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Comment by lokimedes | Hacker News Reader

This is me, this is how I generate value as a full-blown ADHD case. I wonder if there’s a correlation? To add credibility in a corporate setting I have somehow achieved a fearsome combination of Physics PhD, MBA and 25 years of wildcard software development / entrepreneurship. That, combined, legitimizes why I’m allowed to be the wildcard. How have you others managed to be this deep generalist in a specialist’s world?

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This entire article was born from conversations I was having when doing research for my book on ADHD (https://adhdpro.xyz/), so it’s a pretty strong correlation I would say :)

Thanks for the link! I just bought your book :)

Thanks for the book. I managed to "read" it whole in about an hour. And basically, yes I do have ADHD as you described half of my life even the "smart girls" example did hit me as I did had similar smart girls back in the day in my classes. Also I did already try most of that stuff in the book, but I don't want to try let's say shrooms and I already quit somking tobbacco 3 years ago after 10+ years smoking. So I guess right now all I need is to be diagnosed and get some meds which I already had a schedule for the next week done like two days ago and your book only solidifies me in that move. Only thing I'm scared of is that the doc wont take me serious and will try to avoid prescribin the meds. Or will try to extend the whole process for another 2-3 months before prescribing anything as its not that easy to get ADHD meds from where I'm from due to their bad "rep".

But yea thanks for your book I am 100% sure I have ADHD and I was sure of it for at least the last few years but it is really difficult to find a good professional to get the help you really need.

Thanks for buying my book! I think you’ll do just fine with your doctor. If you want to chat about that, please send me an email :)

"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." I'll check the book out.

This was my immediate thought also - as I embrace my ADHD as success, not failure. After 10 years of web design/dev work I found myself spending more time in SQL than design and left to study classical animation. At 20 years I have managed to cobble together a useful, successful, maybe even desirable wildcard career in edu kids media, collecting accolades along the way that I couldn't care less about.

I like to think of my ADHD as the superpower of subconscious thought. When I wrangle the focus, things percolate quickly and I will create very interesting work at an incredibly high production value. This happens both alone and with a team and I believe it to be related to a wide and varied skillset--master of none.

Success happens so frequently that I have been able to learn some conditions to gain focus so results are fairly repeatable. My work gets a lot of eyeballs, folks see this value and will put me on new projects or simply come to me for validation of their ideas.

Still, I'm not the easiest person for neuro-typicals to work around, and after 20 years that is unlikely to change much. I keep my job because I'm always needed - I can always do the thing that needs to be done, or help a team to deliver. It helps that I'm also kind, and fun to be around. But, as projects mature I am eventually phased out for a larger team of stable redundancy and I have to cope with losing the thing that I built and love.

My joy comes with learning something very new and very challenging, casting light on the unknown by diving head-first before others think. My career is successful because I am skilled and able to take on the risks that others are afraid to spend the time or resources on. I am somehow already prepared, interested, and on staff.

I relate to this with my ADHD as well. I work for a certain cloud provider, and made my name by ambulance chasing both on my team and company-wide for interesting problems. Turned debugging complex networking/systems/security/etc. issues, regardless of my day to day role, into my “specialization”. My actual role is still as a software engineer on a team in the networking domain, so it works nicely. Over the years has been a challenge to balance ad-hoc engagements with work/life balance, but last couple years I’ve figured it out nicely.

Remember also that "ADHD" is more complicated than a binary off-or-on thing. I've never been diagnosed with ADHD and doubt I would be if specifically evaluated for it, but I have another diagnosis that comes with "ADHD-lite" behavior as part of its usual phenotype. It originates from a different place (as far as anyone knows) but it sure looks pretty similar.

So what I'm saying is, you should think of "ADHD" as a lens through which you can choose to view yourself and your brain. Some things might fit or describe you well, other things will not, regardless of "diagnosis" or lack thereof. And that's normal. Make use of the conclusions and techniques that work for you and make your life and the lives of those around you better, and forget about the others. That's all anyone can hope to do.

(You'll need a diagnosis should you want meds, though.)

Definitely agree, and to clarify I do have a diagnosis (and take medication). I don’t view it as a condition per-se, just part of who I am, as well as something that makes life interesting.

> Furthermore, Wildcards thrive with new tasks and suffer from repetitive ones. They also have a hard time staying outwardly organized

I got to this line before realising they might just be renaming ADHD.

Hell I'll take it though, "Wildcard" added to the resume. Bring me an interesting business model, pay me enough to cover my bills. What do you need doing?

If I don't know how to now, I will next week.

I've been studying English, Political Scienes, Computational Lingustics, Cognitive Science and Engineering Psychology, then worked as a developer in various startups and am now a Product Manager (a common job title for 'wildcard' people, according to the article).

I've switched jobs on average every 2 years and am still trying to find the one position that can really fill my needs. The closest I got was as a technical Product Owner in a multi-team development effort where I managed to stay on for four years.

I'm also visiting a therapist in two weeks to find out if I have ADHD or not.

I feel this article describes my profile about 90% accurately.

This is also me to the dot. I am also trailing ADHD pills to mitigate the bad organizatio part. I am 33, and i am looking forward in my agenda planning for a week or 2. Before this would be 2 hours.

I also feel that the wildcard person is like this because of some specific characteristics, like to never want to quitte before working etc, which comes with huge downsides, couple relationships on my end.

My saying is that I can fix anything if you give me enough time.

To all the wildcards, shield yourself from abuse by your employer.

I join companies early on and do 5 different jobs and get paid for 1, then burn out

Me too, yet it changed with my diagnosis and COVID lockdown. I had a really open and frank discussion with my current employer, about who I am, what I can help with, but also the darker sides and how I’m not a magical creator and operator in one. They seem to accept that. That again gives me freedom to define the point I can exit my i initiatives, and have others take over. After 40 cycles around Sol, I know when burnout hits, and call the exit just before that. The second thing is making it clear that I need downtime. That is not a leave, but usually spent wandering the company, diagnosing and ideating. Then, when recharged I propose new initiatives and on it goes. This way of working has reignited my entrepreneurial side, to the extent that I’m starting a venture studio with the majority owner of the company, to make that process unbounded from the main company.

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