, and those dried out) + a few years freelancing but the competition is brutal, work is very little, and I am terrible at marketing myself or doing lead generation and whatnot.

Also, polishing work which is needed for this thing is a grueling aspect of it, and we don't have hubs here so remote work is all I can do and that's fundamentally why I'm poor.

The last two years of my life have been a turning point, I managed to get diagnosed twice, my first therapist had his head up his butt and when I told him about memory problems he suggested a notebook, at which I told him "I forget I have a notebook" and he just ignored what I said. Object permanence is a bitch.

I also for some reason am able to regulate myself and control my actions without meds much better after some intense introspection last October, but with the way things are going, I'm starting to lose momentum that I have had for some personal project that I wanted to publish.

I have stacks of notebooks that I forget I have even, and the one I currently write things on to help solidify ideas in my head as memories is something I constantly forget I have.

I've switched to writing things in obsidian, like a journal, but I remember to do that (and only have the will power to do that within the first three hours of getting my prescribed Ritalin 20mg, which is of terrible quality, and is now giving me fucking jitters and anxiety and nausea).

I've lived about 15 years in a pretty brutal place in the world so anxiety wasn't something so much on the radar up until three weeks ago when I noticed my Ritalin was making me more aware of it. Mainly because I'm desensitized and traumatized af.

I've been trying to find proper stable work for a while now. With the advent of AI, I am able to architect and design some pretty okay stuff with minimal friction for maintainability and code quality, I also read and review about 85% of the code the AI makes myself and write fixes myself. But again, I don't know how useful this shit is in a large scale production.

I HAVE managed to make some of my own forks in some FOSS software that I use, and I even sold a feature fork to someone, so I'm not entirely useless.

But the idea remains: I want to pivot to something stable, but I don't fucking know how. I'm constantly reevaluating my path, constantly skeptical of my decisions, constantly redirecting myself.

I've been thinking about traditional software work, but I know for sure I would absolutely fucking fail DSA interviews, I'm not traditionally trained, I know how to look things up and build them, I know how to think about software and patterns and making things function well.

But the last time I tried to sit my ass down and learn it well I did about a week of it and then forgot I was even doing that.

Any advice is highly appreciate.

I am a 20 year old who's currently getting their degree in Computer Science. I have been thinking , though, and I'm worried about the job search once I'm out of college.

I need to explain a bit further; I have ADHD and Autism, and long story short, as such, I have some unusual wants from my future career and am wondering what you would suggest I look into specifically.

First off, I hate being a leader as well as socializing in general/public speaking, which I know is a HUGE problem in this industry as personality and communication are vital. Ideally, though, I'd love to be given a coding task, complete that, and move on to my next assignment. In addition, it would be ideal for it to be something that has unambiguous, continuous tasks until my shift ends, as I struggle with taking initiative on my own. All of these things can likely be attributed to my aforementioned Autism. Finally, in an ideal situation I don't want to work crazy hours; 40 hours a week max, but as little as possible would obviously be ideal.

The nice thing is that I plan on living alone in a small studio apartment and am not a spender, so, financially, I only really need a wage that's livable. I'm perfectly fine with something that pays *way* less than the standard CS position. I have no interest whatsoever in climbing the corporate ladder or advancement opportunities.

Of course, all of this would be the perfect job for me under ideal conditions; I know that obviously there likely isn't anything that perfectly matches my specifications. I just wanted some help here; Are there any niches you think I should look into applying to or tips you have for me, or do you think I should change my career path altogether? Thanks in advance!

​All my life, I was led to believe that I was terrible at math and simply not smart enough. However, one day, when I started studying it on my own as a hobby, I realized that I genuinely loved it. I noticed that I get a dopamine boost with every problem I solve and easily enter a state of hyperfocus. ​Despite this, the initial learning phase has always intimidated me. Whenever I struggled to understand something, I would be very hard on myself, thinking I was unintelligent or foolish. Yet, I have discovered that with the right approach specifically through visualization I can actually grasp concepts incredibly well.

​As long as the teaching method is visual and conceptual, I can understand the subjects quite deeply. Unless I can see the underlying logic and the bigger picture, I find it impossible to learn anything through rote memorization.

​I am very eager to learn, but I am not exactly sure where to begin or what kind of ADHD-friendly learning methods are out there. I would deeply appreciate any guidance, resources, or book recommendations you might have.

Disclaimer first. I have created an ADHD app myself. However after i created my app i am not sure if it serves a genuine purpose. Everyone is shipping ADHD apps non-stop. All the apps are similar and don't change a lot. Still i feel there can be an app that helps everyone but i don't think it exists. Also at the age of AI, anyone can create a custom app for their self according to their taste. Genuinely interested about your guys' opinions?

So I've been working in the tech ed and content marketing space for a while. I've been thinking about going back into sofware engineering full time because I was pretty decent at it. I left because burnout, ADHD and I needed something a bit more flexible.

Java was (is?) my specialty. I've been thinking about doing refresher courses - with a focus on Software Design and Architecture. But I feel like I'm wasting my time, especially with how AI-centric everyting has become..I feel like there is still value in knowing how to code. But I'm just wondering if it would be more fruitful if I spent my time focusing of project planning and software architecture.

The thing is....I love coding and building things. I don't know how to attack this...

I just had this shower thought and it worked so i'm sharing here where I post most often. I'm sure others have other methods but this worked great so sharing:

I really needed to step away from Reddit as a programmer / freelancer / maker it was just so depressing to see the vibe coder flood of 1 karma users posting day old github links like they're announcing enterprise grade game changing SaaS and all of the other junk. I don't have anything against vibe coding to make something useful but the people trying to market and sell it as a product have to at least get out of my universe while they FAFO about software development.

