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Please. I've struggled with ADHD for most of my life, and while it probably does have an effect on both my work and my code, this is not the effect.

Don't make broad generalizations based on the pop culture definition of mental illnesses.



I was speaking from experience. I have it too.

Edit: and even if I wasn't it wouldn't make a difference - flitting from one grand project to the next without actually completing any of them is a clear diagnostic marker anyone can read in a book.


Edit 2: Questions 1 and 2 from the Adult ADHD Self Reporting Scale[0] (from Harvard, endorsed by the WHO) -

    1. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?
    2. How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization?


    [0]: http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/ncs/ftpdir/adhd/18Q_ASRS_English.pdf


Architecture astronaut isn't a term for starting projects and not finishing them. It's a term for people who overengineer or overdesign their system.

Overengineering can lead to not finishing a project, but in the case of someone with ADHD that's unlikely to be the only issue.

Overengineering/Overdesigning isn't a problem I have, and is probably the single biggest thing I use to judge whether or not someone is a bad programmer, which is why what you said bothered me.




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