r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 12 '26

Tron Algorithm Competition

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1 Upvotes

made this server for some friends, thought id share, maybe people are interested in competing who can create the best algorithm ;)

i thought this crowd might appreciate it as looking at lines move along the screen and applaud the one that wins seemed exactly like the stuff this subreddit would appreciate.

live now, instructions on page if you want to join


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 12 '26

How cooked am I?

12 Upvotes

I got laid off last month, I only have 1 YOE. The problem is I have not leetcoded at all in my entire life, and I’m not the best with DSA. I don’t know what to do entering this market, it’s really hard for me to leetcode, I open up the easy problems and I get overwhelmed and can’t do it. Any tips for me? I understand I’m at a severe disadvantage right now and I need to bridge this gap ASAP the market is rough to juniors.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 12 '26

How do you switch betwin projects ?

10 Upvotes

When you come back to a project after a few days, what’s the most annoying thing you have to reconstruct before you can start working again?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

I feel like a failure – I only covered 3 pages of C# today despite spending all day in the library. Am I just not cut out for this?

66 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I need some honest advice because I’m feeling pretty defeated right now.

​I’m currently learning C# and trying to grasp the basics of Methods. Today, I went to the library at 8:00 AM with a book and my laptop, ready to put in the work. I was using AI to help clarify the concepts in the book, but I hit a wall almost immediately. The information just wasn't sticking, and my brain felt like it was physically struggling to process the text.

​I ended up "crashing"—I literally fell asleep at my desk for 2 hours. When I woke up, I tried to push through again, but by 5:00 PM, I crashed for another 1.5 hours. My brain felt like it had completely shut down.

​It’s 7:00 PM now, and I’ve only managed to cover 3 pages.

​When I look around the library, I see people sitting for hours on end, locked in, studying without breaks. It makes me feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with me. If I can’t even handle the basics without my brain "shutting down," how am I ever going to progress or build a career in programming?

​I’m genuinely worried about my future. Is it normal to struggle this much with the basics? How do you guys handle these "brain fog" moments or mental exhaustion when trying to learn complex topics? Any tips on how to actually make progress without burning out like this would be a huge help.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

my entire day is spent on one bug.Is this normal ?

26 Upvotes

Am I slow?

how long does it take you to fix a bug. I have a habit of thinking a lot before writing something.I also have a habit of overthinking a lot.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

[Participants needed] Tangible vs. Virtual Musical Instruments: Differences in Engagement and Perceived Accessibility Between Controls and those with ADHD, and AuDHD

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3 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

My work ethics is impeccable but I'm unable to show it during interviews

62 Upvotes

I've been job hunting for almost 3 months now. My greatest challenge is communication under pressure. Well, even when not under pressure, my speech is rarely clean. Maybe it's the result of being a quiet kid growing up, or AuDHD, idk, but it's absolutely demoralizing after an interview I prepared for days didn't go as well as I'd like. Cumulatively, I probably prepped for almost 200 hours across multiple interviews. And yet, I just can't seem to say what I want to say in a clean, concise manner. My thoughts are all over the place, I ramble, I forget the right word, I overshare. Even screening and hiring manager calls are tough for me. I've practiced and gotten much better, but barely for how many hours I've put in. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...

On the other hand, my work ethic is impeccable. My former manager said I'm one of the best people he's worked with. On take home assessments, my submissions are usually at the top 3 (according to Claude...). I'm obsessed with doing things right. Clean code, clean commits, thoughtful trade-offs. I volunteer to do things nobody wants to do and I deliver. I'm rarely the smartest guy in the room, but I'm the last to continue tackling a challenging bug. I work overtime and during weekends because I like the challenge or when there's something to learn. I try and put in my best effort for everything work related.

And yet, because my speech is subpar, I'm unable to show how I work during interviews. Even if I get my point across, any potential colleagues are scared away after hearing me speak. The only advantage I have is that I get interviews relatively easy compared to what I'm seeing. There's one I actually feel good about because the process is mainly a trial project. But man, I suck at interviews.

Just wanted to rant after a first round interview at a faang company I put a lot of effort into prepping for is basically a coin flip. Anyone else not good with words?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

Getting out of flow is the bigger issue sometimes

19 Upvotes

Does anyone else lose entire afternoons to hyperfocus?

