Are you a programmer?

[BorisTheSpider]

I only made it through a few pages of the introductions forum, but I noticed that there are a few programmers out there. I program a little and am going to school to do more.

I was just wondering how many people there are who are:
1. Programmers
2. PV users
3. On this forum
4. Have ADD/ADHD

 

[mthoma5]

I am a programmer, I use a PV, I am on this forum, and I have ADD

 

[emanguba]

Don't have ADD/ADHD, but OCD.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Nice! I couldn't help but wonder about some sort of possible relation involving ADD, smoking (or vaping), and/or computer programming. I mean, I know codemonkeys often smoke, but I had no idea that there was some sort of inclination toward ADD (if there is). Unscientific polls are fun.

 

[mthoma5]

I actually think it's a broader connection to Information Technology as a whole. IT requires the ability to do so many things at the same time, that it is a ADD person's dream. I have worked in IT for over 20 years and it has been a god send. I have only been a programmer for 4 years...ya know can't stay in one place too long.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

I actually think it's a broader connection to Information Technology as a whole. IT requires the ability to do so many things at the same time, that it is a ADD person's dream. I have worked in IT for over 20 years and it has been a god send. I have only been a programmer for 4 years...ya know can't stay in one place too long.

You're absolutely right. It likely is a connection with IT in general. That also helps explain the typical depiction of an IT guy as kinda skittish and arrogant. The guy is doing 5 things at a time and ignoring everyone not because he's pompous, but because he's hyperfocusing. I also think AAD (Attention Abundance Disorder - or "normal") people find it difficult to keep up with what goes on in a busy IT field.

Let me pose a question to everyone, though. At some points, there has got to be some things that you have to do which are so boring and menial that it drives you batty. Something like filling out extensive paperwork or the like. Is there a trick you guys use to make that easier for yourself? Maybe you just delegate that to the AAD people because they like forms?

 

[mthoma5]

Let me pose a question to everyone, though. At some points, there has got to be some things that you have to do which are so boring and menial that it drives you batty. Something like filling out extensive paperwork or the like. Is there a trick you guys use to make that easier for yourself? Maybe you just delegate that to the AAD people because they like forms?

Ok I had a post all typed up for this and got side tracked and closed the window...LOL.

I require a since of urgency/adrenaline to complete boring paperwork, and usually a .... load of guilt because I put it off until it can't be put off any longer. But I am a mother, and an "IT guy"...lol, so guilt is part of most of my jobs...heheheee. It is very hard to hyper-focus on menial tasks, hence the need for the urgency. But over the years of grad school ect, I learned to to trick myself into believing that the menial stuff had to be done NOW, so I could give myself that adrenaline rush to get it done. The only way this works is to have a really long todo list, and make sure the menial stuff is on top for me. Don't know if this helps, but otherwise end up sitting on the forums for hours instead of say cleaning of my desk so I can find my list...LOL

In my journey to trying to quit smoking I have found this even more difficult, because on days where I don't get enough nicotine my focus is really bad...standing in front of the fridge trying to remember why the heck I'm there until a child reminds me I was getting them something...really sad...LOL

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Ok I had a post all typed up for this and got side tracked and closed the window...LOL.

I require a since of urgency/adrenaline to complete boring paperwork, and usually a .... load of guilt because I put it off until it can't be put off any longer. But I am a mother, and an "IT guy"...lol, so guilt is part of most of my jobs...heheheee. It is very hard to hyper-focus on menial tasks, hence the need for the urgency. But over the years of grad school ect, I learned to to trick myself into believing that the menial stuff had to be done NOW, so I could give myself that adrenaline rush to get it done. The only way this works is to have a really long todo list, and make sure the menial stuff is on top for me. Don't know if this helps, but otherwise end up sitting on the forums for hours instead of say cleaning of my desk so I can find my list...LOL

In my journey to trying to quit smoking I have found this even more difficult, because on days where I don't get enough nicotine my focus is really bad...standing in front of the fridge trying to remember why the heck I'm there until a child reminds me I was getting them something...really sad...LOL

I've had that happen a number of times. I'll start typing on 3 or 4 threads and never finish, get logged out and do it again. Also, I drink a lot. Not booze, just pop and tea. Sometimes, I'll go to the fridge, forget I was hungry and leave with a second glass of tea. Fun stuff.

