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Comment by d--b | Hacker News Reader

> But my ADHD, doesn't allow me to focus on stuff that I don't find fun.

Look, I don’t want to be disrespectful but maybe you don’t have ADHD. From the accounts I have read online, adults with ADHD have a _reaaaaaally_ hard time focusing on anything. Like stopping sentences midway to chase butterflies. I find it utterly incompatible with being an engineer. So it’s not like you can’t focus (you said yourself), it’s that you don’t want to focus.

Truth is everybody has a much harder time focusing on shitty half-baked non-testable legacy software than on greenfield interesting stuff.

My former boss used to say: “remember, if you enjoy it, it’s not work”. It’s a bit effed up to be honest, but if you aspire to go to FAANG and be paid $250k+, you may have to agree to sweat a little.

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Are you... gatekeeping a mental illness you don't have? :)

I'm a software engineer with ADHD. I've been diagnosed by doctors, psychologists, and even imagery (SPECT scans). I work at a big tech company, and I'm very senior and well paid.

They're totally compatible. It's not easy, but by adulthood most of us have a lot of skills to compensate, and sometimes medication.

I'd liken focus with my ADHD to holding a firehouse - it's actually incredibly powerful, but difficult to control.

Where did you get SPECT scans?

> I'd liken focus with my ADHD to holding a firehouse - it's actually incredibly powerful, but difficult to control.

Controlling the hyper focus can be hard. I liken my experience of adhd to learning horse riding and being given an unruly stallion for a brain while everyone else got well trained if slower horses. Except no one told you and blame you for not "wanting to work hard enough".

As someone with ADHD I would like to chime in here.

“Like stopping sentences midway to chase butterflies.”

It can be like that for some people with ADHD. But every person with an ADHD diagnose is not cast in the exact same mold.

When speaking about ADHD, it’s crucial to be aware that there are three subtypes: predominantly inattentive (ADHD-PI or ADHD-I), predominantly hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD-PH or ADHD-HI), and combined type (ADHD-C).[0]

Please keep in mind that different people can have vastly different coping strategies and vastly different support from their partner, family, etc.

And then there is medication, which can make an enormous difference for some people.

”I find it utterly incompatible with being an engineer.”

Nope. That’s just incorrect. ADHD can make someone’s life very challenging, but those challenges are not necessarily unsurmountable.

[0] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit...

I have a clinically diagnosed ADHD. But I get your comment, I used to feel the same before I was diagnosed that maybe I am just lazy.

Yes, Hyper-focus has helped a lot for me. Helped me crack IIT-JEE. I also love programming and when I am dialed in, It is awesome.

I don't personally suffer from ADHD, but from what I understand it's a spectrum order with sub-types, so I affects everyone differently. Some people have trouble focusing their attention, while others are compulsive and suffer from lack self regulation and emotional issues.

In the ADHD communities I'm on, and my own experience, the consensus seems to point more to ADHD's ability provide the gift of hyper-focus -- if you are enamored with the subject matter

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