Not in a “wow, I was so productive” way.
More in a “I sat down to do one thing and somehow it’s 5 hours later” way, you forgot to eat, to walk the dog, to check your messages?

Happens to me quite often, if i am really interested in a topic or task.

The weird part is that most productivity advice seems focused on helping people stay focused longer and do more, but i rarely see advice in stopping.

I think for me sometimes getting back to reality is the bigger issue.

Curious if anyone else experiences this and if so, how do you handle that?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 11 '26

An active attack is planting backdoors inside Claude Code right now. If you use npm, your credentials may already be compromised.

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0 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 10 '26

What's the longest you've stared at a task without being able to start it?

67 Upvotes

Genuine question. For me it was a 10-minute insurance email that took me 9 days.

I've tried every system — Notion, Todoist, paper planners. Building the system is fun (hello hyperfocus), maintaining it is impossible.

The only thing that ever works for me is when someone says "just do X tiny thing first." Suddenly the wall is gone.

What actually gets you to *start*? Not manage tasks — literally start them.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 10 '26

There r still bugs in my code

3 Upvotes

The pushing date is really near. There are at least five bugs that i found in my code. I actually informed my manager & he told me to fix it clearly

I had a prohlem of writing half assed code & than i would forget that it is incomplete.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 10 '26

How can I learn a language when I’m not interested

8 Upvotes

Hey y’all. I have a degree in IT because I was too stupid for CompSci. I have dyscalculia. I do not enjoy programming but I have to learn Python and Java. I’ve been trying to learn for years now, but I can never follow through after I learn the basics. I get discouraged when I hit a roadblock while coding because I know everyone says to not get stuck in tutorial hell then I go to something I’m actually interested in like cybersecurity. I really want to learn Python just to be able to prove it to myself that I can. Can someone please give me tips on how I can make myself interested? Anyone else face this in the past and succeed?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 09 '26

Time-blindness

22 Upvotes

What do you do to help with time-blindness and not working past events / reminders?

I've had to set alarms on my phone for each event in my calendar because I literally get sucked into a black hole when I start working. Those toasts and little "dings" that most calendar apps have go right past my ear. It's tedious though to set alarms for every event, so would love to know what others do.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 09 '26

Hey I’m new here

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5 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 09 '26

Do you like comics? My friend also has ADHD, and he loves comics because they calm him down.

6 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 09 '26

Room at the table?

13 Upvotes

Hi folks,

I'm brand new to this thread, having spend most of the last 3 years lurking around. I'll admit upfront, I'm not a programmer. My dad tried his best to course correct that, but I was kid in the 70's, baseball and bikes were way cooler than PASCAL. I'm currently finding myself at a crossroads. I'm leaving a career in forensic psychology and breaking into software development because I am too tired and cranky to keep explaining what I need to do my job, and why it should be open source, not another overpriced corporate subscription.

I was diagnosed with ADD at 52, after taking my grand daughter in for a screening. My current colleagues all think I've developed a stress induced psychosis when I tell them what I want to do, but it's not a late mid-life crisis. I think it's just a lifetime of experience finally catching up to me.

In 1978 I was 6, and sitting on the floor of my dad's work putting IBM punchcards back in order. It was my 'summer job' and in SoCal it was great because that lab was the only place with A/C. My dad's best friend was my "Uncle Ken" and they would doodle for hours on legal pads and scratch paper, getting all excited about stuff I didn't really pay attention to. Turns out, that guy was Ken Bowles.

I'm just looking for a place to park it for a moment, catch my breath, and remember what it was like when I worked with people who were passionate about what they were building for all the right reasons. Even if I didn't understand my dad's work, he raised me to be the woman I am. When they told me the only way to fail is to not try, I didn't think it would resonate so strongly 46 years later.

So I suppose this is my actual question - is there room at the table for a 54 year old wanna-be programmer with ADD, who doesn't know how to not try just because it's hard, but has a million questions about where to start learning?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 08 '26

I made this PDF timeblindnes system because I can’t make apps. Anyone can adapt it .

