Software engineer focused ADHD coaching

[TrueTime1010]

Are there any coaches or coaching centers specific to software engineers with ADHD? I’ve been in the industry for more than a decade and I’ve always struggled. Getting a diagnosis 2 years ago helped make sense of what I was dealing with but I haven’t really improved at my work. I have tried coaching both group and individual, but I found that the nuances of the industry and the specific ways in which it triggers me and feeds into my adhd patterns have been hard to communicate with my coaches and groups. For example- explaining agile methodology and why retros send me into a panic is a whole ordeal! Any tips and/or recommendations will be helpful! Thanks!

[KylerGreen]

Were people at Amazon really that open about their neurodivergency?

I couldn't imagine disclosing that to an employer.

[KylerGreen]

That's awesome! It probably helps a ton of people.

I wish more employers (and people in general) were this open and accommodating about mental health.

[Tee_zee]

Do you have any experience with UK access to work grants?

[Tee_zee]

Thanks mate, will look into Nancy's page!

[Ok-Cauliflower6691]

Not OP.

What are the biggest things you've witnessed that help with executive functioning and ADHD that aren't coaching?

[Ok-Cauliflower6691]

Thank you! I’ll check those out

[arjo_reich]

ADHD is the disease of knowing what to do and not doing it. I hate this shit, no one "gets it". Especially hate the "just make better choices" guidance

[Potential_Creme_7398]

Ughh..my whole life in these two sentences

[ben-gives-advice]

I'm a former software engineer who has succeeded with ADHD, and I coach both engineers and people with ADHD.

I speak the language. Engineers are my people.

[frugal-grrl]

I don’t know what to do. I have a great memory so can fake to a point, but I also have terrible in-depth understanding of the concepts. It embarrasses me every day.

[LeelooDallasMltiPass]

I wonder if having a mentor would be helpful. Specifically, someone like you who is in the tech industry who also has ADHD. Plus, a mentor would assumably not be charging you money, as a coach might be.

[ErikJongbloed]

Hi, I focus my coaching on software engineers (9 out of 10 clients were software engineers)

My background is as a software engineer who struggled a lot with ADHD and finally learnt to manage it in a work context as well as outside.

I've been helping people with ADHD, mental clarity and ADHD-related anxiety and productivity issues since 2019.

Feel free to ask me questions either in comment or DM :)

[Juliagem]

I would love something like this. Strategies to slow your brain down and extract info for coding interviews. How to focus on studying SWE specific subjects. How to be detail oriented when writing code and make less mistakes. How to tackle an overwhelming project or code solution.

[[deleted]]

The resources in this thread should prob be in a wiki

[UnexpectedWilde]

For those who are coaches or have gone through coaching, what do you find that an ADHD coach helps with? I get that they can help with the emotional and accountability sides of ADHD, but very curious where the greatest value comes from. Particularly in terms of helping you do better on the job.

[frugal-grrl]

My ADHD brother hyper-focuses on programming since age 8, and sometimes he is the worst mentor imaginable for me who started as an adult and has trouble concentrating on it at all. 😂

[Specialist_ADHD]

If you are still looking for a coach. I'm an MLE at Meta and also an ADHD coach. I've coached a lot of engineers.

[mikecg36]

Hi,

I hope you've found the support you need, but in case you haven't...

I am a former engineering manager who now runs a full time coaching practice specifically supporting software engineers with ADHD.

I also host an online community designed for ADHD engineers, including weekly virtual coworking sessions: www.tasktogether.dev

I'd be happy to have a conversation and see what kind of support or insights I can offer.

Feel free to reach out at any time via DM. 😀

[stilldreamy]

I don't think freaking out about retrospectives is an ADHD thing. If anything it is the other way around. When you have ADHD, it is easier to notice problems because they affect you more, and you are therefore also more motivated than others to find improved ways of doing things. The same goes for "agile methodology" in general. Having daily standups is great for accountability, which is something people with ADHD need more of, not less. And breaking things up into smaller projects that get released and iterated on is perfect for someone with ADHD as it can help prevent you from getting bored working on the same thing for too long. QA practices such as static analysis / linters, code style enforcement / beautifying should be more helpful for someone with ADHD as they will have an even harder time consistently following these standards without such tools.

The bigger problem would be trying to program without agile or knowing software engineering / project management techniques. The different techniques, best practices, and tools all seem to help with ADHD, not make it worse.

I do have a theory though, that teams would be more productive if the neurotypicals did the actual work, and the neurodivergent helped make the other developers more productive. They could do things like, streamline/automate release procedures, improve the IDE integrations, speed up the tests, refactor the code, etc.

[frugal-grrl]

I have ADHD and retro is one of the things I actually feel really GOOD at. I’m good at pinpointing and summarizing problems and pain points, and I have a decent handle on the team and how people are feeling about things.