Mental Disorder and Neurodiversity in Tech

Question

It's no secret that the tech industry lends itself to operating in a way that can have negative impacts on the mental wellness of its workers. This industry has a ton of pressure around maintaining adherence to strict schedules and is very demanding of constant productivity. In my experience(as a neurodivergent person) there is also a fairly high presence of neurodivergent people drawn to working in the industry.Do you feel like your neurodivergence is ever a boon in your job? Have you struggled with mental health while working in tech? Has a diagnosis and/or treatment helped? Do you have tips to share? And finally... Can Neurodiversity make us better hackers?

artsarescis · Accepted Answer

I have not been diagnosed or identify as ASD, but have been accused of being similar in my life. The company I work for has mazing mental health benefits and I have weekly and monthly therapists that I work with to maintain the neuro-infra. I deal with anxiety/imposter syndrome a lot, and even just having these two folks in my life has made it much more manageable.
A few steps I have taken to help with any mental health.
1. Get sleep. Forcefully remove procrastinated binge watching and infini-scrolling from my repertoire.
2. Eat healthily - I got blood work done and I focus on not eating things that irritate me. Recently just removed processed sugar.
3. Move around. If one is physically abled, moving around can help immensely when it comes to mood and mental health. I like to go for walks and think, its like meditation for me.
4. Disconnect. Find time in life(job permitting - but you should looking into other jobs if it doesn't permit...) to disconnect from the ideation state of work-brain mode.
I'm definitely an introvert so work can be tough sometimes, but I feel like I am beginning to find ways to make it work ;)

FeaturelessBug · Answer

I find that in some ways tech is actually easier for me as a neurodivergent person than other fields that I've worked in(restaurant and production work mostly). With tech I am able to manage my exposure to social situations much easier which is a huge trigger for me. I am diagnosed as ASD and I suffer massively from rejection dysphoria. On my worst days even an awkward snag in conversation can leave me feeling as though I've said that wrong thing, and in the past these scenarios might spin me out for days or even a week at a time.For me, my diagnosis provided me with a framework for aspects of my personality that I thought I could brute force into compliance. Things I thought I would somehow mature out of. It also gave me access to a community with similar struggles to me which was eye opening.

serverlessmom · Answer

There is more information relevant to this discussion in this thread from a talk I was involved in last month: https://twitter.com/trycourier/status/1516169549439143941