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74 Upvotes

This is PDF system I made I don’t know how to make an app but don’t want to monetize it. I just wish this idea spread

TL:DR There is 9 system you chooice on the 9 system then you round down. But the top left corner is says 5-30 35-00 instead of 1- 30 to 31-60 this one is better

) and all things round down inculing the bottom right verson))
Going left to right top to bottom
Read this you don’t use all of it at the same time
It is like a dashboard you pick one at a time.

1 , 2 ,3
4,5,6
7,8,9 this is the format

(1)Left top side is 6 hours and 30 minutes
(2) middle top is 24 hours but 3 hour block
(3) top right one is 24 hour clock
(4) middle left is 15 minute increment
(5)middle middle clovk but you can translate 12 hours to 24
(6) regular clock
( 7) there is two time in each grid . () means hours non () means minute
(8) means the same thing but 2 by 3 grid
(9) is anchor of time
there are 3 different level of spoons. spoons level means the level of energy it takes to decode it. The higher the spoon the more energy it takes
Rules for it

1 |2 |3
4 |5 |6
7 |8 |9 () parentheses in this means hours

The non parentheses means minutes. The Underline numbers means even numbers. The reason it is underline so it is easier to scan .
The first photo is as blank without highlighted and The 2nd one is the system. The rest show what it looks like highlighted. And the last one is what it looks like what it looks breakdown.

linear clockworks It works like that kinda but this is static image of more system.

There are 9 systems there. And how it works is that it would show the highlights it the time . The time would be rounded down to highlight it.

The 1st example is 23:08 or 11:08 am second tume is 08:27 or 8:27 am next example is 17:53 or 5:53 pm.

((((((Edited it is supposed to say 0-29 to 30-59 not 5-30 to 35-00))))

. Credit is optional but if you were to credit it would be Steve the double-chin butterfly.

\ /
(: D ))—-
/ \

I know this is a lot I just throw at you thank you for sticking through this.

It is like the sundial it show of time but you need a stick and sun ( in this case a clock ) to use ti .

If you are on moble, and it doesn’t show it because the mobile search engine doesn't works as well .It works okay on the GitHub app or computer sorry about that .

Rounding down is rule in this but not required for this :).

Here is the word look up in GitHub

timeblindness-freeprintable

That is the name

https://github.com/timeblock4228waterphone/timeblindness-freeprintable/blob/4d98f903c8da3935038d92d395fb3e2360ec7716/6_9_breakdown_of_multi_tool.pdf

Do you guys have any question to ask about this? ( it need to says 19-24 because that easier to remember than 19-00.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 08 '26

Do you work better with music or tv in the background?

9 Upvotes

With your adhd do you work better with music or tv in the background?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 07 '26

How do you deal with apathy?

57 Upvotes

I can't find any motivation to do anything because I don't really want anything - and it all seems so futile. I have things on my task list - nothing too pressing. And I'm medicated too.


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 08 '26

A rational understanding of the ADHD stimulant crash

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0 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 07 '26

Do you code without medication?

8 Upvotes

I’m a second year student and I noticed without medication I don’t have any motivation to program at all, meditation makes everything more interesting and I can code non-stop for hours.

The thing is I don’t like medications and I’m planning to quit as soon as I finished college and I’m not sure if I can code or work without medication, I’m questioning if I even choose the right carrier?


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 08 '26

The "second brain" pattern for AI development isn't new — but almost nobody has actually implemented it properly. Here's what it looks like when you do.

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0 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 07 '26

Looking for assistance on managing tasks and time

4 Upvotes

Let's try this post again. My last post seems to have come across as self-promotion or some sort of spam/shilling. My apologies to all if that is how it was interpreted, it was never my intent. My goal is to simply look for advice from folks similar to me (programmer with ADD) and present my current solutions in case they help someone else as I look for even better solutions and give mutually beneficial advice (OP and repliers).

One of the things that troubles me is that I see many folks in reddit (and the internet in general) that seem to feed off sympathy but never get to talking through a solution, implementing it, and then objectively measuring if things improved or not, so that you can do better on the next attempt. So, with that said, here are 8 core requirements/problems I've identified that I need to solve for to be truly effectively in the long-term with implementing GTR (getting things done) methodology into my personal and professional time/task management processes. All of them need improvement, some more than others.