Thank you for the tip. I never thought of the anti-common sense approach to prioritizing. When those menial tasks get put on the bottom of the list like a normal person would do, they go undone. I'll try moving them to the top and making them prerequisites for other tasks. If it works for me, it should help with schoolwork as well as housework.

Maybe off-topic, does anyone else ever have panic attacks when you're forced to do something extremely uninteresting or tedious? I lost a job that way once.

 

[CodeChimp]

I only made it through a few pages of the introductions forum, but I noticed that there are a few programmers out there. I program a little and am going to school to do more.

I was just wondering how many people there are who are:
1. Programmers
2. PV users
3. On this forum
4. Have ADD/ADHD

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes (ADD)

I read through this thread and was thrilled that there were others like myself. I enjoy coding, it's challenging and always changing. It's a world where you can make a career of learning a little of everything and applying a deeper level of systematic principal to turn out great stuff. Unfortunately the way my world turned a few years ago was that all the tech jobs were going to India and I was repurposed as a PM (the new role with value in the org). So I lost the ability to do what I loved. I took on a consulting business coding on the side and completed 2 large ongoing projects alone over the course of three years. You never know how bad your ADD can be until you are responsible for the ENTIRE DELIVERABLE from start to finish as opposed to a collaborative process. Now I have lots o' methodology paperwork and really need that sense of urgency. I am not as fortunate insofar as I cannot fake myself out when it comes to due dates. One day it will bite me in the .... Once I truly commit to do the documentation, I will get into it. I begin taking pride in the doc and enjoy the size of it as it grows...but to get to that point...it takes a lot of stop/start.

Keep it up this is a good discussion. Thanks for getting it going.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes (ADD)

I read through this thread and was thrilled that there were others like myself. I enjoy coding, it's challenging and always changing. It's a world where you can make a career of learning a little of everything and applying a deeper level of systematic principal to turn out great stuff. Unfortunately the way my world turned a few years ago was that all the tech jobs were going to India and I was repurposed as a PM (the new role with value in the org). So I lost the ability to do what I loved. I took on a consulting business coding on the side and completed 2 large ongoing projects alone over the course of three years. You never know how bad your ADD can be until you are responsible for the ENTIRE DELIVERABLE from start to finish as opposed to a collaborative process. Now I have lots o' methodology paperwork and really need that sense of urgency. I am not as fortunate insofar as I cannot fake myself out when it comes to due dates. One day it will bite me in the .... Once I truly commit to do the documentation, I will get into it. I begin taking pride in the doc and enjoy the size of it as it grows...but to get to that point...it takes a lot of stop/start.

Keep it up this is a good discussion. Thanks for getting it going.

Yes! It is possibly the one area specialized for the type of people who have a general knowledge of a broad swath of specialties but are good at applying one set of principles to the same. I sure hope that sentence makes more sense and sounds less insulting than it did while I typed it. Out of basic need, I've had to deliver a couple of web pages, which I also deal with maintaining. I can say that it's sometimes hard to be proud of work you do for other people when they make decisions you wouldn't. For instance, neither site is really "finished" by my standards, but it's plenty good for the clients. It bugs the crap outta me, but they're happy so I suppose I should take pride in that.

Due dates continue to bite me, at least in school, but I'm lucky enough to have professors who are more concerned with what you're learning than whether you can find time in your work/family/school schedule to cram in 8 pages of copying text from a book.

For what it's worth, I'm taking some programming classes for the first time, and it's really not bad. I understand the principles extremely well, and I'm learning the languages pretty quickly, but it's a big bite in the buttocks that when I want to speak with somebody about programming none of my AAD friends have a clue what I'm talking about. The same goes for math. I have the option to speak to professors and tutors, but that requires driving up to the school and I don't often want to make a day out of just going over a few things and having a BS session. Sometimes, it just seems helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off before diving in and trying 37 different methods. Do you also find it's helpful when you have a sounding board for some ideas?

 

[light487]

I am all of the above

Hehe.. my question though is, what is the relationship between extrovert and introverts with ADD/ADHD?

Are there more or less? Around the same? I dunno.. just asking and this thread made me think of asking

 

[swirleydude]

Didn't think add programers were that common. Lately I've been pulling 14 hour days just to feel like I've worked 8. :/

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Didn't think add programers were that common. Lately I've been pulling 14 hour days just to feel like I've worked 8. :/

Heck, some days I do that just by visiting cracked.com. It's like a black hole. When I look at the time and realize I need to stop, I've got another dozen articles pulled up that I intend to read.

