The ADD/ADHD Programmer
January 25th 2012 12:19
This is almost off topic for this blog, but I thought to go ahead and write it in way of encouragement for those like me, and also to try and clear up a misconception about people who are ADD/ADHD. I am one of them, by the way.
Now, back not too long ago, before I discovered my vein for computers, I was a jeweler for twelve years. My training was by Can Van Le of Art of Gold in Denver, Colorado, after he saw some of my homemade silver jewelry and offered to teach me. Can was a hard task-master, seeming impossible to please. I would hand him a piece, thinking this time it's perfect, and he would examine it. "Ooooo, I see wavy light", sometimes he would say, for example, holding the jewelry up and turning it in an illumination looking for just that. Then he would hand it back and tell me to finish it.
I was later most grateful for such a herd teacher, who at that time was a master jeweler from the Orient, where hand tools were the norm for jeweling.
Fast forward to about seven years, when I worked for Roger Goldsmith of Goldsmith's Custom Jewelry in Thornton, Co. While there, the synthetic gemstone called Moissanite came into existence. Short pitch is that it is three times brighter than a diamond, more durable and at a tenth of the cost. We decided to build a website.
I had also been working for Xerox and had been taking SkillSoft courses on computer technology. In a couple years we were selling Moissanite jewelry on line like popcorn, as Roger would describe the success. A couple more years and having a few sites rocking and rolling, the Goldsmiths both told me they were doing $500,000 dollars a year in sales!
Really, I digress, but not really, as the jewelry bench and the computer both have something to do with my point about ADD/ADHD workers.
You see, both are places where I sit and focused to the "Zen level" on my arts. You are discouraged from multi-tasking at these jobs, and as I saw while working at Level(3) Communications and Sun Microsystems in Broomfield, you do not bother a programmer when working!
The jewelry bench was my place of power, and still is as I have moved on to focusing on wax carving. The polishing compounds you use for jewelry are very bad for me, as I also suffer from asthma, so had to actually get away from the jewelry bench a few years to try and overcome mild silicosis.
Then I realized that the laptop is a better "jewelry bench" for me! It is most clean and you can carry it around with you. I decided to become a web master.
The computer is another place where I not only can, but must, "go Zen", tuning out my surroundings while I work. People with ADD/ADHD are known to be unusually good at things like this, and video games and music, etc. This is simply because, to try and explain it simply, our minds are like bright light, but it shines in every direction until we learn to focus it like a laser beam. If we learn this skill, we tend to be able to do so for much longer than most without the condition.
So, to me my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength.
Also, going by my observations of my youngest who is also ADD, we seem to have greater visualization ability when we focus. If you are familiar with someone with this condition, have you ever noticed they can sometimes seem to "go somewhere else"?
We do that. Television is to the outside observer a distraction for us, but to us something that captivates, and we "see" the program more deeply. Now, if you are trying to have a conversation with the person at the time, this can be confusing. Don't think you are being ignored, but know the distraction has "taken the mind away".
However, when someone like me, having the aptitude for coding, gets "taken away" by our work, this is a good thing.
One problem I have is trying to explain this to people I know. They think I am being obsessive. I demand a quiet environment with minimal distractions to be able to do my best work. Even the wrong ring tone on the office phone can "break the vision."
I am learning to deal with working in places where there is no control over the chaos. But I definitely prefer a room with no clutter, maximum order, clean and most importantly quiet.
Oh, my, I do go on today, and must close with a memory that just popped into my mind.
I use to play pinball. I was good. I would get the balls going so fast you could not see them, the collective rhythm of my playing the method of awareness. "Ticatoc-tak...takkatocbing.. ." The awareness would become so acute that I could put spin on the balls and make them do seemingly amazing things. Just physics in motion, man.
I would "pop" most machines many times, and when done something interesting happened. I one day realized that I tuned out my surroundings completely when playing at this level. When the last ball dropped and I stepped back, leaving pops on the machine for my friends, all the sounds and people in the game room would fade in.
I added this not to brag, but rather to try and explain to you that the "weakness" of a person with "ADD/ADHD" is also our greatest strength, if we learn to use it effectively. Then realize that your greatest strength, if you look at it, is probably your greatest weakness, too.
So, is ADD/ADHD a "sickness", or a different build of the brain? Maybe we just do not understand it?