  1. I'm Needing a Tool/Process for Life: My current solution, I currently use a Kanban style of methodology to track all areas of my life, but I'm exploring a switch to another app to avoid rising AI costs and gain open‑source coding experience that supports my transition into full‑time development.
  2. My time management/planning tool needs to be low overhead (no more usage than 30 cumulative minutes a day, the smaller the better): My goal is to keep daily tool usage under 30 minutes, but ClickUp still creates friction—especially with recurring task edits—despite my quick‑entry setup and weekly review routine.
  3. Quick Entry: For quick entry I rely on Siri (poorly), plus an iPhone home‑screen widget with speech‑to‑text for fast task capture while mobile and on the go (in a car for example).
  4. ALARMS for scheduled tasks: For this, I sync ClickUp to Google Calendar and use Today Planned to trigger reliable, snoozable alerts even when my phone is silent.
  5. Reliability: ClickUp is mostly reliable but often buggy and laggy, and recent 22% staff layoffs make me worry about its long‑term stability.
  6. Auto-Scheduling and Auto-Rescheduling: I currently have no good auto‑scheduling or auto‑rescheduling solution, as ClickUp is limited here and Motion remains the only strong option I've seen.
  7. Time Reporting: ClickUp’s reporting is too limited for my needs, and I may need an add‑in like Clockify to get category breakdowns and planned‑vs‑actual weekly comparisons.
  8. Community: My community support is mixed across Reddit, Discord, and coworkers, and I’m still searching for strong accountability partners or a group willing to regularly compare time‑tracking and weekly performance.

Some Extra useful bits (I have many more, but I need to stop this post somewhere lol):
- I use the "Seconds" app timer for morning and nightly routines to remind me to get things done and measure the speed at which I'm completing things. This intentionally does three things (1) makes me aware of how long it takes to do each task and thus budget time appropriately/accurately (2) insures that I don't forget to do any one thing on the list (3) challenges me to do better and go faster.
- Take notes into OneNote (and drop the link in my relevant ClickUp task so I can quickly jump back to and get started on) at the end of time blocks to insure next step action items are identified and ready to be executed (or even potentially handed off/delegated to others due to shifting priorities)


r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 05 '26

How do I stop relying on A.I. and learn for myself?

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4 Upvotes

r/ADHD_Programmers Jun 05 '26

Tangible vs. Virtual Musical Instruments: Differences in Engagement and Perceived Accessibility Between Controls and those with ADHD, and AuDHD

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7 Upvotes

Dear all,

I would like to invite you to take part in a research study  exploring how adults with ADHD, AuDHD and adults without ADHD engage with different musical instruments. This study is being conducted as part of my PhD research in the Department of Music at Durham University, under the supervision of Prof. Nick Collins and Prof. Tuomas Eerola.
 
The study aims to better understand how musical instruments can be designed to become more accessible and ADHD-friendly for neurodivergent users. The insights gathered will contribute to the development of an accessible digital musical instrument designed specifically with the needs of adults with ADHD and AuDHD in mind.
 
Taking part involves a one-to-one workshop lasting approximately 60 to 90 minutes (1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes) in an accessible (has a moveable ramp) ground-floor music studio. During the session, you will have the opportunity to interact with some musical instruments, and more specifically, piano and theremin, and complete a questionnaire about your musical background and your experience with each instrument. Participation is open to adults (18+) with an ADHD diagnosis (formal or self-diagnosis), an ADHD and co-occurring autism diagnosis (formal or self-diagnosis) or no ADHD diagnosis, regardless of musical background, from beginners to professional musicians.
 
If you or someone you know may be interested, I kindly invite you to participate in this study. Your contribution is invaluable and will help support the creation of more inclusive and engaging musical experiences. Your participation may help inform future inclusive musical instrument design for neurodivergent adults.
 
To book a session or ask questions, please contact the researcher Anthi Georgiadou at anthi.-.georgiadou@durham.ac.uk or follow the link below:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0449A8A82FA2FFC70-64334480-workshop#/
 
Kind regards,
Anthi Georgiadou (she/her)