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Comment by CoastalCoder | Hacker News Reader

> Is it worth entering the field today starting from scratch?

Here's a personal anecdote: I'm only really good / competent in technical areas that truly interest me.

In technical areas that I've pursued only for career / money reasons, my performance has been sub-par. Especially when compared to that of developers who are truly interested.

I don't really know how much my experience generalizes to other developers. Maybe it's related to my ADD.

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People with ADHD find forced motivation doesn't have the staying power that self directed interest does. Your entire comment is a textbook description of ADHD.

This is also what it's like to be a normal person

Thanks for posting this. I find a lot of self-described ADHD folks seem to describe fairly normal ennui that makes up life. My wife talked her way into a diagnosis (innocently, and she hasn't taken the medication) and she has never had any issues with aptitude: multiple 4.0 degrees, self taught software career, ultra runner etc.

I think folks are conveniently lying to themselves, and I'm not here to ruin anyone's party but I do get concerned in parenting circles when this kind of over-optimizing of normal laziness gets sold as childhood ADHD.

It's me to a tee, and I don't have ADHD. (At least I don't think so oh god vyvanse me up doc)

The difference is magnitude, this is a dismissive comment that is harmful for people with ADHD.

It's a dialog, you can't push ADHD diagnoses and then get upset when other folks don't agree with your view of the human condition.

You other comment isn't a dialog either. Both of you are furthering your personal narrative that ADHD isn't a real condition. The argument that someone is high achieving therefore they don't have ADHD is a common illogical trope.

ADHD is as real as diabetes or arthritis. If that disturbs you, it says more about you than it does about ADHD.

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