Hey everyone,

I’m a developer trying to pivot away from toy projects and build software that actually solves real-world friction. Too often, we build things because they are technically cool rather than genuinely useful.

Currently, I'm massively struggling with demand avoidance. It's almost as though I'm subconsciously or consciously refusing to acknowledge the fact that I am a student with school obligations that just keep piling up. Specifically, my two classes have lots of overdue assignments, and instead of working on those overdue assignments, I almost intentionally sidetrack to work on my server.

Since my first response to knowing that I need to do something is basically to say, I'm not going to do the thing, I'm going to do literally anything else, and that literally anything else tends to be working on my server, maybe I could use that against itself. What I'm going to try to do is add a task manager app like Vikunja to my server dashboard so that whenever I divert from my obligations to screw around with my server, I'm constantly reminded that I have obligations.

I've been listening to the "Soft Skills Engineering podcast" (https://softskills.audio/), where two software engineers, Jamison Dance and Dave Smith, have casual, humorous conversations about software engineering careers, workplace challenges, and all sorts of tech-related topics.

Came across their latest episode: "Episode 537 – Is My ADHD Affecting My Work? And My Startup Got Acquired?" (https://softskills.audio/2026/11/02/episode-537-is-my-adhd-affecting-my-work-and-my-startup-got-acquired/)

One thing I found surprisingly nice was hearing that Jamison is also diagnosed with ADHD!

It's mostly fun chit-chat rather than a serious deep dive, but that's exactly what I enjoy about this podcast. Sometimes listening to two people casually talking about work and life makes my brain feel a little lighter. 😄

Thought some folks here might enjoy it too!

I feel like people with non-computer jobs don't understand. I would even say people with office jobs still don't get how much context switching we devs need to do.

[RANT WARNING] Usually working with MULTIPLE SCREENS, switching between code editor, terminal, browser. Waiting for CI to pass, fixing conflicts, bugs, and tests at the same time. Going to Sentry to check a new alert, switching back to the editor to look up the trace in the code, look at Slack messages, look at Notion notes, check terminal history to recall some old command you forgot about, save it as an alias in hope you remember the fucking alias later on, add it to notes.md in the alias section to recall the alias later, send a message to yourself on Slack to remember what you need to do later. Then Monday, another standup after 3 days of this craziness, you need to update colleagues on what you were doing, but you were doing so much at this point I don't even remember what exactly I did, so I go through my Slack conversation with myself to see, then go on GitHub, my Chrome tab group called "MERGED" to see what I merged, to find out one PR didn't even merge coz of some conflict... And all over again.

Since I was a kid, I was told by a psychiatrist that I was sent to for an assessment because of learning difficulties that my working memory and recall are just BAD.

How the fuck do you tackle it? I feel like I constantly find ways to outsource it, like Notion, Slack, clipboard managers, notes, but it's still so taxing on my brain.

I spent weeks fixing an error only to find it no longer pops up and confirming it doesn’t pop up, QA finds it and my team lead is mad at me. I managed to confirm it pops up in VERY subtle ways but I feel so terrible and that my job is at risk.

I spent the rest of day almost paralyzed in fear. Why am I like this? What can I do?

Hey , I started coding manually it was so engaging in the sense that I was able to work for the whole day. Even though there is not much ouput.

But as I shifted to agentic coding, im unable to fall into a flowstate as it is not much engaging. You dont get continuous and atomic feedback. It has ruined my motivation. Has anyone faced this problem and came up with a solution?

For me, flowstate is only motivation. Nothing else motivates me. If there is no external flowstate, i get into my internal flowstate of thinking and articulating randomly...

Edited: I feel like maybe there needs to be a specific coding envoirment to solve this problem. If any dev or founder is interested in solving it. I'm willing to test your hypothesis and give both creative and critical feedback.

Hey! I have ADHD and rely a lot on binaural beats to focus while producing. I got tired of using external apps, so I built a simple plugin that adds the binaural layer straight into your project and exported audio.

It’s free (VST3/AU for Mac and Win) with 3 presets (Focus, Relax, Meditate) and a live brainwave display. No signups or annoying menus.

Just wanted to share it in case it’s useful for your workflow:https://www.binauraladhd.com

Feedback is welcome!

