Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Thats a good question, and no, I haven't written them up yet. I probably would title it "Adventures in ADHD". I grew up in a rural region and so ended up in university for agricultural science, but midway through my second year I was accepted into the Air Traffic Control school.

My best friend was driving long-haul tractor trailers across the USA and since I had a half year waiting for my ATC school to start I went to truck driving school and got my license so I could team drive with him for a bit.

After graduating ATC school and training on site for a year I was unable to meet the increasingly-difficult requirements to progress to the next level. After a while it was evident to both me and my instructors that I wasn't going to be happy even if I managed to pass those barriers as my brain wasn't wired for continuous focus (I hadn't yet been diagnosed with ADHD).

I applied to return to university and while waiting for my application I worked as a construction supervisor. I had spent my teens working for an industrial construction company and they were delighted to take me back on a temporary basis as they were very busy and the market for experienced supervisors was tight.

Finally got back into university but before I had graduated with an agricultural science degree one of my professors asked me to do a Masters graduate program with him. So I eventually graduated with an M.Sc. in agricultural economics and business. I worked as an analyst/lobbiest for five years but disliked reading government documents so took a position as a Market Analyst.

While working as a market analyst I discovered that Excel was a terrible tool for handling all but the simplest data, and in my search for a solution I encountered Python and it's data analytical ecosystem.

While I would never consider myself a programmer, I loved the increasingly complex solutions I could create with Python and, inevitably, ended up learning Linux servers so I could host my data, scrapers, and visualization web servers.

And now I'm wondering what's next, but since my kids are teenagers I'm pausing here for a bit until they move out to avoid unnecessarily disrupting their lives by uprooting them and moving away to a new position.



How was your ADHD diagnosed and how did you deal with it, I have just been given a questionnaire to by my psychologist to see if I have it.


That was similar to my experience. I had gone in for some counseling with a therapist and she forwarded me to a psychologist. After a few weeks he diagnosed it.

I'd love to say it was magically fixed by pills but it will always remain a struggle.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: