In this article, I am going to tell you about how I work with my ADHD type while coding. I will not throw any stats at you and bear in mind I am not a medical professional. As someone who is learning how to code and someone who is a musician, I am all about sharing information as well as sharing tips and tricks about many topics and that’s what I’m here to do.
We’ve all heard this little acronym thrown around before and it is seemingly thrown around like a softball at a beer league softball game…all over the place. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is something that stifles many people of all ages. My ADHD type is inattentive ADHD so my mind wanders to all sorts of places at any given time. Especially when someone is explaining a coding concept to me so here’s what I do in this situation…
State your needs and ask a million questions.
Yup. It’s that simple. Whether you are a student, an entry-level developer, or a senior developer with a ton of experience it doesn’t matter. “I need you to repeat that.” Or “Can you slow down?” These are two great questions to ask and will help you lean into any unpleasant feelings you may have developed over the years as a result of your ADHD. If you’re watching a video, you guessed it…pause it…rewind, and watch it again. Say it out loud until it makes sense, write it down, OR use ChatGPT to explain the concept to you like you are 10 years old. Yes, it sounds crazy and while ChatGPT isn’t always right, it’s a tool to help you understand just a little bit deeper what is going on in your code.
Write it down!
When you have ADHD, the LAST thing you need is another browser tab, browser window, or VS Code window open to jog your already racing mind. One thing I have been experimenting with is physically writing down my pseudo-code. It helps ways more than adding unnecessary lines of code to my project, which only makes my anxiety go nuts. Writing things down is a great way to cope anyway, so why not try it with coding? I have pages and pages of notes handwritten and color-coded that I use as my form of documentation because I find that most coding documentation does not help me understand a lot of concepts.
Stop denying your ideas!
I don’t know how many other people do this, but when I am coding, I will have an idea that I think will make my code work, and then my mind will go somewhere else and deny that idea that I had rather than give it a try and see what happens. As I mentioned before, I am also a musician so I know what trial and error is like. There are many parallels between music and coding, and trial and error is one of those parallels. So whether you know the code will work or not, just type it in and see what happens. When you’re coding with ADHD, it’s not about getting it right, it’s about getting it done and then getting done “right”.
To conclude…
I’ll keep the conclusion short. Coding is fascinating and is something that not many people know how to do because it’s hard. So if you’re struggling with ADHD while coding, be kind to yourself. I think those three bits of work fall under being kind to yourself, so just keep that in mind when you find yourself taking a quick trip to hell. If I think of ideas, I will add to this article so don’t forget to follow me for more!