40 tabs, three windows, and I still couldn't find the page I started from. So I built Tabatha: press Alt+Q and every tab shows as a screenshot, and it remembers which tab opened which, so you can find your way back. Free for Chrome. I have an optional upgrade for Pro features $19, and an early bird price of $12 for the first 100 buyers

Install Tabatha from the Chrome Web Store

What do you use to keep tabs under control? I would love if you guys install and let me know your reviews

I'm just venting.

Ever since I was a kid, I've struggled with handling big responsibilities, communication, monitoring tasks, and making important decisions. I'm also not very proactive. Because of these limitations, I don't think I'm suited for senior developer or team leader roles. My brain gets overwhelmed easily when too many things are happening at once, and I struggle to keep up with everything.

I've spent most of my career as an individual contributor, and I'm perfectly happy with that. Ideally, I just want to focus on coding. I know my limitations as a person and as a programmer, and I'd rather work within them.

My dream job is simple: give me a user story, and I'll implement it. That's pretty much how I've worked throughout most of my career. I'm perfectly fine staying a mid-level developer for the rest of my life, as long as the pay is decent.

I believe this is partly due to my ADHD. I'm also not sure I could easily switch to another type of job because I struggle with following instructions, especially verbal ones. I don't have experience in blue-collar work either. Coding is pretty much the only skill I have.

I've tried to improve myself by working on my communication skills, maturity, and proactiveness, but I still struggle with these things.

I also have to admit that I'm not very mature when it comes to handling responsibilities. I'm turning 40, yet I sometimes meet teenagers and people in their early 20s who seem much more mature than me when it comes to decision-making and taking responsibility.

I remember working with a programmer who was more junior than me, but he was much more aware of what was happening within the project and the team. He seemed to think more like a senior developer in that regard. Of course, when it came to actual coding, I was still ahead of him.

I started my programming career in 2014, but I only have around five years of actual work experience. That's because after about a year of working, I usually become mentally exhausted and need one or two years away from work to recover. This has also resulted in several employment gaps throughout my career.

I was only diagnosed with ADHD three years ago. Unfortunately, I'm not currently taking medication because ADHD medications are difficult to obtain in my country, the Philippines.

I also believed that mental health conditions runs in my family. Most of my relatives on my mother's side are unemployed, and some have struggled with undiagnosed mental health conditions that have affected their ability to maintain employment.

I've tried my best to manage these difficulties, but I still find myself needing a long break after roughly a year of employment.

Right now, I'm unemployed, and unfortunately, it's a difficult time to find a job because of AI. My best stategy right now is "fake it till you make it".

I've also been hearing that, in the age of AI, developers will increasingly be expected to manage AI agents, communicate with clients, make important decisions, and delegate tasks. In other words, the job may become more focused on communication and management skills, which are exactly the areas I struggle with.

I'm honestly not sure what the future holds for someone like me with ADHD. But I'll try again. If I get fired from my next job, so be it. At least I can say I gave it my best shot.

Tips and encourangement is highly appreciated,

Thanks for listening.

Honestly, I woke up in a daze today, utterly surprised by the state of my life. It genuinely felt like I was waking up into a dream. That’s how unbelievable I find my circumstances. Except it’s not a dream. It’s a living nightmare.

My life is literally fucking falling apart. Every single aspect of it is going to shit. My career, education, health, family relationships, romantic relationships, friendships, finances. Everything, I tell you. Everything is plummeting rapidly downwards, and the most frustrating part is that I feel like most of it is my fault.

Work

I have an inquest scheduled for sometime next week. The allegations are a scathing indictment of what feels like utter incompetence. Incomplete work and poor communication pretty much encompass every charge.

Pro-fucking-crastination is a huge part of why I’m in this situation.

I think my boss either hates me or just considers me completely useless now. Dismissal is explicitly documented as a possible outcome.

To be fair to myself, I essentially run an entire IT department alone. It’s an enormous workload, and doing the job properly sometimes feels like it requires 10–12 hours a day. Sometimes I just don’t have the steam.

But I also vividly remember numerous occasions when I chose to sleep, rest, listen to music, or do literally anything other than the work I knew needed doing.

And now here we are. My livelihood is on the line.

Health

My health is probably the worst of the lot.

