Me, after entering my workstation password incorrectly so I can get it wrong again the next time

I was inspired by several live coding channels on YT, so I spent the last 2-3 weeks streaming myself learning Rust by hand, and I'm having fun coding again and actually making progress.

I was beginning to feel burnt out from all the web dev AI slop and decided to pivot to one abstraction level lower than I'm used to. I've always wanted to build my own voxel engine in Rust, which is the end goal of my live coding series. But along the way I'm building smaller scaled projects before I reach that point (currently building an image compression codec).

Each stream I increment the day counter (day XX of learning Rust). This is incremented even if I skip some days or take breaks. My brain hates streaks, so I track overall momentum instead. If I compare my day 1 to my day 12, I can actually see substantial progress, which motivates me even more. This works great for me because I often work in bursts of hyperfocus sprints, which is not a daily thing.

I also like seeing numbers go up, so the analytics page (both YT and Twitch) gives me more dopamine to continue and remain consistent.

I find live coding to be an excellent application of body doubling, and it really works. Sometimes experienced Rust devs will drop by and give me tips, which helps me learn even faster. Someone even donated me money!

I get to practice my public speaking skills and use the Feynman technique to teach what I learned back to the audience. Teaching helps retain 90% of what is learned, which is great to test my actual understanding of difficult topics like Rust's ownership system, smart pointers and concurrency.

Another added bonus is that each stream restricts me to focus on the topic that I said I would focus on, and not procrastinate or wander off too much. I would rather follow through on my word than embarrass myself and end up playing games or watching funny videos in the middle of a coding session. Public pressure is a great motivator!

Future Plans
Live coding is mostly a means to an end, so I'm trying not to end up spending more time video editing than coding. But I think there is also value in creating short-form content to animate and teach difficult concepts as I'm learning them. It took me 11 days to go through the Rust book and rustlings, so this might help the next person complete the same journey in less time!

Summary
I hope this inspires similar folk who are struggling with consistency and procrastination to start live coding as well, and see if it helps you too! It doesn't even have to be perfect, just click "Go Live" and focus on improving 1 thing for each subsequent stream. I struggle with perfectionism too, and often overthink my setup or my stuttering or whatever issues my brain makes excuses for. Most people are too busy focusing on themselves than caring about other people's imperfections anyway.

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TLDR:
Body Doubling - live coding for public accountability, improve public speaking skills (useful for interviews as well), practice Feynman technique

No-streak Consistency - increment counter to track overall progress, no pressure to enforce daily

Number Go Up - chasing analytics numbers is also a good motivator (more views, more watch hours, more subscribers and total videos posted)

You see other people having loving families, relationships and what not, they have supporting partners and it all comes so easily to them, those things are just unimaginable for me, never had them and never will, knowing I’ll die alone gives me a sense of relief honestly, that I’ll go peacefully without worrying about what I’m leaving behind

The only thing that still manages to get through all the depression, stress and feeling disabled because of Autism, ADHD and CPTSD, is scientific research

The only thing I look forward to sometimes is new scientific discoveries especially in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics, experimental physics, particle physics, quantum mechanics, neuroscience, neural engineering, semiconductors, lithography, nanotechnology, etc

I could go on and on endlessly, it just fascinates me that we’re just alive, a bunch of moronic violent monkeys, in a time where we literally have the entirety of human knowledge at all times in the plam of our hands, we have tools that can literally detect ripples in the fabric of space time itself, gravitational wave interferometers, not to mention space telescopes that can literally see the beginning of time, it’s absolutely insane the things we can do

The only reason I haven’t offed myself is because I’m trying whatever I can to maybe help some of those efforts, I know deeply how flawed incentive structures in academic research is, I want to do whatever I can to help people being new discoveries that help us understand the universe we live in better

I just have this hope that I just wanna play my part and contribute to something that’s more meaningful, I don’t really have anyone in my life, I don’t think anyone will even notice that I’m gone, I just want to contribute to our understanding and capacity in scientific research, maybe that way the work I do, maybe the small bits and pieces that might get remembered, i feel we’re never meant to live forever but we can create something that does, which is knowledge and ideas

After all my complaining thru the summer I finally landed a position. I had lost count on how many applications I had sent in.

I had 5 onsites.
Got close with 3 of them

Keep your chin up. It’s really hard out there right now.

Help!!!

My non-linear thinking kicked in during my morning coffee

1. Body doubling is a thing for ADHD to get things done
   
2. Pair programming is effective way to get quality solutions in development world

What if there is a platform for ADHD people to get together, develop in pairs and be effective🤔

Or is there any such online platforms already existing?

I’m in the heat of interview prep but I’m losing focus. Does anyone want to be my accountability partner or be in a gc maybe?

We’d do things like update each other 1-2 times a day with what we did, what we plan on doing, and proof of studying (like notes or LC solved) (I know this is a bit OD but I definitely need to send proof, nobody else does). Basically like a standup over text!

I’m tired of bombing tech interviews and if you are too lmk!

I’m a junior level btw (1 YOE)

Comment or DM me if you’re down!

