ThrowawayP

Perhaps try roasted fig coffee substitute? It's definitely not coffee but has enough of the same roasty flavor notes to be passable. With milk and sugar, I probably wouldn't notice it wasn't coffee if I wasn't paying attention.

All the accompaniments suggested are sweet so I'll say something I've said before: oatmeal works fine with savory accompaniments. If it's made at the normal porridge-like thickness, any toppings or add-ins that work with Asian rice porridge recipes (congee, dakjuk, etc.) will work with it. If it's made with a very thick consistency, it can be treated similarly to mashed potatoes or polenta

If you make plain oatmeal with less water so that it is thick rather than runny, it can be treated like a side dish like mashed potatoes or polenta in a savory meal. It can be a bit odd at first for people who are used to thinking of oatmeal as a sweetened food but it's something one can get accustomed to quickly and avoids the downside of consuming extra sugar.

Because sometimes having been "weird" is only recognized in hindsight. Attempting to project a persona, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_masking, is already difficult at the best of times. It's especially difficult under stress, like being in an interview.

The issue with the "keyboard in front of huge monitor" type of arrangement for people who need to get their face really, really close to the monitor is they have to lean far in and hunch over the keyboard, putting their arms in an uncomfortable position. Speaking from my own experience, this causes RSI problems fairly quickly. And the keyboard can't be moved farther back to allow the person's arms to be in a more natural position because the base of the TV or monitor blocks the way.

A monitor arm of the right length and height lets you sit so that the monitor is close to your face, floating at or beyond the front edge of the table, and the keyboard is physically behind the monitor, letting your arms be in a more natural position for typing.

" ...I have to be about 6 inches from a 27 inch screen. I'm tall, and I'm almost bent in half to do it ... The part that makes it so tough is monitor arms come in standard sizes and are nowhere near long enough or extend far enough for me to sit comfortably ... "

Google for "long reach" monitor arms; some models have a reach of 30 to 40+ inches. They're not exactly cheap since they come from ergonomics vendors but they allow you to bring a large monitor as close to your face as you like and, depending on the model, clamp to a table like a standard monitor arm. I've had various models of them for a couple of decades now.

"My body, my choice" applies to more than one issue related to bodily autonomy. Others get no say in what an individual may do with their own bodies.

"It’s kind of a cliché that CS attracts antisocial nerds."

Say what? CS attracts asocial nerds.

antisocial = commits crimes and harms society

asocial = introverted or unsociable

Not one of the people preaching about "ableism" are giving themselves disabilities because they're oh so wonderful and that tells you really all you need to know that nonsense. Disabilities suck, take it from me, and no, it is not remotely wrong to cure them.

There is an earlier claim to coining of Shit(ty) Life Syndrome not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry, a ha-ha-only-serious parody diagnosis in a medical humor collection named "Placebo Journal": https://authenticmedicine.com/2019/08/did-i-discover-the-con... Skip down to the "Diagnosis: SLS (classical type)" section for the meat of the parody if you don't want to go through the miscellanea that goes with a clinical visit report, although those bits are interesting in their own way.

"Ableism"? I'd give nearly everything I have to not have been born with my disability.

A thousand curses be on whoever came up with this nonsense and the sort who promulgate it.

I've always wondered whether using a projector as a computer display avoids the near focus eyestrain problem. Does anybody know? Granted, 4k projectors aren't inexpensive but they're not unmanageable either.

You don't necessarily have to stop coding. Various technologies such as voice recognition systems developed for users with disabilities exist and, with advancements in algorithms and the overabundance of processing power available on modern hardware, are much more capable than they were before. Businesses are also generally more receptive to accommodating employees with disabilities than they were in the past.

To address an uncomfortable point, yes, such systems are more awkward to use than typing and you may hate to have to use them and be unhappy to compare yourself against what you used to be able to do and what your peers remain able to do. I can only say, having a disability myself, that becoming disabled does indeed suck and that it may be of some small comfort to remember that everyone eventually becomes disabled by the progression of age.

Accommodations are available for illnesses and disability but it's worth remembering that FAANG and similar companies are highly competitive and it's "either up or out" until you're promoted to the terminal level where that's no longer required. If stress exacerbates your illness, keep that in mind.

