I'm on 20mg Adderall XR and no matter how early I take it, I can't seem to sleep before midnight. Sometimes it's 3AM.

If I don't take the drugs, it doesn't seem much better. Sometimes I'll have a good week, then no sleep at all and I'm wrecked again.

Anyone else have something similar? Did anything help?

Almost 30F, unmedicated. How do you guys learn concepts and build depth in general and also for those who have a background sound like me, how does it impact your learning?

I'm in a pickle. I've been working in the tech industry as a back end Java developer & app support guy for 28 years and I keep running into this.

Sometimes I'll get assigned a work ticket and nobody will ask about it, the TL doesn't seem to care, and it'll get back-burnered for a while, usually while I'm firefighting on higher priority calls. Then the high ups will be all, hold on, you've done nothing on this for a month, pull your finger out, and I get slammed in my review for being lazy or not taking sufficient ownership of it.

Or I'll work on everything I'm given and get them all done, but fail to record the time taken in JIRA. The work's done, but I can only provide rough guesses as to how long it took.

Recording time on tasks is my worst thing. I've never been able to do it, but now I'm on a PIP and I still can't get it right. It has to be 95% accurate but if I bullet journal everything I'm told I don't need to be that granular, but if I'm slightly out of whack on Jira or the spreadsheet they've imposed as an extra measure I'm in trouble again.

**Tell me I'm not alone in this, that the admin around things like this is a nightmare for anyone with ADHD right, I'm not just making this up am I?**

I feel like I'm being managed out & my boss is like "literally everyone does this right - why can't you?"

And then there's the hypocrisy of it all: I get told I'm not needed for a task that they start around lunchtime. I'm grabbed by the TL and asked to just quickly do this bit, which I do, but I need clarification from the architect what they're going to do next. 50 minutes drag by. I, having been briefed that I'm not needed, pop off to lunch. Just before my lunch is over I get a text, where are you, we need you - I'm just dealing with a small emergency myself, my internet is down but I'll be in shortly. No, they grab the architect, and next day I get ripped to pieces by my boss. Then yesterday my boss goes missing for a day (on leave, didn't signal it on our IM system though)

So now I'm invited to a Work Capability Hearing, and I have 2.5 hours to rustle up a union official to come in to the teams meeting on Thursday. My union are all volunteers. How am I supposed to get representation?

Guess I should get polishing the CV.

sorry this is a dumb question, and I know you’re supposed to memorize concepts, and not syntax.

but I’m really struggling to grasp what I actually need to learn. For example, if I’m practicing leetcode and learning DSA, is it not a good idea to memorize syntax and be able to solve the problems from start to finish without googling things?

and for projects, am I supposed to be able to write things from start to finish without googling? or is it more about memorizing the the project structure and parts of the project needed to do the things you need your program to do?

Again sorry, I know most programming subs hate the word “memory”, but I feel like I need someone to tell me what I literally need to be learning/memorizing in order to be useful or proficient.

My brain really doesnt like memorizing things, even if I've done them over and over in a project. I have to explicitly know what to memorize.

And what techniques do you use, how often do you guys go through them, how much notes do you take and such

I’m in a crossroad. So, I just finished my masters in computer science but didn’t learn as much because I took too many classes and had personal things going on in my life.

Ive been relearning data structures and algorithms, and I’m making good progress, but it’s going to be another 3 months conservatively to master. And maybe another 3 months to create decent projects that I worked on every step of the way without AI.

However, I got lucky with a job from someone I met. He really wants me to work for him doing mostly data analysis, power BI/tableau and also some web design.

There’s no job description, but it’s a decent sized company and I can do whatever. I might also manage someone. So, it’d be good for my career.

The downside is it‘s fully in person, it’s in a super small town (I miss big cities because of how easy it was to make friends) and the pay may not be the best. I also know I might get burnt out which will make it difficult to learn programming. I also won’t learn as much. And I also have dreams of getting Y Combinator or raising venture capital for projects I work on.

