I graduated the university with a degree in Civil Engineering, barely surviving that four year journey. I knew there was something wrong with me, but seeking help seemed like a weakness until I kept getting into trouble, skipping classes because i had absolutely no interest whatsoever or I just could never find the motivation to learn and do my assignments.
After graduating, I worked as a Civil Engineer in a fast paced environment which was all fun until my country went on full lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19. I found myself stuck at home, bored and very depressed. And that was when i decided to scratch the itch to learn programming as a hobby.
My learning pattern
I learnt a lot about myself when i started learning programming on my own. I understood myself better and realised that I wasn't slow or lazy like I thought I was in school. That, coupled with speaking to my therapist at the time, helped bring much clarity to my situation: I had ADHD. It finally made sense. It had gone unnoticed for a long time because I was already being treated for another mental health issue.
My diagnosis brought me so much clarity and positively affected how I approached my studies, and currently, how I approach my job.
1. I learn better when I make notes.
No matter how seemingly trivial a lesson is, I have to write it down for it to make sense to me. It is not enough for me to just listen or watch. I would forget everything the moment I finished, unless I make notes. My notes are essentially my way of walking myself through whatever I have learnt and this serves as a sure way for me to remember everything I learn.
I still apply this approach to my current job. Every task I am assigned to, I write down the task, elaborate on what the task description is and finally write down the step-by-step solution to the given task, before going ahead to write my codes. My notes basically help me walk myself through my thought process and make me more efficient.
2. Having a routine and (trying to, lol) stick to it.
This is a difficult thing to do for someone living with ADHD. As productive and efficient as routines are, they seem quite impossible to follow. I forgive myself when my day goes wasted when I don't have a routine because my excuse is that I didn't plan my day anyway. Having a routine and breaking it makes me feel terrible and so in order to avoid that, I do everything possible to stick to it. I set reminders on my phone, my watch and on sticky notes and I sometimes set reminders to remind me of these reminders.
Currently, one routine I am proudly sticking to, is pushing a commit to my Github every day. So far, I am 33 days in and I am eager to see how far I can go on this streak.
3. I listen to myself speak.
Whenever I learn something new, or I'm faced with a task and I need to understand my solution better, I like to listen to myself while I reason with myself. I do this by recording myself as I speak out loud, whatever steps I'm taking to reach the solution, or when I'm learning, I like to record myself as I revise my notes off the top of my head.
I then go back to the recording, listen to it and correct any mistakes, make notes of what solutions work and also appreciate my understanding of what I am working on.
Conclusion
This blog post has taken me a week to write because initially, the words were all jammed up in my head and I couldn't make any progress until I followed all the steps I just spoke about. These are not the only things I do that work for me, but they are the major ones and I hope they work for someone else too.
Oldest comments (50)
Really glad we talked about this and happy you found the strength to write about it! Things can only get better from here :D
Thank you so much, You've been super helpful.
Hello fellow ADHD programmer! Solid post, thanks for writing it, always interested in what others do when they've got the ADHD super power. ✊🏻
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
You are doing well, Dorcas. Amazing writing
Thank you Favour :)
Hey Dorcas! Thank you for this well-written post.
Being someone with an engineering background as well, I think I can relate a little to the challenge with finding interest in classes and abstract(boring) concepts.
In addition to this, I think you have just reiterated a few lessons to me:
Grateful for the lessons learnt. Thank you so much <3
Oh wow, thank you for that insight!
Points 1 and 2 describe myself very well (but rarely doing sticky notes).
Now I'm curios whether I've got ADHD, too 😅
These are just but a few that could or could not be signs of ADHD. You can always talk to a therapist :)
Don't self diagnose, ask a doctor for a referal if your concerned. There are things that have similar symptoms to ADHD but point to other causes. Its good to know what it is (especially as the treatments can be quite different). There are also comorbitities (Autism spectrum is not uncommon. OCD disorders less common but it happens too, although if you have OCD you'd know it [and no, I'm not talking about obsessive personality, OCD is a force of nature, the real disorder is extremely dehabilitating untreated])
I don't know if I have ADHD, but I'm surely struggling to remember things.
I'm 43 years old and I started less then a year ago to learn the Frontend path and sometimes I completely forget classes that I took, even though I understood completely at the time and even managed to complete the exercises attached to the course (I'm learning on Teamtreehouse).
It took me a lot of months to realize that I'm learning in a wrong way.
So, after many years of not writing anything on paper, I started to take notes and write for myself in order to understand better.
I really enjoy what I'm learning and for the first time since I started, JavaScript is not something completely abstract and started to grow on me. A lot!
Thursday I'll have an exam for an internship program and I'm literally shitting my pants because sometimes I don't remember things like splice, or pop, or methods that I didn't use a lot in order to stick in my head.
I read your article and I realized that I'm not alone as far as remembering things, or making them stick into our heads.
Keep it up and write more for us, because it's heartwarming what you wrote.
