ADHD and IT

Hey all,

I just wanted to get some input here and see if anyone else is in the same boat as me. I have had ADHD for as long as I can remember, it followed me right in to adulthood. I have never used it as an excuse for anything, in fact, very few people even know that I have it. I have always been ambitious, intelligent (from what I have heard anyway) and have an undying thirst for knowledge. I have been in a desktop support role for about 2 years now and am working toward a career in networking (CCNA scheduled next Friday!!). My boss has told me that I am among the most intelligent people that he has hired; he has also said that I am one of the best at solving problems quickly and move tickets like none other. With that said, I have always struggled with organization and attention to detail, these are my Achilles Heels if you will, and have landed me in tough situations in the past. Since I started in this field I have made leaps and bounds in the organization department and have taught myself to use various tools to my advantage (Post Its!!! A god send!!!). With that said I worry about moving forward and my ability to succeed in this field, granted, I cannot see myself doing anything but IT and will pursue it regardless of feedback received but I would still like to know if anyone else has had experience with this and succeeded or otherwise, and how you manage.

The doctors and others have recommended pills but I have an anxiety when it comes to pills, especially amphetamines, plus I just don’t think that is a healthy permanent solution. I have considered seeing a psychologist but am not sure how much help he or she could be without just throwing pills at the problem. Anyway, I digress, if anyone has dealt with similar issues I would love to hear from you and learn how others manage.

Thanks!

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Comments

Nemowolf

Ive never been diagnosed but i have ADHD tendencies with my serious lack of attention span. You just have to take every step one at a time and develop your own methods to keep track of things. Ive been doing desktop support for 7 years now and I find my coworkers slower pace absorbing information infuriating, when i was earlier in my career it would come out as snarky remarks and childish behavior but now I realize that my brain moves much faster than theirs and I give myself time to pick up on visual queues about people.

I personally have found that routine tasks make it easy to go through the motions, if your in a company where you can get that routine down and limit the X factors then I really shine. When it is all new, I tend to get stuck going down several wrong paths toward solutions so it looks like I'm going slower than my peers at times but really I am just doing twice as much work in the same time.

That said, I think that IT is being tailored for people with ADHD as it allows us to not get stuck in our ways and bored easily of the same-old trendy stuff. 15 years ago, it would have been the opposite. We tend to stay on the cutting edge because thats what keeps our interest.

Chev Chellios

Nemowolf, that is exactly how I feel! Glad I am not alone!

JoJoCal19

bugzy3188 wrote: »

The doctors and others have recommended pills but I have an anxiety when it comes to pills, especially amphetamines, plus I just don’t think that is a healthy permanent solution. I have considered seeing a psychologist but am not sure how much help he or she could be without just throwing pills at the problem. Anyway, I digress, if anyone has dealt with similar issues I would love to hear from you and learn how others manage.

Thanks!

We have a good family friend and their son has the same thing. He was failing out in I think first grade or second, however when they would test him at home to see if he knew it, he aced the stuff. After many appointments they figured out it was ADHD. She too didn't want any pills and such, however apparently treatment for ADD/ADHD has come a long way. They gave him a low dose patch of something that isn't an amphetamine, ritalin or any other drug that makes you like a zombie. He puts one on in the morning before school and he turned it around 100% in school and passed. They don't have him wear one on the weekends. I'm sure there might be a similar solution for you.

kanecain1981

As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I feel your pain. You think you have focus on something and then, "SQUIRREL!!!", you're on YouTube watching how Sega Genesis games were made. I eventually relented and choose the Adderall route, and I have to say, it helped me tremendously. Helped at home too, as my wife notices that I will do 12 loads of laundry without as much of an afterthought. It may work for you too, if you're truly diagnosed with the disease (and yes, it is a disease).

JoJoCal19

kanecain1981 wrote: »

As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I feel your pain. You think you have focus on something and then, "SQUIRREL!!!", you're on YouTube watching how Sega Genesis games were made. I eventually relented and choose the Adderall route, and I have to say, it helped me tremendously. Helped at home too, as my wife notices that I will do 12 loads of laundry without as much of an afterthought. It may work for you too, if you're truly diagnosed with the disease (and yes, it is a disease).

I was diagnosed with ADD at a young age, much like our family friends' son. I still to this day suffer some with focus issues, but I've managed well since I have an amazing will power. Completing my bachelors degree, CISSP, etc was not the easiest thing but I'm thankful I don't have it as bad as some people.

shodown

Glad you don't wanna go on the pills. My wife always talks to me about how adderall is abused on campus by people taking Math, Engineering. Taking these long term can lead to "male" parts not working like they should.

As far as tips to help you out. What is your diet? I have a problem with it ADHD, but if I cut out the junk food (soda, sugars, processed foods and water) I get by pretty fine.

zirkusaffe

I saw everyone's posts and had to join in (not just for this post but for the WSG Degree forum and IT support), I struggle mightily as well with ADHD and feel for anyone who has been diagnosed with it or has a suspicion that they might be dealing with it..
My post is similar to Nemowolf's, I struggle from time to time but I have to continue to work at maintaining a routine and executing it, not easy all the time..

I'm in my 30's had an ok career in technical sales for a smallish company (wrote my own ticket) but got bored and needed more so I left about 9 years in, when I changed to a much more challenging career I excelled but also failed, this was a hard realization something may be wrong, I got tested (over 3 months of office visits doctor and psychiatrist) and they diagnosed me with adult ADHD.
I call it the definition of 'organized chaos', what I realized after finding out I have adult ADHD was that it may be one of the reasons I struggle with small mundane tasks that are not hard, I just prioritize them horribly if its not a challenge I don't want to do it until its the last minute. I struggle with this all the time. I mean come'on who wants to fold socks?