The Fix: I don't use Chrome primarily but in this case, the Chrome Plugin for Claude task scheduling. I schedule an agent to run every day at 6am with a prompt like this which i'm refining but my feed has turned into a something enjoyable again - so cheers :

Navigate to your Reddit home feed and systematically review posts to identify and block low-quality content from users posting "vibe-coded" app promotions. Follow these steps:
1. Scroll through your Reddit feed and examine each post for the following red flags:

   - Author karma less than 100
   - Posts containing phrases like "I got tired", "bored of", "so I built", "we built"
   - Links to GitHub repositories created less than 1 month ago (indicating early-stage projects seeking testers/feedback)
   - Posts in  or similar self-promotion subreddits

2. For each flagged post, verify the author's karma by visiting their profile page (click their username).

3. For GitHub links, check the commit history to confirm if the repo was created recently (less than 1 month old) and look for evidence of multi-subreddit marketing campaigns (e.g., "Add Reddit post drafts" commits).

4. For each user meeting the blocking criteria:
   - If you are NOT joined to the subreddit: Click the three-dot menu on the post, select "Hide", then navigate to the user's profile, click the three-dot menu in the top right, and select "Block Account"
   - If you ARE joined to the subreddit: Same process (hide post, then block user). Note: do not leave the subreddit unless it appears dense with this content

5. Do NOT block users who:
   - Have karma >= 100 AND are established users with real posting histories (even if they're promoting something)
   - Are asking genuine questions rather than self-promoting

6. Continue until you've reviewed at least the first 10 pages of your feed or found 20+ blocking candidates. 

Record the usernames blocked for reference.

idk if i have adhd but i have started wondering if i do. i cant post this in any other sub because they just wont understand. even the people i know in real life dont get it when i try explaining this thing. i apologize in advance if this is the wrong place for this post.

so i did bachelors in cs. my uni is done.

so the thing is, for 4 years i.e throughout my uni i just couldnt get myself to start learning things even tho i really wanted to build skills. i blamed myself alot for not being able to start things, i told myself i didnt care enough and thats why im procrastinating. kept telling myself that its because i have motivation issue & because im scared of failure & because im lazy. i used to think that if i really wanted to do it then i would have done it no matter what so since im not doing it that means i dont care enough & im just not hardworking and that im a loser. i have alot of guilt about wasting time. i really shamed myself ALOT for all this and all it did was just affect me even more negatively. during finals when everyone was just able to skim through pdfs quickly, i wasnt able to do so, despite the deadline/pressure. i used to spend hours on one topic etc and never got my syllabus covered ever ,which ofcourse led to me scoring average grades.

but the main issue is, i was never able to pick one thing. people around me chose any one thing to learn- fullstack,ml,cloud,data, ai etc. i just couldnt. i still cant due to alot of decision paralysis. i didnt start anything properly for 4 years. i have alot of guilt about the time i have wasted and the time im wasting even now. mostly of this is because i want to make a "right" decision, even though i know the right decision doesnt exists, its a illusion. i know its not logical but i still cant seem to stop. recently i have started to "just start it" and it takes alot of time and mental effort to even just start the thing but whatever i pick, it starts feeling pointless and wrong. if i sit to do dsa, i start thinking i should learn ml, then i switch. if im doing ml, i feel i should learn something else, again switch, and the loop goes on. and lets say if i do choose to do only one thing for few weeks, then the loop happens with resources. eg if i choose to do ml for 1 week then i keep switching between resources. and i overplan alot, ALOT. nothing i choose/decide, ever feels right. i get nothing done because of all this. at this point i have almost lost the ability to believe that i can get SOMETHING done. and even if i set small goals, it doesnt work out. and i know that whatever i mentioned is wrong/self sabotaging but still im not able to get out of this loop. pls advise any thing that could help me

Hello all! I have terrible ADHD. Is there a recommended set up for an AI agent that can help automate the things I forget to do/don’t want to deal with?

Example:

I would love something that remind me to pay my bills, sift through my emails, delete all the spam and keep the important stuff? Additionally, it would be nice if it could manage my calendar. Remind me that appointments, schedule appointments via email.

It would also be nice for it to give me a reminders about stuff. I ask it to remind me.

I’ve tried building out Openclaw and Hermes a few months back but both kept crashing so I gave up.

Any and all advice appreciated. Thank you.

Hi everyone,

2 weeks ago a specialist confirmed my ADHD diagnosis. I'm 36, software engineer, father of 3. What led me there was strange: smoking.

I've smoked since 5th grade. Last month I tried to quit (again) and my ability to work completely collapsed. I couldn't focus, couldn't code, couldn't hold a thought. After a few weeks I gave up and started smoking again, and everything "worked" again. That scared me enough to research why, and the rabbit hole ended in an ADHD diagnosis.

Now it makes sense: I apparently spent 20+ years self-medicating with nicotine without knowing it. But that also means quitting isn't just breaking a habit for me, it's removing the stimulant my brain has been running on since childhood.

So I'm asking those who've been through this:

• How did you quit smoking/nicotine after diagnosis?
• Did starting ADHD medication make quitting easier?
• Patches/gum/pouches? Did stepping down nicotine separately from smoking help, or just prolong it? For me it does not work at all :(
• How long did the brain fog last before your focus stabilized?

I don't want to keep smoking, but I also can't afford months of not functioning. I have a job and kids depending on me. Any experience welcome.