This is so heartwarming. So proud of you. Stick to a learning pattern that works for you and certainly make notes as you go along. You are going to ace your exams. With regards to whether you may have ADHD or not, I'd suggest a lot of reading around ADHD signs and see how much you relate to them, note them down and if possible, talk to a therapist about it. There are several ADHD materials that help with managing the condition and so even without a therapist, you can use these remedies to help manage it better (that's if you have it). The only downside to not seeing a therapist is that you cant receive medications for it as you'd need a prescription to get them.
i wish you the very best, and lemme know how the interview goes. I'm rooting for you <3
I wouldn't be too hard on yourself if you're not remembering things like splice or pop. I've been using Javascript for years (maybe 8) and I still have to look up shift/unshift functions on occasion. Unless you're using them on a daily basis you're likely to forget. Being able to recall that that functionality exists when you need it and recover the understanding from documentation is more important. Very generally speaking.
Wonderful post! I really like your third post and I think I will try that as well.
Thank you. Glad to hear. Do give it a try and i hope it helps. <3
Thank you for this. Also found out I had ADHD when I started learning how to program this year. Already did a 5 year Computer Engineering degree and managed a 82.5%, although I knew something was up for many reasons. One of them being my 'laziness' and I was always doing every single thing last minute no matter how much I tried.
Nearly broke down in tears and I finally had to find out why I always had to push myself to just maintain basic levels of productivity, especially now when I needed my brain the most. It was then I went to see the therapist. Had a couple of sessions. Therapy is going great. I find lifting weights helps my ability to focus(dopamine).
I also have ADHD and I realise that your method is more in-depth than mine.
I shall improve.
One of the things that always makes me grin is that in the workplace I've had a reputation of being a stickler for procedure and being organized wereas outside the workplace friends see me as a force of chaos. The thing is, being organized is my only defence against unravelling and it works. The brain-squirrels need to be harshly disciplined, or hey'll just make a mess.
My advice is to learn the various Software design lifecycles and focus on those project management type skills. Jira can be an amazing asset for the ADHD squirreled mind for keeping track of what your supposed to be doing.Learn how many tickets you can work at a time to balance the need for novelty and escaping boredom and the need to minimize distraction. Learn the Pomodoro Method (15 minute timers), although if your on a good hyperfocus on something your supposed to be doing, turn that 15m clock off, and ask your workmates to leave you alone till you've finished your tasks. For non Jira-able things, use a todo list to organize your day.
Basically we suck at organizing ourselves, but we have the technology to let our computers organize us for us.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am definitely going to give these a try and see how they work for me. Most times, i am more hyperfocused so i tend to be all in or all out. I am either not finding the ability to start any work, or once i start, I go hours without stopping. I need to find the balance and so I will give these methods a try.
Thank you so much for sharing
Great article 😉
Courageous. Thanks for sharing. Some of the items here resonates to myself.
Thank you too.
For almost 6 years now, I have tried many times and failed trying to learn web development. Like you, I have ADHD. I also suffer from Bipolar Disorder, and just a couple years ago found out that I'm Autistic. I find myself watch motivational videos and try to get myself to start another video, but I find myself just turning off the videos and going back to my daily routine, wishing I had done more. I applaud you in your efforts and would like to thank you for writing your story. Know that you aren't alone in the struggle. Thanks for having the courage of sharing your story with others.
I was diagnosed with ADHD sometime after my 60th birthday.
Your mention of making notes is a winner. For many years I've had work journals for making notes on whatever I am doing, write plans for the day, or just note what is happening during a meeting. (People sometimes ask for me for the meeting minutes, and I have to explain that I'm not the secretary, but otoh I can tell them what I thought happened at a meeting).
Taking notes is good for so many things. Guidance, prioritising, memory amongst them.
Talking (to yourself, or someone else) is really helpful for getting over those moments when you are stuck in a problem. Even writing out a problem as a github issue, or a stackoverflow request for help can solve the problem - and you don't even have to save or send what you've written. (Done that many times).
thanks for such a useful article
why at 60? just curious, because ADHD is life long, how did you cope before?
I coped "well enough" I guess. I was fortunate that I was studying when computer science was introduced at my Uni, so I became a programmer.
I think that I would have done a lot better though, if I could finish projects, handle people better, and just be more normal. And I was diagnosed because I do have mental health issues (depression) and was having three different conversations with my psych at the same time.
Overall I would say that being intelligent brought enough positives to outweigh the negatives.
Your experience fits a larger narrative of women diagnosis with ADHD where our gendered socialization outweighed the problematic behaviors we may have experienced. It was and still is a diagnosis skewed to boys and their raucous behavior.
I'm so glad you found my article one worth sharing. I am always so elated when i meet people who got their diagnosis later/outside the normal known age group for diagnosing ADHD, because i had to struggle through getting a diagnosis, being told adults "cannot" get ADHD which is a lie.
I can see you also use some of the methods that work for me. I'm so pleased to know I am never alone in this. I appreciate your comment so much. I hope to keep writing more (hopefully something else doesn't steal my interest or cause me to give up on writing) <3
Thanks a lot for that insight. This has come timely to my notice!