Good day to you. I must go. I did it even now, and will be late if I do not frantically rush around. Go ahead and laugh. I do, but also am happy to be "ADD/ADHD".
Now, back not too long ago, before I discovered my vein for computers, I was a jeweler for twelve years. My training was by Can Van Le of Art of Gold in Denver, Colorado, after he saw some of my homemade silver jewelry and offered to teach me. Can was a hard task-master, seeming impossible to please. I would hand him a piece, thinking this time it's perfect, and he would examine it. "Ooooo, I see wavy light", sometimes he would say, for example, holding the jewelry up and turning it in an illumination looking for just that. Then he would hand it back and tell me to finish it.
I was later most grateful for such a herd teacher, who at that time was a master jeweler from the Orient, where hand tools were the norm for jeweling.
Fast forward to about seven years, when I worked for Roger Goldsmith of Goldsmith's Custom Jewelry in Thornton, Co. While there, the synthetic gemstone called Moissanite came into existence. Short pitch is that it is three times brighter than a diamond, more durable and at a tenth of the cost. We decided to build a website.
I had also been working for Xerox and had been taking SkillSoft courses on computer technology. In a couple years we were selling Moissanite jewelry on line like popcorn, as Roger would describe the success. A couple more years and having a few sites rocking and rolling, the Goldsmiths both told me they were doing $500,000 dollars a year in sales!
Really, I digress, but not really, as the jewelry bench and the computer both have something to do with my point about ADD/ADHD workers.
You see, both are places where I sit and focused to the "Zen level" on my arts. You are discouraged from multi-tasking at these jobs, and as I saw while working at Level(3) Communications and Sun Microsystems in Broomfield, you do not bother a programmer when working!
The jewelry bench was my place of power, and still is as I have moved on to focusing on wax carving. The polishing compounds you use for jewelry are very bad for me, as I also suffer from asthma, so had to actually get away from the jewelry bench a few years to try and overcome mild silicosis.
Then I realized that the laptop is a better "jewelry bench" for me! It is most clean and you can carry it around with you. I decided to become a web master.
The computer is another place where I not only can, but must, "go Zen", tuning out my surroundings while I work. People with ADD/ADHD are known to be unusually good at things like this, and video games and music, etc. This is simply because, to try and explain it simply, our minds are like bright light, but it shines in every direction until we learn to focus it like a laser beam. If we learn this skill, we tend to be able to do so for much longer than most without the condition.
So, to me my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength.
Also, going by my observations of my youngest who is also ADD, we seem to have greater visualization ability when we focus. If you are familiar with someone with this condition, have you ever noticed they can sometimes seem to "go somewhere else"?
We do that. Television is to the outside observer a distraction for us, but to us something that captivates, and we "see" the program more deeply. Now, if you are trying to have a conversation with the person at the time, this can be confusing. Don't think you are being ignored, but know the distraction has "taken the mind away".
However, when someone like me, having the aptitude for coding, gets "taken away" by our work, this is a good thing.
One problem I have is trying to explain this to people I know. They think I am being obsessive. I demand a quiet environment with minimal distractions to be able to do my best work. Even the wrong ring tone on the office phone can "break the vision."
I am learning to deal with working in places where there is no control over the chaos. But I definitely prefer a room with no clutter, maximum order, clean and most importantly quiet.
Oh, my, I do go on today, and must close with a memory that just popped into my mind.
I use to play pinball. I was good. I would get the balls going so fast you could not see them, the collective rhythm of my playing the method of awareness. "Ticatoc-tak...takkatocbing.. ." The awareness would become so acute that I could put spin on the balls and make them do seemingly amazing things. Just physics in motion, man.
I would "pop" most machines many times, and when done something interesting happened. I one day realized that I tuned out my surroundings completely when playing at this level. When the last ball dropped and I stepped back, leaving pops on the machine for my friends, all the sounds and people in the game room would fade in.
I added this not to brag, but rather to try and explain to you that the "weakness" of a person with "ADD/ADHD" is also our greatest strength, if we learn to use it effectively. Then realize that your greatest strength, if you look at it, is probably your greatest weakness, too.
So, is ADD/ADHD a "sickness", or a different build of the brain? Maybe we just do not understand it?
Good day to you. I must go. I did it even now, and will be late if I do not frantically rush around. Go ahead and laugh. I do, but also am happy to be "ADD/ADHD".
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