"Blind or deaf people would probably feel pretty bad hearing 'you don't want a blind or deaf kid'"

I am legally blind. I would not want my children to have any disability whatsoever because it's difficult and miserable.

"Have you ever asked one of these people if they find their lives to be meaningless?"

I have a couple of disabilities and genetic diseases. They utterly, inarguably, and completely suck.

Could be worse. People don't ask me why I'm single which, in my darker moments, kind of suggests that the reasons are sufficiently externally self-evident to obviate any need to even ask. ;)

I've also seen such behavior occur because of burnout/depression. Sometimes the person themselves is unhappy and embarrassed about it too.

"My problem with the word 'burnout' is that it denotes some kind of final state."

It can be. Failing to heed the warning signs can result in a variety of long term medical issues, both physical and mental.

I think most people know the answer, really: one recovers from professional burnout by moving to a work environment that is mentally and emotionally rewarding to you, whatever that might be. That might involve changing your role, changing your job, or changing your profession entirely, any of which may require extreme sacrifices, and it might take several such changes before you find something that suits you. So you're faced with a hard choice: is your burnout is bad enough that you're willing to risk making a leap?

I've seem the "29 people" statistic quoted a few times but I think it's more interesting to look at medical studies about how many people reattempt it after failing the first time:

"Nine out of ten people who attempt suicide and survive will not go on to die by suicide at a later date. This has been well-established in the suicidology literature. A literature review (Owens 2002) summarized 90 studies that have followed over time people who have made suicide attempts that resulted in medical care. Approximately 7% (range: 5-11%) of attempters eventually died by suicide, approximately 23% reattempted nonfatally, and 70% had no further attempts."

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/survi...

Having been in a similar situation, my sympathies; I've found it to be a very strange sensation. The burnt-out knows exactly what work tasks they need to do, they know that it's easily within their own capabilities, and they (at a conscious level at least) even desperately want to do the tasks to fulfill their professional obligations (or to simply continue getting paid). But the body just will not do it or forcing it to do so feels as strenuous as Olympic weightlifting such that one is exhausted at the end of the day not from being productive but from attempting to beat oneself into being productive. It's a very unhappy state to be in.

"Taking these drugs will make anyone feel more focused, motivated, etc because these drugs are strong stimulants that cause euphoria, focus, and bursts of energy."

Can't speak for others but my encounter with stimulant medications (under the care of a therapist, of course) provided none of those things. It only gave me severe insomnia, which left me worse off than before.

As I understand it, that type of medication is not something you can ask for anyway. Google the term "drug seeking behavior" to see why physicians are wary of such requests.

You'll have to see mental health professionals, describe your symptoms, go through tests and other treatments, and then maybe eventually they'll try what you're asking for.

"Why would you assume they would work slower?"

I'm legally blind and I work slower, in some regards, particularly when working with text produced by other people. Most of the colleagues I knew who are legally blind also had similar limitations. The other poster's assumption is not unjustified.

One of the other major ones is that it can aggravate stomach problems like gastritis since both coffee (even decaf) and caffeine are said to stimulate stomach acid production.

"In fact, I hope and believe the majority of mental illness cases are not serious."

Then your understanding of mental illness is very poor. For example, from Wikipedia, "In 2015, ... [suicide] was the second leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 34 and the third leading cause of death for those between the ages of 10 and 14." And, in comparison to treatments for common cancers, the successful treatment rate for many common mental illnesses is often quite low.

"I've recently impressed upon my startup that we don't need to always do "coding tests" of engineering candidates (e.g., if obvious from discussion, past roles, open source, etc.)"

Y'know, I look really good on paper. Long history of significant contributions to projects that are household names at major tech companies, I know my stuff, and I can talk a pretty good game if do I say so myself. I am also so utterly burnt out that I can barely put two lines of code together. Your system would fail to avoid hiring me.

Always do the coding test. Even the FAANGs have hiring mistakes, people who get locked in a niche and let their skills rust, and just plain burnouts that you don't want joining your company.

There are plenty of neurotypical developers who can't communicate clearly or effectively either; I've sat through enough presentations and design meetings over the years to attest to that. Therefore, it's not a good disqualifying criterion.

While of course there are limits, why turn away a good engineer when all it costs you is a bit of patience and accommodation? It's not like talented people are easy to find.

"fluticasone"

It's a treatment, unless you're one of the people it causes frequent nosebleeds in. Ugh.