bulwynkl

I figure there is a couple of PhDs worth of work in the connection between higher degrees and mental health issues (and neurodivergence, for want of a better term). Not sure I'd wish that on anyone though...

The first and last thing that come to my mind are how am I going to tell a beginner why they need to know a thing.

Oh gods yes. This is my.... favourite?... rant... No one wants to talk about why. Kinda fundamental if you ask me. Why do you do it This way? (what problem does it solve, trap avoid, situation make easier, code execution speed up)

The other one that gets me is I have a problem to solve/thing I want to do. What pattern or approach fits that use case

Documentation: This is the syntax. These are the options. These are the exceptions. Occasionally, this is what this application does.

and nothing to guide you TO that application as a potential solution.

This is not just a beginner problem. I constantly find programs that solve a problem that I just never encountered before. Long ago learned that if there was a problem that seemed to have no existing solution likely it was using different keywords or for a different problem domain (usually much broader).

Side note on this side note... folks who's response to questions include belittling the asker and implying they are lazy or deficient somehow... well... special place in hell. (I've encountered this not just online but face to face, more than once. grrr)

anacdote alert...

looking back its pretty obvious I burned out during my PhD. It took me about 6 years and a change of career to land a job I was able to perform in. Note I didn't recover. Just found a niche. Which turned out to be a very high stress workload job. Literally 10 times more work than you would ever be able to achieve. Needless to say when I left that role, it was still hard to perform to any level. Again I found myself stumbling from high performance job to job. During this whole 2 decades, depression and anxiety (probably longer back TBH)

A few months ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD.

now, everything makes sense. I still have chronic executive dysfunction but I am working on that.

I just wish I had found out earlier. I suspect my life would have been very different.

I don't know what advice to give other than to seek help. I was trapped into believing that I was incompetent and that mental illness was a weakness that one didn't admit to.

On the plus side I'm still here. Still moving forward.

I saw a meme recently that struck a cord

Therapist: Well you definitely have burnout Me: Oh. How long will that take to fix? I have so much to do...

what! no more line noise!... Noice...

During my PhD (on blends of PU and PE) one of the target applications imagined was as a RF sealable substitute for plasticised PVC for e. g. blood bags. (b compatible with blood & etc, good cryogenic toughness, industrial sealable and processable)

The notion was that the plasticisers could in theory leach into the blood. Nothing came of it, in part because there was no perceived problem.

but I've always wondered...

Is plasticisers leaching into blood products a problem? (does it happen, if it did, is that bad?)

yeah, probably out side the core knowledge set, but as close as I've got yet.