Wondering how many of you have ADD/ADHD, diagnosed or not. I've heard people say that many programmers have ADD or ADHD and that it generally makes them a better programmer. I myself have ADD and I feel like it makes me a better programmer, but I have to work harder at paying attention to my wife/social life.

I have adhd and aspergers. I have the concentration issue but been told im good at being a programmer because im very logical.

I'm wondering how that works. If you program without effort, I suppose you don't have attention deficit while programming? Is it limited to certain situations?

@Gauthier people with ADHD may be able to concentrate really hard at certain tasks but have almost no ability to concentrate on others. Michael phelps has it and he believes it contributes to his success

adhd checking in

Never went to a Doctor to check it but I can easily perceive that my mind works differently from people around me. I can't say it is ADD though cause it doesn't impair me in any way as long as I can tell.

It took me years to remember my parents birthday, and even today for example I hesitate answering how old are my brothers, but I have no difficulty remembering stuff from uni, like linear algebra, calculus...

@alandemaria not sure if that qualifies as ADHD. Have you ever had trouble concentrating in class, especially when subjects don't interest you?

@xroad very much so. The main reason I sucked in school. I'm a smart person, but I do better at teaching myself than having others teach me

@xroad I'm not sure it is ADD/ADHD too. I did have problems focusing on uninteresting classes, but I never felt it could be a symptom of something, I just thought 'meh, stuff is boring, gonna do something else'.

Now I could (still can) get lost easily to stuff I enjoy, to the point people have to come and remind me there is a life outside my head.

adhd/add usually goes with being highly intelligent. personally I think why it works well with computers is that there's so many different things to do and it keeps us from getting bored. but this idea is coming from a adhd guy with a 162 iq

I got adhd, failed school but in the same time programed at home. Got an simple web dev job and worked my way up from there. It's both negative and good. When it comes to tasks that are not challenging or repetitive my boss has to baby sit me for it to get done. But when it comes to new exiting and challenging tasks I am very focused and a quick learner. Code quality is suffering tho, since solving the issue is the fun part, and doing the detail work is boring, so shortcuts are often taken.

Recently started takes medication tho, and that really remove all the negative parts, but the good ones stay ☺️

Nope, nothing diagnosed and don't think I have it either. Used to have insomnia though and because of that, very very bad short term memory.

OCD, though you wouldn't know by my constant typos and bugs. OCD is a lot different from how it's portrayed in movies (much like schizophrenia)... programming has effectively replaced my less pleasant obsessions.

@lreading yeah my wife is ocd, it's hell to keep her from messing with my desk

I too have some sort of adhd, though never diagnosed. Additionally my little brother has been diagnosed with asperges, and I wouldn't say it's a stretch to say I have something similar as well. I find that a general difficulty to focus on anything makes me work harder and concentrate more deeply when I put my mind to it. And learning tricks to maintain my focus translates well to all aspects of life.

I have ADHD and classic autism and if I start working on something it's done really quickly

Adhd here. Ive been known to wander off in the middle of working on a project.

adhd + aspergers

few years back, one of the doctors who was part in the committee of defining ADD/ADHD as diseases wrote an open letter when he retired.

in this letter he told that there was no real statistical evidence that such disease existed, but the pressure of pharmaceuticals was to high and even money was involved.

I comment this so it may give other perspective on what may be the truth behind your success. and maybe to recommend avoiding taking the related drugs.

Extreme OCD, ADHD, & Chronic Stress. 😕

@ggromx yes it was illuminati that created adhd. We that have had extreme difficulties our entire lives are just lazy. The drugs that enable us to live normal lives are evil.

@tobbeboi that would make sense if it involved any conspiracy.

but the pharmaceutical industry is a corrupt entity. pills since solve everything philosophy is extremely profitable.

both my ex and my current gf work in pharmaceutical research. (in development drugs for cancer treatments, (i am a theoretical chemist)). the drugs that at the end enter phase three clinical trials are not always those more viable, but those whose patents are more profitable (non patent free molecules or otherwise expensive development routes).

this happens indirectly through grants. which are only given to certain research branches.

this convoluted environment is the reason I leaved the academy.

@ggromx lego my amphetamine...o

Got ADHD, had a really hard time in school, as soon as I found programming I knew it was what I wanted to do because I could sit with it for days without getting bored.