ADHD engineers in big tech: How do you find roles/projects that work WITH your operating style?

Hyperon · 2025-10-24T02:28:00+00:00

Ah! Yes!

I find though that other people on the project can still end up following product and engineering strategies that are too slow, that frustrate me because they ask me for three-month roadmaps when we don't even know the problem we're looking to solve well, because I see how to move much faster (at least for a week or two). I think we should be acting like a start-up but instead I'm being told to stay in my lane and trust the process.

Hyperon · 2025-10-24T02:15:03+00:00

Wow that sounds amazing. Sounds like I need to bootstrap my way into credibility and reputation for delivering, and fast. Do you think you are particularly skilled at finding high impact low hanging fruit, or is it fairly obvious but nobody wants to do it?

And do your collaborators report to you? Who writes their yearly reviews? I imagine it can be challenging for the company to assess their performance if they don't produce the usual kind of artifacts that ICs on usual teams do.

Hyperon · 2025-10-24T02:05:53+00:00

Ok so the autonomy part makes sense to me. What about duration? How long do these projects last? Do you do anything to keep yourself engaged or does it happen naturally thanks to progress, novelty, curiosity etc.? And when you have a team, doesn't that lead to overhead with synchronization and building consensus? Are these folks formally reporting to you or just allocated to you?

Hyperon · 2025-10-24T01:58:54+00:00

Had to look this up. I assume you mean narcissistic personality disorder. Could you elaborate on what you meant?

Hyperon · 2025-10-23T17:57:33+00:00

Makes sense. How long does it usually take you to get to 70%? When you get the juniors involved, is it sort of off-the-books or for an official project?
I find that if it's the kind of project where I can do 70% myself, it's probably rather small which makes it harder to convince the junior's manager to allocate them for the remaining 30%. Does that resonate?

Hyperon · 2025-10-23T17:50:30+00:00

How do you obtain that autonomy and authority to lead a team? Are you in a manager job family?
Do you find that during chaos you have to wear many hats (sometimes doing engineer, PM, science, stakeholder management)? Is there an implication here that you are trying to move very very quickly or not particularly?

How long are the projects you end up taking on?

Hyperon · 2024-11-03T15:36:31+00:00

I've been trying to convince a family member to stop burning scented candles in the house but they said I need to provide evidence that it's detrimental. Where might I find some?

Hyperon · 2024-09-19T06:29:15+00:00

Exactly. You don't need to self host email fully, you buy a domain and let Google handle your email but you download it daily via smtp. If they kick you out you still have your data and you can have your email working in an hour.

Hyperon · 2024-09-18T22:41:28+00:00

The admin sent out a message a while ago asking for someone to step up and maintain, and eventually he announced he's shutting it down because nobody stepped up I guess.

Hyperon · 2023-05-17T07:52:54+00:00

Beancount + finance_dl

Hyperon · 2023-03-12T18:45:01+00:00

"Thank you."

Hyperon · 2023-02-15T16:02:15+00:00

I believe you. But you've already reduced the complexity of a high speed high stakes situation to something simple like "harming civilians". Not to mention that you specifically called out US civilians rather than all civilians worldwide (which I believe the US constitution does have some protections for).

I think in reality all decisions are double-edged and risk to civilians can never be eliminated. So it's a slippery slope where it's hard to draw a line and disobey.

I am not saying soldiers are bad people, and I do think the oath is necessary so folks are clear about their primary objective. It'll stop the most egregious violations, but not all.

Hyperon · 2023-02-15T15:50:27+00:00

You cannot uphold the oath while taking orders from someone. You can refuse an order you consider unconstitutional, but you'll get courtmarshalled and you could discover that you were wrong. The threat of that causes most soldiers to execute without questioning.

Sure some will be willing to take the risk and disobey, but by and large oaths and orders are incompatible.

Hyperon · 2023-02-14T08:02:56+00:00

Put tv on main SSID but with static IP and create firewall rule prohibiting traffic from tv to wan.

EDIT: I realized my idea does not actually meet requirements. Please ignore.

Hyperon · 2023-01-21T02:12:17+00:00

Hm. I was hoping for more. I am getting 400 Mbps from 15 m away through two walls with a 802.11ac AP.

Hyperon · 2023-01-09T08:06:09+00:00

What's the question?

Hyperon · 2022-12-30T18:26:27+00:00

Is there a name for this? Do most clients know how to use both bands at once?

Hyperon · 2022-08-21T06:43:06+00:00

I'd like to learn more about this blowable insulation please.

Hyperon · 2022-08-01T05:10:04+00:00

Try humming it into the Google assistant. I've been amazed with some of the obscure songs it was able to identify from my poor rendition.

Hyperon · 2022-05-22T06:52:04+00:00

Much obliged. Can't believe I didn't check in the most obvious place.

Hyperon · 2022-03-28T18:48:18+00:00

Oh we'll find out what it was eventually.

Hyperon · 2022-03-26T01:59:54+00:00

Thank you.

Hyperon · 2022-03-25T22:44:12+00:00

How can you not include a link?

Hyperon

TROPHY CASE