I realize that my old profession after some years all those tasks we're so effortless and routine it was easy, actually my job was easy and I was excelling at it... but when I changed to another organization there were a whole set of new rules, protocols, tasks, these became difficult for me even though they weren't difficult from an experience or education level it was that all the new tasks became overwhelming, I didn't associate ADHD and the new job as the primary issue, that’s when I went to the doctor because I was struggling to keep up with the smallest things, still accomplishing 80%-90% of what I needed to get done but letting a couple of things fall through the cracks and it was annoying me and effecting my performance.

Now I'm enrolling back into school to finish a BS IT degree, for me whether it be a new job, new venture, school or whatever the biggest hurdles will be to continue to work at trying to slow down, focus and complete the simple/small stuff and sticking to a routine. Throughout my youth my failure in school in the past it was attention to detail, I'm somewhat over that but I continue to double/triple check everything which is compensating to make sure I pay attention. This post has been retooled word-wise at least 4 times and I probably still sound bat-s-crazy.

JoJoCal's comment on a patch is interesting, my short stint on the amphetamine was successful but I nervous about longer term use so I stopped.. My advice is if you can get help do it, don’t do it alone it’s not worth struggling or spinning your wheels trying to defeat it yourself unless you have to. A medication may work but working towards longer term goals without should be your ultimate goal.

N2IT

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I was diagnosed with ADD at a young age, much like our family friends' son. I still to this day suffer some with focus issues, but I've managed well since I have an amazing will power. Completing my bachelors degree, CISSP, etc was not the easiest thing but I'm thankful I don't have it as bad as some people.

Right on! I know the feeling I suffer from this as well!

philz1982

As someone who has an accute case of ADHD, I will say three things have lead to my success.

1) Attention to diet. You would be amazed how much your diet effects your ADHD. Now you couldn't tell by my current profile picture, but I used to be amazingly fit. I am in the process of getting fit again. Food, namely CARB's and processed junk have a direct effect on blood sugar. For an ADHD'r this has a double effect of giving us cloudy mind syndrome, essentially your floating along through the day. Eating Nuts, meats, fruits, veggies, and complex carbs will do wonders. Also limit your carb consumption as you move through the day. Additionally vitamins are key, Omega 3's, and a good solid multi vitamin.

2) Exercise- You need to slow your brain down to speed up. In order to drive focus, rigorous focused exercise (sprints, weightlifting, difficult circuits) will help to calm your brain and give you a focus. I take a walk every 3-4 hours for 5-10 minutes to help my brain refocus.

3) Tasking - I use evernote and work through my tasks, I put the sucky ones up front. I will do one task, then do one no work related thing (like read a chapter on visual C#) I will then do another task. Doing this makes work fly by and keeps me productive. I breakdown large tasks into smaller 30 minute tasks.

Medicine works, it helps a ton, try some out, I've taken everything on the market and Focalin which is a time release works great with no gitters. It keeps the mind clear.

I find that I change jobs every 2 years, I need a constant challenge. Yet you need to set goals. The curse of ADHD is that you will drive through life, pummel what is in-front of you but never achieve your potential. You need to channel your energy into a focus area. You don't need crystal clear goals, just directions, otherwise you end up all over the place.

Develop a system, develop routines. I have a morning, work, after work, evening, and night routine that I follow. Also, avoid Video Games. They are like crack to an ADHD'r and will suck your life away and will leave you near comatose at the end of the day. I avoid TV and Video games like the plague.

biggene

I too am saddled with ADHD. I started seeing a psychologist about 3 months ago and he put me on Wellbutrin, it has helped my focus tremendously. Something else that has helped is exercise, I work in the largest hospital in the state of Alabama doing printer support, and I usually walk about 6-10 miles a day. I have lost 47 lbs in the year and 3 months I have worked here and it has done wonders for my racing brain and cloudy mind issues. I went to the psychologist because I was having horrible trouble focusing on my daily tasks and had almost no retention when it came to completing a task and then remembering what I had done a week later. I was also become very easily frustrated. The meds have helped me a lot so far, but I want to change my diet and try to wean myself off of the meds as soon as I can.

Hope this helps you out, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

Gene

5502george

WOW, reading all of these posts makes me laugh.

I have never seen a doctor for anything of this matter but I cannot for the life of me focus on one thing at one time. I go from starting a business, to getting more IT certs, to learning programming, to anything else I can think of in a day. It drives my wife crazy!

I told her one day I can’t help it, I try to focus on one thing at one time and I cannot for the life of me stay FOCUSED. So just recently I read a story about adult ADHD and wow it was my life dead on. Fortunately I am successful and was able to get a degree and certs, but I struggle to stay at a job for more than a couple of years because I just plain get bored. I have literally changed jobs about 5 times in the past 4 years.

Makes me wonder if I should see someone ha ha ha. Well at least I know there are others out there.

Fidelity

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 7. I stopped taking medication when I was 12. I've coped with it pretty well, but like many of you suffer from getting extremely bored after a while. A challenging workplace is always one of my highest priorities in my professional life.

An important note for those of you considering medication. Absolutely do NOT accept medication if you want to do something like get your pilots license. It will be denied/revoked by the FAA and the tests to prove you can pay attention cost on average $5,000 and are not able to be covered by insurance. I have experienced this first hand even though at the time of testing I had been off medication for over 10 years.