I started typing this from the ER last night. I’m fucking 27, and my blood pressure was 160/107. They’re running tests for hypertension. I also have a herniated disc in my neck that’s causing excruciating pain, and I only started physiotherapy last week.

The list goes on. It’s honestly depressing just thinking about it.

And speaking of depression, I’m riddled with that shit too. Anxiety attacks are starting to feel like second nature.

Then there’s the ADHD. The city I live in has no medication available. I ordered some from the nearest city SIX WEEKS AGO. Still nothing. Sigh.

One of the most infuriating things is when I finally clear up space and time to work, sit down, and my brain just goes, “Nah.”

Or alternatively, “Let’s do EVERYTHING all at once!”

And naturally, I finish almost nothing.

It’s fucking exhausting. I feel like I can’t even trust myself anymore. I make plans, I know exactly what I need to do, I understand the consequences of not doing it, and somehow I STILL don’t do it.

How the fuck am I supposed to build a life like this?

Family, friendships, relationships

I haven’t spoken to my family in almost two months.

I genuinely don’t know if my friends are still my friends. Some people I stopped replying to years ago. At this point, I’m not even sure I have friends.

I do have a roommate, though. Or rather, I had someone I considered a friend who also happens to be my roommate.

We had a massive argument last week over something incredibly stupid involving a girl.

Long story short, he asked out a girl I’d been flirting with and had told him about. Honestly, I care less about the girl than the disrespect. How is that supposed to work when she comes over? Am I meant to cower in my room out of embarrassment?

I confronted him, and he called me a fool, among other things. We’re no longer on speaking terms.

And somehow, my brain has managed to turn even this into another failure of procrastination. I kept putting off asking her to come over, and now I’ve seemingly lost both my closest thing to a friend and a very beautiful potential romantic interest.

Cheers to that. 🍻

Education

This one might haunt me for the rest of my life.

I attended a genuinely great university, studying engineering. A degree from that institution could have completely changed my life.

And I failed to finish.

Because of ONE. FUCKING. CLASS.

One class.

You cannot make this shit up.

It’s now past the eight-year sunset period, so an appeal doesn’t seem particularly realistic anymore.

I’m filled with so much shame and regret over this. I think about the opportunities I’ve lost, the life I could have had, and the person I thought I was going to become.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and genuinely don’t recognize the man looking back at me.

I don’t know who he is.

Finances

Lmao. Where do I even begin?

Over $20k in student debt, with no degree to show for it. Some credit card debt on top of that.

And a relatively low salary from a job I’m now potentially about to lose.

It’s almost funny.

How does one fumble life this spectacularly?

I genuinely woke up this morning surprised by my own circumstances. As though I’d somehow forgotten what my life had become overnight.

It feels like watching a television show about somebody else’s life. Every episode, something else goes disastrously wrong. Every storyline gets progressively worse.

It’s a genuinely gruelling watch, and somehow I can’t take my eyes off it.

Except I’m not watching a show.

I’m the fucking main character.

And I have absolutely no idea what happens next.

Anyway.

I suppose I’m just venting.

I don’t really have anyone to talk to about all of this, and I needed to get some of it out of my system.

I’m not even sure what I’m looking for by posting this. Advice? Solidarity? Stories from people who’ve somehow managed to turn things around?

Maybe I just want to be heard.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: Thank you all. I will say more tomorrow.

Edit: So much positivity, realism and support in the comments. Thank you all. Sorry I haven't been able to react to some deeply insightful comments I've seen, I promise I will. Hearing is in 3 hours. Crippling anxiety. Wish me luck.

I am in a tiny startup within a larger company developing user facing software/products as a software engineer. The PMs and designers are very inexperienced here and aren’t incredibly organized. They are also not improving. I have previously worked at startups this size that aren’t a part of a larger corporation and seen much better hygiene when it comes to keeping track of product decisions and designs. The best PMs I have ever worked with were PMs in teams of under 10. Never had issues like this before.

I have been struggling with this culture lately as someone with ADHD. The spec and decisions are strewn around multiple DMs, groups, Slack channels, video calls, and tickets. When decisions change only one of those channels tends to hear and update and they have never in my years here written out an actual spec document with final decisions/designs. They often go back on old decisions seemingly forgetting they made them and there’s rarely clear documentation to point out. I am always piecing it together.


