I have been working in the IT industry for the last 13 years and I was diagnosed with ADHD around two years back.
As part of my job, I have to look at a lot of code. It used to be that I used to write a lot of it, but recently since getting promoted, my work now revolves mostly around reviewing the code others wrote or sometimes enhancing someone else’s code.
The problem comes when I come across some extremely convoluted legacy code. For example, like a function hierarchy with 10+ levels of function calls across several hundreds of lines. This causes me some problems understanding what’s going on because it’s nearly impossible for me to follow every branch to understand which part of the code needs fixing. After a while traversing the function calls I often forget how I got there and have to retrace my steps (I use debug breakpoints but it doesn’t help much). I also tend to get distracted with ideas of how to re-implement the whole thing with best practices rather than focus and work on delivering the fix that I am expected to do. This severely hampers my turnaround time and I’m sure my supervisors are frustrated.
What baffles me, however, is that my other colleagues look like they have no problems working on this codebase. So I cannot really blame the badly written code before my supervisors.
So I just wanted to ask anyone here who has ADHD, works in IT/Software Engineering how do you cope with a situation like this? Also, does medication help here?
I used to be on Atomoxetine, but after experiencing a nasty anxiety attack, I stopped about a month ago. Not that I observed any major improvements while I was on it.
PS: Apologies if the context does not make sense to any of you non-IT folks. I can clarify if you ask.
I am in a similar boat in career. I lead a small team of data engineers and do more code review now than code writing. For me, yes the meds help. They keep the tracks for my train of thought from disappearing. It stops my brain from having the context switching problems. The brain fog clears and I can actually think straight.
I’m on methylphenidate (36mg ER), but different meds work for different brains. Your experience may vary. Caffeine also affects us differently, helping us focus instead of keeping us hyper. I’ve heard it also helps convey some of the meds for more effective delivery.
I find note taking along the way with AI-assisted code summaries help too, but those don’t help my context switching difficulty.
Edit: I’d also add, schedule management REALLY helps. Avoid 30 minute back to back meetings with different themes if possible. Give your brain downtime after a meeting to chill and think. After 3-4 meetings of different concepts, my brain can’t handle anything, even with meds. This causes burnout more quickly than anything I experience.
I already gave feedback to my manager that we were having too many meetings on the same day, so now they are spread evenly over the week. Usually they are not more than 30 mins.
As for caffeine, I think I have developed a tolerance. I have two cups every day and it feels like it hardly helps. I should probably get back on the meds though.