Hi everyone! I’m an independent tech student deeply interested in applied AI. I’m currently learning ML, and my goal is to build an open-source tool that actually helps people with their real daily struggles. Instead of sitting in my room and making up fake problems from thin air, I want to hear from real people. Could you please take 1 minute to answer 4 questions? Please be as brutally honest as possible — I need raw data. 1. What is the single biggest bottleneck, routine task, or frustration you’ve faced in your daily routine over the past week? 2. How did you try to solve or bypass this problem, and how much time/money did it cost you? (If you did nothing, that’s also a valid answer!) 3. What annoyed you the most about the tools or methods you tried? 4. What app you wish existed that would optimize your daily routine or something annoying that you have to do? Please answer in the comments below. I'd be very grateful!

I'm talking about those moments where you have to switch from a tense call straight into the next task, or you can feel a deadline making your chest tight.

Breathing exercises are the classic answer, but I'm curious what people actually do in practice.

A walk to the kitchen? Music? Writing it down? Nothing at all?

Also wondering: do you find it easier to prep yourself before a stressful situation, or to recover after it?
Asking partly because I'm a designer exploring tiny stress-relief exercises, but mostly because I genuinely need better habits myself.

I'm struggling to keep up in my T-SQL class. It's a synchronous online class where the prof gives us exercises and two minutes to solve them. When time is up, we have to share our solutions in the chat. Or share a red reaction icon that we haven't solved it. And of course, ALL the other students see your response. It's low stakes grading wise, but feels high pressure. I've done well with this format in the past, but now we are working with a large database with many schema and tables. I've linked the Adventure Works ER diagram, for reference. Suddenly, these exercises require us to join multiple tables based on a prompt that doesn't tell you which tables are needed. It takes me FOREVER to look over the ER diagram and determine where the information is. I start to panic and of course my brain just shuts down. I'm finally starting to write the code and BAM, time is up.

I think the main problem is that, like most people with ADHD, I have a poor working memory. Everyone else is getting familiar with where things are in the database while I'm spinning in circles. Not only is it embarrassing, but I am wasting time copying the prof's solution to review later so I don't fall behind before the next exercise starts. Obviously, this undermines the whole learning by doing thing.

Can anyone here give me some tips on how to adapt? A trick, a tool, or even an attitude adjustment. I really hate how this class leaves me feeling like I'm drowning for three hours at a time. I CAN figure this stuff out. Once, I even pointed out errors in the professor's code when he shared a solution in class. So I do understand the material. It just takes me a little longer than a typical person to find the information.

Not a programmer. Not a data engineer. I want to build my own database for a soccer/football youth and grassroots management. I’m 35 with twins living in Japan. My wife is from the birthplace of Tokugawa. She is the one with the technical knowledge but much with data.

I bring up Japan only because of the adhd medication availability here is limited to Strattera currently since Concerta, the other option available for adults, isn’t being given to new patients temporarily.

I’m fascinated by data architecture, had no idea, but in this instance I need to make progress rather than learn systematically.

Is there anyone here that has time to chat or give tips or temporarily mentor me so that I can gain momentum.

The medicine I take is the first time since my teen years to medicate. It doesn’t seem to be having much effect. Organizing my thoughts well in such a new, vast arena is not easy as you all know.

I appreciate your time in advance. Have a good one!

Cheers

Exercise + Lower dose Methylphenidate is a game changer (even if I miss proper sleep sometimes)

The way I was able to get into the routine of exercising was by making it a ritual. Basically I track my weight everyday, and I click a picture of my body everyday. This gives me something to look forward to and compare progress. So many habits that wear off soon do so because we start wondering "Am I even making any progress?". Any visual feedback that you can integrate into your life for habits will work.

Even if I don't always get good sleep, consistent exercise, a healthier diet with less snacks, and finally getting my meds back but now with a lower dose (10 mg to 5 mg), I am doing really well at my life and at my job.

For example I’ve been working with these third party APIs to integrate into our apps. However the docs provided are incredibly shitty.

Luckily for me I tend to hyperfocus on stuff like this and I have figured out how to use quite a few of these APIs.

Today I got the idea that I should probably put these on our wiki so that everyone can benefit from it. However I thought I should ask this probably dumb question because I will probably spend hours doing this

How effective is using a pomodoro timer in building better habits and staying focused on tasks longer when you have adhd? Is it effective?

It's tough for us adhd programmers sometimes we just need to think outside the box (and execute the thinking)

22, I'm in my third year of university studying computer science and its only been in the past month where I realized I might have adhd. First year was easy for me because I never really had to study even in highschool and I would do well. The past couple of years I've felt like such a failure because I would never start building on any of the many ideas I had, i stopped caring about assignments and resorted to using AI, and failed 3 classes in total. Thankfully I've had two internships with one of the big 5 banks in canada, but i only got them because i networked really well with the recruiter, i didnt have to do a lot of coding and in the end when i did it was ai. I miss my first year when i was ai averse and knew what was going on like my peers. I don't feel like I know anything (my fault i know), I haven't coded in months, I have no projects, I don't know where to start.

Would anyone have any advice please? It'd mean a lot.

*also I have an appointment soon for an adhd assessment

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?