It makes more money for the people who peddle it, duh!
>PS: Programming is absolutely fantastic, too, when you have ADHD
Probably why I got into it (though Turbo Pascal / Delphi compile times were much more amenable to providing the dopamine rush than C++ even today).
That said, getting a diagnosis and access to medication [1] worked wonders for making other aspects of work much easier.
There's much more to software engineering than just programming, especially with larger projects and larger teams. And hyperfocusing on code to find yourself in the office at 3AM on the reg can end up being detrimental to one's ability to deliver consistent results on schedule, as well as setting and meeting expectations (...plus: being on time, completing the small tedious tasks, doing paperwork, filling forms, submitting reports, documenting, logging, planning, testing, avoiding feature creep, writing proposals and design docs, doing code reviews, being on call, ...).
The joy of programming does make all of this worth bearing. But stimulant meds take a significant chunk of pain out of it.
Imagine needing to submit a trip reimbursement report, deciding to do it between 5 and 5:30PM on Tuesday, and doing it then, without it being a monumental effort, even though the deadline is on Friday.
That's the superpower that meds give (...the superpower that non-ADHD people are unaware of having, it seems).
But yeah, a higher-than-average proportion of programmers are neurodivergent for a reason :)
It makes more money for the people who peddle it, duh!
>PS: Programming is absolutely fantastic, too, when you have ADHD
Probably why I got into it (though Turbo Pascal / Delphi compile times were much more amenable to providing the dopamine rush than C++ even today).
That said, getting a diagnosis and access to medication [1] worked wonders for making other aspects of work much easier.
There's much more to software engineering than just programming, especially with larger projects and larger teams. And hyperfocusing on code to find yourself in the office at 3AM on the reg can end up being detrimental to one's ability to deliver consistent results on schedule, as well as setting and meeting expectations (...plus: being on time, completing the small tedious tasks, doing paperwork, filling forms, submitting reports, documenting, logging, planning, testing, avoiding feature creep, writing proposals and design docs, doing code reviews, being on call, ...).
The joy of programming does make all of this worth bearing. But stimulant meds take a significant chunk of pain out of it.
Imagine needing to submit a trip reimbursement report, deciding to do it between 5 and 5:30PM on Tuesday, and doing it then, without it being a monumental effort, even though the deadline is on Friday.
That's the superpower that meds give (...the superpower that non-ADHD people are unaware of having, it seems).
But yeah, a higher-than-average proportion of programmers are neurodivergent for a reason :)
[1] https://romankogan.net/adhd#Medication