Thriving as a Developer With ADHD

What are strategies for being a productive developer with ADHD? How can you help your team members with ADHD to succeed and complete projects? This week on the show, we speak with Chris Ferdinandi about his website and podcast “ADHD For the Win!”

Chris struggled with productivity early in his career as a developer. He shares systems and strategies he’s discovered to harness the focusing power of ADHD.

We discuss time management, meetings, and maintaining productivity in a hectic world. Chris also shares resources for learning more about defining ADHD, self-evaluation, and how to keep getting things done.

This episode is sponsored by InfluxData.

Course Spotlight: Build a GUI Calculator With PyQt and Python

In this video course, you’ll learn how to create graphical user interface (GUI) applications with Python and PyQt. Once you’ve covered the basics, you’ll build a fully functional desktop calculator that can respond to user events with concrete actions.

Topics:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:02:30 – Defining ADHD and how it aligns with coding
• 00:05:47 – Analogy for focus
• 00:06:51 – Can you sense the change in focus?
• 00:07:46 – The challenge of meetings
• 00:11:45 – Tips for managing time
• 00:15:44 – Capturing notes and defragging
• 00:18:48 – Sponsor: InfluxData
• 00:19:33 – Downtime and interruptions
• 00:25:26 – Remote work and focus
• 00:33:16 – Sitting still and meetings
• 00:37:39 – Video Course Spotlight
• 00:39:13 – Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly
• 00:47:36 – Prototypes and working on interesting things
• 00:50:26 – Deadlines and pomodoro timers
• 00:54:21 – Have your symptoms changed over time?
• 00:56:18 – Starting ADHDftw.com
• 00:59:12 – Decision to keep podcast episodes short
• 01:00:01 – Deciding on medication
• 01:02:02 – Resources available
• 01:03:29 – What motivates you to continue to learn programming?
• 01:04:06 – What do you want to learn next?
• 01:04:55 – What are other ways to follow your work online?
• 01:05:28 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

• ADHD ftw! - Resources
• ADHD isn’t a deficit of attention (and doesn’t necessarily mean you’re hyperactive)
• Do I have ADHD?
• Snoot - Wikipedia
• Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly
• Getting stuff done with ADHD: defrag your notebook - ADHD ftw!
• Go Make Things - About
• Chris Ferdinandi ⚓️ (@cferdinandi@mastodon.social) - Fosstodon

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

• Creating PyQt Layouts for GUI Applications
• Build a GUI Calculator With PyQt and Python
• HTML and CSS Foundations for Python Developers

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