Comments on: Do Great Programmers Have Selective Autism?

By: 优秀游戏程序员是否就有间歇性自闭现象？ | GamerBoom.com 游戏邦

优秀游戏程序员是否就有间歇性自闭现象？ | GamerBoom.com 游戏邦 — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:59:56 +0000

[...] but I’ll just put this next to the hate mail from my programming personality test?（Source：doolwind）分享到： QQ空间新浪微博开心网 [...]

By: Thomas Jane

Thomas Jane — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 07:45:26 +0000

All good programmers have to be Anti-Social

By: Steve Levy

Steve Levy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:58:23 +0000

I have managed “nerd” programmers and support people. They are like everyone else basically. They do like email. But after a number of interchanges they will meet with people.

By: kyaw kyaw naing

kyaw kyaw naing — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:03:25 +0000

Great concentration and no-non-sense approach to life shouldnt be confused with autism.

e.g. Mushashi went for days without a bath.

By: tom

tom — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:54:06 +0000

Yes, i’d always assumed it was practically a prerequisite to be located somewhere on the autism spectrum for this kind of work.

By: AlexMan

AlexMan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:26:37 +0000

I think that there is this kind of abatraction capability in every on, some times it looks like something pathologic, because we developers are inmerge in our algorithm-logic-full world, that certainly dimish our social skill, I have meet also gret developers with som e sort of Obsesive Compulsive behavior, I guess thta ll dpend how easy we cna flip the switch to be in the abstract mode “in the Zone”, Inpired, Focused, Or however every one called this mind status where the Ideas come and make totaly sense. For sure when the brian goes to such effort the side effects is a kind of mind hang over which sacrifice the “less” important skil to survive. In my case when that happend, after a long time of exposure to the abstracness i just want to sleep. Anyway I try to keep my socials Skills ALive. Go out, meet people, etc. This is one of those egg-chikne situation, is the behavior provoked by the profesion or the profession selected because of the inherit behavior?. I think the most important think however is to be able to flip the switch, if we need to “isolote” ourself from the world in order to do a good job so be it; but once tho job is done, flip the switch back to the social mode. Life is more enjoyable if you share it with somebody else!

By: Apples

Apples — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:47:07 +0000

I’m disgusted by this. Autism is not something you choose. It is how you are born and it is something that is grossly misunderstood by society.

It is not something that people can change by trying harder at communication or spending less time on the computer.

This is as insulting as saying that people with cancer just need to read more.

All you are doing is trivialising autism. Just leave those of us who are autistic alone.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:15:52 +0000

I always find it funny how people are always trying to look for labels or diagnosis things about thier personality. I saw a quack psycologist who tried to diagnosis me with Aspburgers. I was the programmer who shut out the world and was anti social at that time. But what he thought was apsburgers was a complete lack of social skills. Through work and use real techniques like hypnosis that worked for me I was able to let go of those fears and learn to build real social skills. So now I’m no longer the programmer stuck behind the desk, but now one who is in contact with clients, examining thier situation, suggesting and engineer the soluitions and requirments. I also cringe when people want to label thier self as this or that. Once you do that then you have to live up (or down to) whatever that label is, and it becomes a static unchanagble thing. This is your life and you are in control, and if you are like me you simply can’t excpt that you can’t change things about yourself.

By: Kelli Allred

Kelli Allred — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:18:16 +0000

Wow — your insight into the mind of a programmer is valuable to those of us who work with autistic adults. Funny, I was a technical writer for educational software for 5 years and worked with a number of “nerds” whose communication skills were less than acceptable. I wish I had known then what I now know about the mind of an adult with “selective autism”, as you call it. Thanks for sharing!!

By: Peter Muys

Peter Muys — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 05:53:21 +0000

Hi,
I am a software developer and have been working with computers since i was 11 years old (I’m 35 now).
You call it ‘in the zone’ I call it being in my World. When I was younger, this was the ideal way to escape the real world. And, I guess, for me it still is a bit like that.
It feels good when being in the zone, I am very productive, everything is under control, my brain is running at 500%.
Having to get out of my world abruptly is hell. I don’t stop to think, I don’t want to stop. It takes a couple of hours to get out of it.
Like with drugs, it’s addictive and like drugs, too much will get you down.

Over the years I have learned to watch the signs. If I am in my world to long, I know I will suddenly stop working. So now I try to have periods of rest. It is hard to follow this, but I have to.
Thinking about it now, I should probably say that programming is my drug addiction.