The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves)

[WildBaboons]

@derp said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Engineers only have to make it work in theory. Not in practice

This only applies to sales engineers

[Sunny]

@wildbaboons said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@derp said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Engineers only have to make it work in theory. Not in practice

This only applies to sales engineers

Yeah, our engineer at my work would be pretty amused to be categorized as only having to do his job in theory, I suspect.

[HorrorHound]

Ehhhhh. Idk man. The engineers who make theme parks are reeeeeeaaaaaal fond of CAD and whine a bunch when they get paradox from Reality.

[Sunny]

@horrorhound

Okay.

Ours handles a great many infrastructure projects, including doing things like designing water / sewer systems that have to actually work.

[HorrorHound]

@sunny

My favorite argument was when I was told to lay main drains for a pool system, and the support structure was in the way.

[Grayson]

There's reasons my dad - a mechanical and electrical and design and innovation engineer who's now in his mid-70s - considers the words 'graduate engineer' to be unprintable.

[Derp]

@sunny said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@horrorhound

Okay.

Ours handles a great many infrastructure projects, including doing things like designing water / sewer systems that have to actually work.

You've got one of the good ones then.

In my experience, the software engineers I have met are brilliant -- if they're designing something for a hobby. Like MU.

The software engineers in real life? Can't seem to understand that the systems they create should not be overwriting the Date of Inspection with the date you access the file. Or, really, do anything useful with the database at all. There is a reason we just dropped a bunch of money to hire an outside company to design a system that actually works.

And good lord, our civil engineers...

ETA: nothing against anyone here, to be clear. I'm sure you are very good at your jobs. People like @Faraday continue to impress with their skills. But man. I wish we could get a better team. Or maybe I just need to move someplace with less lazy people.

[faraday]

@derp said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

You've got one of the good ones then.

Maybe it varies by industry? Or maybe you've just had very bad luck? I dunno. I'm not discounting your experience, but mine is very different.

I've worked in the software industry for decades. Sure there are some new kids who have only ever done theoretical stuff in school, some folks who are so divorced from their actual users that they build things that nobody actually wants to use, and some out and out nitwits who should be fired, but they are all the exception not the rule.

I also worked in embedded software for a long time, and the same can be said for the mechanical and electrical engineers I worked with. They were right there in the lab working alongside the techs to transform their CAD drawings into reality, and right there alongside the service and test folks solving the inevitable "bugs" in the designs.

I mean that's ultimately what engineering literally is... practical application of science to solve real-world problems.

[Tributary]

@horrorhound said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Ehhhhh. Idk man. The engineers who make theme parks are reeeeeeaaaaaal fond of CAD and whine a bunch when they get paradox from Reality.

I've done CAD on and off for 20 years now. I put myself through college doing AutoCAD drafting. I had a position for awhile where I used AutoLISP and VBA to make AutoCAD and Microsoft Office communicate very smoothly so that I could do my job in like 2 hours and then read my book for the next 6. I still do some CAD work, freelance now.

I am super judgmental about CAD drawings.

Because I've seen a lot of garbage produced by a variety of different shops, and it's clear every time you get a bad drawing that someone didn't understand anything about the software they were using. Finding things in an ostensibly 2-D drawing that don't connect because someone drew them three feet off the ground -- not that they go there, but whoever drew it had somehow screwed up a setting and said, "Whatever, it prints fine." Trying to figure out why the scale of a drawing is off and discovering it only works if you set the program to measure metric but give it Imperial measurements. Noting you cannot fit equipment into a closet, much less leave a 6" clearance, because an architect disregarded an engineer's requirements.

Generally, in my experience, people are so bad at CAD that they don't understand why their CAD doesn't correspond to Reality because they think CAD is infallible. The computer is only as smart as the user.

[Kanye Qwest]

@derp said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@kanye-qwest said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Engineers are all about making things work in practice. I think you got something swapped mentally.

Think we're hanging out with different groups of engineers, then.

lol I am an engineer.

[Wretched]

[saosmash]

Can't find my wallet.

Am tired.

[Ominous]

@horrorhound

Huh. Well, #5 explains why, while it was the most stressful, soul-scarring, exhausting, traumatic job, law enforcement was one of the best jobs I had.

[Kestrel]

I've been reading some studies lately on gender disparity in the rates of ADHD diagnosis and referral.

Today one thing in particular jumped out at me and made me think of MSB, both because you guys have such an extensive ADHD thread and because there was recent discussion in Gripes about how one wraps their head around the idea that even when a person's gender presentation is but text on a screen, it's still possible to experience bias towards them because of it.

People may experience and respond to the same behaviour of males and females in different ways due to gender-related behavioural expectations [42]. For example in two studies where teachers were presented with ADHD-like vignettes, when simply varying the child’s name and pronouns used from male to female, boys names were more likely to be referred for additional support [45] and considered more suitable for treatment [46].

Study:
Females with ADHD: An expert consensus statement taking a lifespan approach providing guidance for the identification and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in girls and women

Open access, no need for any kind of fee/login.

[Carma]

This post is deleted!

[Kestrel]

@carma said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Kestrel I don't mean to trivialize the study, but my initial reaction is of course there's a bias against women and girls in every facet of the medical community. It's good that there's a study that proves it. I just feel like we shouldn't have needed a study to prove it, because of how obvious it is. What would be surprising is if there were no bias.

Still, thanks for the link and the signal boost.

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.

I'm in the process of being assessed for ADHD right now and while I'm open to the possibility that it might just not be the right fit for me, my initial meeting didn't go so well: I fit the criteria for inattention but not for hyperactivity and was on the low end of impulsivity. The psychiatrist I saw indicated that I needed to fit the criteria for all 3 in order to be diagnosed.

I've been discussing this whole thing with a few people in the MU* community for a while now and @Clarity suggested I should look into research on women with ADHD specifically. Turns out fitting the criteria for inattention but not for hyperactivity is actually totally and completely normal for women with ADHD and doesn't lead to any better outcomes in life if it's left untreated. (Much more on this here.)

So I mean, yeah. We shouldn't need a study that proves it, but it's good that one exists — because I have a feeling that saying to my psychiatrist point blank, 'Have you considered that you might be reviewing this case through a lens of unconscious bias?' Miiight not go down quite so well as, 'Hey, apropos of nothing, I came across these interesting studies about women with ADHD! This article was published just last year. What do you think, Mr Doctor?'

(I learned how to communicate with male-kind thanks to the Cooper Review. Can't recommend this enough.)

EDIT: Sorry if this is old news to everyone here. I'm super new to all of this. Didn't start even entertaining the possibility until 2 months ago when some MU*ers quietly ganged up on me to suggest I should.

[faraday]

@kestrel said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

The psychiatrist I saw indicated that I needed to fit the criteria for all 3 in order to be diagnosed.

With the "I am not a doctor" disclaimer, from what I understand from my kids' diagnoses, that is flat out incorrect. I would seek a second opinion. Ideally someone who specializes in ADHD. There are unfortunately entirely too many psychiatrists who either don't have up to date understanding of the condition (particularly the inattentive subtype), or are flat out ignorant/denying. I hope you're able to find someone who can help you properly!

[faraday]

Relevant to what @Kestrel mentioned, How to ADHD did a video on ADHD in Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMpt40zNK-w

[Wretched]

[Derp]

@wretched