Comment by brandgefahr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by brandgefahr | Hacker News Reader

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I appreciate your thorough response.

2. It's not always possible to obtain evidence because there may be dubious strategies at work. But, in general, you're right.

4. "Large scale self-reported surveys indicate that about a third of people who write JavaScript primarily for their profession are on the spectrum"

Source? All I could find was https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022, which indicates 3.7% for autism, though it's unclear for autism AND frontend.

"One of the most common unifying indications of autism is generalized, constant, and pervasive anxiety that is typically minor but always present and cannot be switched off."

Since autism is different for everyone, I wouldn't say that this is a sign that all autistic people share.

"When evidence suggests a conclusion contrary to sources of comfort my experience tells me people on the spectrum will simply abandon the evidence immediately."

I cannot confirm that, as individuals on the autism spectrum tend to be highly analytical.

"Its why autistic people almost universally prefer packaged solutions from strangers, because its something to which they can attach external validation without further evaluation."

Evidence?

In general, I believe that people should not be put in boxes but should be worked with. What is preventing us from working together to find a solution?

* 4.27% (n=16,163) for autism (https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022#neurodiversity)

https://2025.stateofjs.com/en-US/demographics/#disability_st...

The question and responses could indicate any number of conditions that may or may not achieve medical diagnostic criteria but respondents reported around 31% have a non-specified mental health consideration.

High analytical personality is orthogonal to anxiety response. As a solid example watch a show called The Pitt. There is a student doctor that does an excellent job acting as someone on the spectrum. This may or may not represent persons on the spectrum in general or in part. The is also a night shift doctor who is hyponeurotic whose behavior is highly stereotypical of persons inflicted with abnormally low anxiety. Focus of that characters behavior. They can make original high risk decisions under stress that internally conflicted persons could never make. In the example of that show this high risk behavior saves lives that could not be saved otherwise and directly informs process and procedure to those around them. The daily decisions that go into writing software are certainly less severe but are no less frequent and the behaviors of analysis and action are not dramatically different. What is different is the nature of clustering statistics of behavior profiles and thus the baseline or average of those personalities in a given profession.

For persons that actually write software, as in writing original applications presenting new solutions, the population average demonstrating an aversion to writing anything is at first exhausting. On a longer timeline that exhaustion graduates to something more. The job begins to feel like a highly restricted numbing copy/paste surrounded by prey animals pretending, or masking, to not be in constant fear. It’s where everything from the corporate world becomes limited to putting text on screen in the exact same slow motion ways while a small fraction of those people do astonishingly amazing things as a part time hobby. It’s where most of your 10x people come from. It’s not that those 10xers are awesome, but that they are less restricted and learn to not waste time from practice solving much tougher problems when not getting paid. In my case, personally, I just got tired of a career that punishes people for not deliberately making bad and knowingly costly decisions that preferences a low performing developer audience in preference to the actual users.

According to your source, 17% of neurodivergent conditions (n=9239) are known to exist; the precise percentage for autism is unclear.

> Neurodivergent conditions" are defined as "ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia, etc.

> As a solid example watch a show called The Pitt. There is a student doctor that does an excellent job acting as someone on the spectrum. This may or may not represent persons on the spectrum in general or in part. The is also a night shift doctor who is hyponeurotic whose behavior is highly stereotypical of persons inflicted with abnormally low anxiety.

I'm not sure if a show is a good example. There could be a show where autistic people quietly save the world by writing original code while neurotypical people fight over ideologies (and for the real blockbuster experience, add aliens to the mix).

> The is also a night shift doctor who is hyponeurotic whose behavior is highly stereotypical of persons inflicted with abnormally low anxiety. Focus of that characters behavior. They can make original high risk decisions under stress that internally conflicted persons could never make.

According to recent research, autistic individuals can attain optimal anxiety [1]. Just make sure they have supportive coworkers and the appropriate workspace (written, remote communication). That's what I meant when I said, "working together to find a solution" and I also want to add, ", because autism has its own strengths (hyperfocus)."

> It’s not that those 10xers are awesome, but that they are less restricted and learn to not waste time from practice solving much tougher problems when not getting paid.

Whether neurodiverse or not, I think that the mind benefits from solving challenging problems in general.

> In my case, personally, I just got tired of a career that punishes people for not deliberately making bad and knowingly costly decisions that preferences a low performing developer audience in preference to the actual users.

For this, the right incentives have to be put in place. Short-term quarterly results should not take precedence over long-term planning.

[1] https://arxiv.org/html/2511.02736v1

> I'm not sure if a show is a good example.

Its just a show. I take it you have not worked in a combat zone, in a police force under fire, in a hospital ER with people dying around you, or other constant stress condition. I made the guess you have not spent years in these real world scenarios so I settled on a show that accurately depicts the behavior described in a valid context.

The bottom line is this: most autistic people are probably great, but there are valid behavioral limits present. People who are capable and motivated to do more will eventually burn out when their career is dictated by artificial constraints imposed to appease the given candidate pool. Its a compatibility problem that I moved on from. It some people find that offensive then they can continue to be offended and I will continue to work under different conditions.

You're completely right. I've never worked under such constant stress conditions (god bless).

> People who are capable and motivated to do more will eventually burn out when their career is dictated by artificial constraints imposed to appease the given candidate pool. Its a compatibility problem that I moved on from.

I just want to tell you this: Autistic people (given the right circumstances) can be as capable and as motivated as you are. It's only a matter of workplace adjustment.

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