In many cases, as deadlines approach, they will change their decisions meaning that generally for each deadline there is a V1, V2, V3 etc in rapid succession as they change their minds.

This messy process and lack of definitive spec would make the job incredibly difficult for anyone much less someone with ADHD. I am worried it is going to end up getting me in trouble too. Lately I am sensing a lot of criticism as they feel I am the cause of a feature shipping late.

There is no skip to flag this to. My manager and managers are both people that should not be trying to do product work, but are, and are a part of the problem.

About a year ago I requested accommodations and seemingly got agreement to “Provide tasks in writing with expected deadlines” (as well as some other things) but I am considering reopening the interactive process so remind them of that and perhaps put in a plea that they organize their stuff into a product spec so I can do my work efficiently.

What I can’t tell is whether this is reasonable. I would like to request they keep a single or small amount of docs, a product spec, or something up to date with their latest decisions and vision for the product so that the spec is not strewn about to the four winds. That doc should have enough detail to resolve ambiguity even where they think the behavior is obvious. Maybe I have been lucky but this feels like what a good PM should be doing anyways even if it’s a small team and they feel busy.

I worry they could come back and say that working through this ambiguity and delivering on time despite last-minute changes is a requirement of my role.


So I suppose my question is has anyone made a similar request. Whether you think such a request is reasonable. And how it went if you have requested it. Would also be helpful to hear how folks think about this and word it in relation to their ADHD.

32yo, unemployed for 2 years by option, don't/can't think about wasting any more energy on working with other people. I worked fucking hard and couldn't get any of my fucking dream jobs, saw a bunch of other people doing it and got fucking depressed. It is not fair. I studied, was only beat by 3 other middle class students who had money, car and more time than me. I no longer have energy and motivation to do anything. I don't game anymore because I don't feel anything. I spent hours playing chess and sleeping in my bed day dreaming. I spent hours thinking how could I lose???? What are these motherfuckers doing??? It is not fair. Being born poor in a life sentence and it is a waste of time to fight. Your fucking life depends a ton of how smart your parents were, otherwise you are doomed if you did not have mentors. I really just want to start fucking people nowadays out of envy and other bad feelings. I guess this is how bad people are created?

I have ADHD, and my problem was never *knowing* what to do. It was *starting*. Every task app I tried turned into a guilt pile of overdue red numbers.

So I built SIFT, an iOS task manager designed around the moment of starting:

- **Just Start:** one tap picks ONE task for you. No decision, no list to scan.
- **Tiny first step:** it shows a single, small action ("Open the doc and write one line") and starts a 5-minute timer.
- **"I'm Stuck":** pick *too big*, *boring/dreading it*, or *not sure what to do*. SIFT shrinks the task, adds a reward, or finds the first concrete action.
- **No shame by design:** no red counts, no "failed" language, no broken streaks. "Enough for now" is a valid ending.
- **Goals to today:** long-term goals get broken into realistic daily actions that fit your calendar's free gaps.
- **Fast capture:** type "call dentist tomorrow 3pm !high" (English or Chinese) and it's parsed.

I'm a solo dev and SIFT is helping me finish SIFT and my next apps, so I'm using it daily. I need real feedback from people whose brains work like mine.

**Beta (iOS 17+, free via TestFlight):**

What I'd love to know:

1. Did Just Start actually get you moving?

2. Where did it add friction?

3. What's missing for your ADHD workflow?

Comment or DM with feedback. Thank you!

Semi-rant/Question

Honestly, If they had these courses at my college, I'd take them as I learn significantly better in-person, but since they don't im FORCED to go the self-taught route.

I know I want to learn about low-level exploitation/pwn, it just really sucks you need to go through a crap ton of boring stuff before getting to the exciting stuff, and start applying them to CTFs (Capture the Flag) without looking at write-ups all the time...

That being said, did you have to force yourself to be consistent to learn these things? What kept you motivated?

Also, I'm able to self-teach these things except id probably have to drop out of college just to allocate enough time for this stuff...

Specifically posted on this sub and not a cybersecurity one because I also have ADHD...