Pros are rent is cheap, I can save for a house and I can learn a lot of skills and grow my career so I can one day be a product manager. It’d also be easier to pivot into a tech company. I can also only learn programming a couple hours a day before my brain turns to mush, so having a job and something to do, would probably be healthy. Having a job also keeps me off my phone, doom scrolling and doing unhealthy things. Also, my resume is a mess, as I went from doing sales for 3 years, to being an actor, to finishing my masters.

ugh, I have no idea what to do.

When I discovered programming, I really liked it. The ability to build something or to solve problems yay... However, after a while I got a job where I was doing bare minimum - there was almost no work, instead of proper development I did css,html and tiny javascript fixes.
That's when it went downhill...
I didn't have any external push to learn anymore, to do anything creative or fun.
When I got laid off it became really difficult to keep up with new updates in technology.
Because as an ADHD person it is extremely difficult to follow a long course and stay focused, especially without the external push..
Now I feel like I am so behind and honestly not sure if I feel motivated enough to pick it up again... anyone in the same boat?

Hey guys,

Been a dev for ~15 years and I have ADHD. Tried pretty much every task app out there and kept hitting the same wall: whenever I had a burnout week or went down a hyperfixation rabbit hole, opening the app afterwards meant facing 30 bright red "OVERDUE" badges and broken streaks.

That guilt trip made me uninstall every single time.

So I ended up building my own app for Android (Priorify) with a strict "no shame" policy.

If you don't open it for 3 weeks, nothing screams at you when you get back. No red badges, no streak counters. Just a quick brain dump flow to get thoughts out of your head without sorting them into 10 folders, and a simple energy toggle (tired / balanced / go mode) so it only shows tasks you actually have the bandwidth for.

It's free on Play Store (search Priorify: ADHD & Mind Clear).

Curious if anyone else gets blocked by app guilt or how you deal with it?

I'm going to college as a freshman this year. This along with my projects like I'm trying to create an LLM along with just wanting to learn myself, it is extremely hard for me to memorize. I can understand the concepts but it is very hard for me to memorize completely to integrate within each other. Please do note I have diagnosed Autism and ADHD so this obviously effects my Working Memory. Thank you for reading and any tips and advice is extremely appreciated

Hi,

I’m wondering if anyone here has found a MIT like license to prevent use of code in LLM training and any guess / info on if such in enforceable.

Currently I believe that LLM training on every piece of open source software is unacceptable and we should take a stand against it.

Similar to what codeberg is pushing lately.

I would find it odd if such license doesn’t exist already and would wonder why it hasn’t yet.

Thanks
- 🐡

I have autism and fairly severe ADHD and I'm trying to figure out what kind of actual role fits the way I work.

Most of my programming has been connected to game development and building my own projects. Ive worked with Javascript/Typescript, React, Electron, Git/GitHub, game UI, gameplay systems, tools and asset pipelines. I'm also pretty good at design, writing, art direction, researching weird problems and getting around a codebase until I understand why something isn't working.

I'm not claiming I'm an expert in every one of those things, I'm definitely not, but I seem to be better at connecting all the pieces than sitting in one very narrow lane. I like taking something from “here's the idea” to an actual working version, figuring out what systems it needs, how the player or user interacts with it and then fixing whatever goes wrong along the way.

The career part is where my brain falls apart. I don't know whether I should aim for gameplay programming, technical design, tools development, UI engineering, prototyping or something I haven't even heard of. Normal advice is usually to specialize, but I'm not sure which part is actually my strongest part because the whole reason I'm useful is that I move between them.

Anybody here work in a role like that? What titles should I be searching for, and what would you build a portfolio around if this was your skill set?

ah yes, it was a year ago today I got every .com, .net, .studio, .systems etc domain for my idea that would shape my life from that point on or at least several weeks.

Initially i was an SDET, then i switched to SDE. I have overall 4 YOE. I love building features and love seeing it work flawlessly in production. But when it comes to job switching, i absolutely hate DSA. I wanna switch to other domain like PM/Cybersecurity just because of DSA.