 

[fratlife]

I have add, and just started learning pyton.

I also like to design and develop websites.

 

[MASTER0FDAMPF]

wow, this was insightful!

All of the above..

I LOVE coding. It is one of the few things that provide an intellectual challenge and a sense of accomplishment for me.
currently:
MCSD (C# and VB.net), MCAD, MCDBA (SQL 2000, 2005), A+, N+ - a few other MS ones 2003 admin, xp admin, a few extras in architecture and AD. Just started some Websphere App Server stuff (Java and DB2 on Linux), only a lowly websphere admin so far, but working on Commerce and Commerce developer expert.

Where I work now is awesome sometimes...Genetics analytics, massive datasets of hundreds of table with rather complicated abstract joins (being migrated to a cleaner architecture soon), multiple projects in different frameworks and languages and little paperwork. We actually have a trainer (for end users) and he does almost all the documentation for us. If we give him an outline he will detail it up and make it "Pretty". I am also the link from the HW and SW teams because I am likely the only one who speaks both, although I am weaker on the hardware side than the dev side of things.

Don't really like the third party dev stuff, but it does pose some unique challenges and takes me back to my early software cracking, RE and injection days.

I think the relation of dev to PV user is fairly obvious: Switching from cigs to a safer alternative is a smart choice. Briliant devs like this group would see little to no reason not to. And who among us doesn't always look for the "Bigger, Better, faster...." all day long?

 

[the ob]

I only made it through a few pages of the introductions forum, but I noticed that there are a few programmers out there. I program a little and am going to school to do more.

I was just wondering how many people there are who are:
1. Programmers
2. PV users
3. On this forum
4. Have ADD/ADHD

1. no
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes.

programming would make me lose my mind. that is just me of course.

 

[lostinky]

1. no
2. yes
3 yes
4. yes / yes
add x2 second one my wife calls add she says you bought Another Dang Device.

 

[Gridtec]

ADD, Vaping, Forum Lurking Programmer checking in.
I don't code professionally, I consult in information security (Programming jobs suck, I only did it once and never again) with a company everyone has heard of for a product most of you probably haven't heard of. The ability to code in about a dozen languages (See: ADD) makes you a superstar at just about every non-programming IT job. Just sayin'.

 

[KumariHPX]

I don't program, not into the language part, though I've done some web design (I'm more creative and visual type).

I've worked in IT for a few years as a database administrator. Now, I'm a social worker, using those same skills to do policy and research work, and moving into project/program planning and management. I live on a fine line where I view things in the big picture, love to create and am extremely innovative and spontaneous thinker/brainstormer (I think this is a part of ADHD - being bright and resourceful), and then I also love to dig in deep to learn more and more about in-depth subjects (hyperfocus is good for this).

Sometimes I find paperwork and other repetitive tasks very soothing, so sometimes it's not bad. Just have to be in the right frame of mind to sit down to do it. Starting can be the worst part of most jobs. It's good to know what your strengths are. with more experience and education - if this is something you can manage (understandably, some just can't or won't) - you can either delegate or work within teams to collaborate with people who have different/complementary skills. The details people feel sometimes as 'fish out of water' as we do, depending on what type of organization it is.

Having to learn from an early age how to organize myself independently - so much so that I flew under the radar with ADHD all along - and girls were NOT even considered for diagnosis back then - that these planning and organizational skills make me a superstar where most people lack even the most basic of these skills. Especially in some of the subject areas where I work.

I think maybe some of using an electronic device for nicotine delivery may bring around some people who are more technically or scientifically minded.

AFA nicotine and ADHD, nicotine helps with focus because it's a stimulant. The more medication stimulant I have, the less nicotine I need. The more I need to focus, the more I smoke, ya know? Being on the puter, reading, etc means I was chain-smoking. Enter the pass-through LOL

Here I go with the procrastination and hyperfocus again, deeper down the rabbit hole. GOTTA GO! I'm going to hyperfocus now on my pillow now!

 

[KumariHPX]

Genetics analytics, massive datasets of hundreds of table with rather complicated abstract joins

Oh, man, that just gave me shiver - it sounds so awesome! I need to focus on including more of this kind of thrilling stuff in my work. Or, rather, navigate myself into those positions. Or, create them! That's always a possibility, too.