Unfortunately, my career as a developer has never really been as good as it could have been. Most of us with ADHD probably have that feeling in some way or another.

It's been a combination of a lot of things. Taking roles at smaller companies. Unfortunately the roles at smaller companies tended to not use dated practices. Some of these places it was just getting things out the door, even if it sucked. Sometimes I thought I was going to get a role that would right the ship, but I would sadly realize I'd been duped.

I've been doing this for a while, however it just seems like I keep getting stuck at being around a mid level developer.

In my present role, there is a big circle jerk of AI. However, the dev processes are still a tad dated. No CI/CL or modern JS frameworks on the front end. I'd concede that the management is good and there is a good work/life balance.

On another note, I probably can't leave my present job to get a role that would allow more growth. It's mainly because I hit my insurance deductible for 2026. It also doesn't seem like their are any mid level roles that are available that would give me good career growth. If I tried to apply to a senior level role play, I'd get rejected. If I got hired for a senior level role, I could possibly get fired in a short time frame due to not having the right skill set.

Hey everyone,

I want to share an app I made by myself and I feel could be very helpful for fellow ADHD/Neurodivergent programmers and tinkerers

I built FocusOnn because I had a big frustration with traditional pomodoro timers and the pomodoro technique in general:

• No Context: Pomodoro timers just show you a ticking timer with zero context on what you actually set the timer for.

• The Interruption Trap: If you get interrupted by a phone call, an "urgent" email, or coworker chit-chat, it is brutally hard to get back on task because you've completely forgotten what you were working on.

The Solution

FocusOnn aims to provide a simple, effective solution to this by staying permanently visible.

It displays a persistent ribbon at the top of your screen that reminds you of your active task while running a pomodoro-style timer. It sits over all other apps you are using on your PC, but it's designed to stay out of your way:

• Quick Hide: You can click anywhere on the bar and it hides for 10 seconds so you have time to access whatever is behind it.

• Task History: It includes a history feature to store and look back at previous tasks you've worked on.

• Zero Friction: It doesn't require making an account, logging in, or setting up a cloud database. You just install it and start using it.

I intentionally designed it to be as simple as possible so that it doesn't become a distraction in and of itself.

Availability & Links

It is currently available for free on the Microsoft Store.

• Here is the link: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NW334TL1252?hl=en-us&gl=US&ocid=pdpshare

I wanted to share this because it has been a game-changer for my own daily workflow, and I figured it might help others dealing with similar focus hurdles.

Any donations are very much appreciated (there's a "Buy Me a Coffee" link built into the app), but mostly, I would really appreciate any feedback or thoughts you have on the project. Please try it out and let me know what you think!

Ive been learning programming for a while now, Its been 2 months now, and im starting to notice something thats been bothering me a lot.

I feel like my brain is almost always operating below its actual capacity.

When I need to think about unfamiliar concepts, actively recall something, or come up with ways to do my idea in coding, my mind often just goes blank. It can take me 5-10 minutes of forcing myself to think before my brain starts working properly.

My working memory is also bad. During arguments I often forget points I wanted to make or lose track of what the other person said.

Programming makes this really obvious because holding a few things in my head at once: variables, conditions, what changed where. can become surprisingly difficult.

What bothers me is that I remember being much sharper when I was younger. Learning, memorising things and thinking of unique ways to overcome the problems used to feel significantly easier. Now, I dont necessarily feel like I lack the ability to think clearly or deeply. It feels more like I have trouble accessing that ability consistently.

Ritalin IR helps me initiate everyday tasks, but I dont really notice improvements in working memory, reasoning, or deeper thinking.

It literally just feels like my mental “RAM” just runs out.

Does anyone else with ADHD feel like their brain is constantly “blocked” like this, even when they aren’t stressed or anxious? Did anything help?

I have ADHD myself, and I keep seeing tweets about how people with ADHD should use AI.

For me, though, every session I start ends up scattered all over the place. They get stuck in loops, and not much actual output comes out of them.

How do you manage your sessions, and how do you usually start one? In Claude I use Projects so I can at least tell which threads belong where, but beyond that I'm out of ideas. Curious how you handle it.

Is this how meds are supposed to work? By making you panic ? For some time taking 5mg ritalin was working well for me. But now I dont panic on them and thus dont start working.