My pro tips for tech people with and without ADHD ;)
Tags: discuss, productivity, learning, programmers
Published: 2023-12-06 10:10:58

or anybody else on the spectrum. 

My main reason for this post, is giving back to you. Your reaction on my previous post about [Coding and ADHD should be best friends](https://dev.to/mhmxs/coding-and-adhd-should-be-best-friends-15ml) just exploded into my face (in a good sense). Thank you for all the support, shares, follows and everything, I appreciate it from the bottom of my hearth. But it's enough of the tears, let's do it XD

If it is too long to read: Find the place, who wants you and not your time! Work on your interest! Be super proactive, and find your path instead of being a follower.

Have a nice and proactive day! You are awesome!
Ricsi

ps:

> 
Disclaimer[0]: First of all, my experiences are mines. They are relatives, limited and very "western" a.k.a. first worldish. #ALLLIFEMATTERS

>
Disclaimer[1]: I'm not a professional therapist or health care expert. Self-diagnosis should be risky, please ask for professional help!

My brain with ADHD has different Dopamine paths compare to Neurotypical persons. I have challenges to remember things like meetings. Sometimes it is hard to sit at one position, or simply I feel I have to write a post about my pro tips, haha. Hard to predict which activity earns my focus. And I have full consciousness of my managers and teammates would read this, I hope they already knew me :heart:. But the main challenge is how to keep my average Dopamine level high (without Dopamine, it is hard to wake up in the morning, believe me).

One of the key factors of my success and peace is, **autonomy**. I own my time, I own my projects, and I don't fear to cut my own path across the jungle. I'm working for a company who are more interested in the product I could deliver than how many times I spent in front of my computer. Designing under the shower is one of the most time efficient activities. When you read this, you should imagine I'm working for a small startup with a few people. And you are right, most of the time, but this is not always the case. I spend many years in the enterprise world too, and I did the same (Cloudera, IBM, Akamai just to naming some). But how?

I have found my interest, which is not technology related. My Dopamine source is community driven development. I like to work with any folks, who has the same interest nor problems. So I'm working on open source software products in the space of my team and collaborating on them with awesome internal or external people.

I think this is the easiest part of the story. I can say this freedom is just the result of something else called **proactivity**. When I finish a task or project, I stay to sit for a while and I imagine where we should go further based on my company's core values, kind of the project, or any customer preferences. On this way, usually I found the next step earlier than others (this is not about them competence, simply I'm the one who reached the line first). When I deliver the product, I usually suggest where to go next, how to improve things, what should be the bottleneck, etc. Most of the time they like it, and they give the responsibility && control back to me.

When I wake up in each morning, I know, today I would work ...

- on something selected by me based on my interest.
- on something dreamed and owned by me.
- on project available for anyone.
- with people who would like to achieve the same goal with me.
- when my brain is in focus mode and not 9to5.

Work is not a "work" anymore. I hate to work at all ;) What I do is spending my time on the things I love the most (not counting spiritual experiences). This attitude helps me to wake up in the morning and deliver a good project. Good projects build trust in my capabilities, and lead me to the situation where my employer's best business is to let me **do what I want to**.

Makes sense?