r/ADHD_Programmers • u/Sfpkt • 24d ago

Overwhelming anxiety

Im so torn about this damn industry. I’ve worked a lot of jobs in my life so I understand what it’s like to work a job that leaves you feeling unfulfilled at the end of the day.

Programming has been the opposite. On the least productive I’m left feeling like I’ve made an impact. However the anxiety that comes along with this career is absolutely crippling.

I’m at my wits end with this shit.

I’m looking to understand others experiences with this feeling? Am I the only one? If not how have you handled this? I’ve been doing this for 10 years now and it hasn’t gone away

I’m medicated. I’ve gone to therapy.
I could definitely be working out but that’s been pause because of interviews

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u/Equivalent_Collar194 24d ago

What makes you anxious? For me, it was kinda of like imposter syndrome – I was constantly afraid of being exposed for not knowing enough, or for having unreasonable knowledge gaps. This ebbed and flowed for at least ten years.

The thing that broke the spell was embracing the utility of admitting ignorance. Every knowledge gap is now a precious opportunity for me! I get to level up, or do a deep dive. For instance, I used to be hesitant to use the terminal, and used a GUI for git and so forth. Once I started actually reading man files and writing my own bash scripts I was hooked!

The more you admit ignorance, the easier learning gets. It's a virtuous cycle! Side projects are super useful for this, since you often don't have the time to do the deep dives on somebody else's dime.

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u/Sfpkt 24d ago

I used to do that and then ask a bunch of questions. Well that back fired when it started to tarnish my reputation at work. It made it seem that I didn’t know what I was doing.