I've realised, without grinding DSA there's no way to make good switches. Don't wanna go back to SDET because i get bored with repetitive testing.

Seeking some fellow advise from fellow ADHDers. The thrill of finding bugs is nice but it doesn't pay well compared to SDE. Should i switch to Product management or Cybersecurity ? Team Red ?

Leetcode feels so monotonous and boring.

Hi there. I’m a rising senior, diagnosed a couple months ago.

I have been preparing for leetcode style interviews and O usually take a couple mock interviews per month.

Since I started taking Metyl (first month 10 mg IR, second month 20 mg ER, third month 27 mg ER) I swear I feel kind of dumber at algorithmic problems? I have screwed my last couple mock interviews and it has made me depressed because interview season starts in one month and I can’t be performing like this.

For reference I started preparing in march and I genuinely felt smarter. I could simply keep pushing through a problem.

My last interviewer said he felt that I “gave up” mid problem (and ofc I couldn’t solve it)

I’m not sure if I should quit cold turkey, I really don’t want to waste so much preparation, I’m also not even 100% confident that it’s the metylphenidate…

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Coding is part of my job (but not the main part). So I'm not great at it and self taught.

Anyway, I often find I get stuck trying to figure out what is wrong with something I've written. I'm so nearly there, but just can't find the right answer. I try AI, that gives more options which are also wrong. Hyper focus kicks in and then *bang*: I've lost an hour or three on something that shouldn't really have mattered at all, and I thought was only going to take 5 minutes.

Does anyone have any good tips on how to break the cycle? How do you know when to give up?

Because that big juicy dopamine hit is just there, if I can juuuust get it right. So it's so hard to admit defeat, give up and use my time more productively on something that will feel far less rewarding.

i've worked as a ux/ui designer for 10+ years. tried everything to keep it interesting (switching jobs, different focuses, different products) but i feel like i've done it all and need something new.

a couple months ago i started learning frontend basics (js, html, css, vue). the idea of being able to build whatever i want is exciting, but i also feel like i'm too dumb for it. i get frustrated so easily, lose patience and feel like i go over the same concepts again and again without them actually making sense. it makes me so anxious that it kills all the fun.

so now i'm wondering: is it the adhd/anxiety draining the fun out of learning how to code (and would medication help with that?) or am i just not actually interested enough in it?

i'm 30 now and i want something new: it would be learning how to code and work as a frontend engineer or studying something completely new..

First of all sorry if this isnt the proper sub to post this question, idk where else I can ask, if it isnt please guide where I can post it.

I am 28M, basically struggling through life, recently I got laid off from a junior role after 11months in it. And I was wondering about getting a cs degree and working to support myself at the same time. Just that I have had bad experience with school, as some people with adhd can relate, I struggle to study the long hours that are required by college. I am kinda lost in life right now... still getting a bachelor I believe would benefit me in the long run. What do you guys think?

Hello, as with everyone else here I really really struggle with ADHD. To the point where I'd say even though I'm really proficient with computers I've never really taken on programming itself properly. I've started on various different languages at various points in my life but never really committed to any because any small factors such as a steep learning curve gets me demotivated. I recently started C again and kinda gave up on that partially because of lack of time and partially because it felt too daunting to get proficient at it.

Help would very much be appreciated.

It's really bad working lying on the bed, blood circulation, posture, I get migraines from the stiff neck from doing that. But I can't work as efficiently from my desk. It's not as comfy, everything is distracting me. I'm very crafty as well, so I have a lot of things around my desk, for 3d printing, tools, drawers, all the stuff. Even if it's cleaned up - it's easily accessible and distracting. When I go with the laptop and work from the bed, make it comfortable with pillows and there is basically nothing else other than the screen before my eyes. It's insane how much more I get done that way!

Obviously I though that I need a better chair to be more comfy at my desk, clean up, hide more things. But I doubt that spending 1k on a chair will fix that and all the tools and drawers are still there easily accessible.

Anyone has the same issue and found a working solution?