For their battery replacement program, my serial # did not come up as affected and they refused to service it over the phone. They quickly changed their minds when I showed up at the Apple store with a battery so swollen it was pushing through the trackpad.
Seems like the study is largely inconclusive because creativity is difficult to measure.
I will say from my personal experience that I am far more creative when I am unmedicated versus when I am medicated. I've come up with great patentable ideas while unmedicated, but I am incapable of actually drafting up the patent applications unless I take my meds.
For me, taking ADHD meds is analogous to decreasing the RAM in my brain. I juggle fewer ideas and am able to concentrate on just one thing and actually produce something.
Kudos to you for sticking to something for (at least) 8 years - it's very very easy to become discouraged, so it's inspiring to someone continue to press forward after so many years.
Most people who go to Harvard have to get very high scores on the SAT/ACT, which include math sections that are of, at least, remedial math difficulty.
The American Dream is the polar opposite of relying multiple generations to achieve stability. The general interpretation of the American Dream is the notion that any one person can achieve success by working hard enough.
If you are an engineer and the company primarily makes money through cold calls by salespeople, then the salespeople are a revenue generating center and you are a cost center. A company increases profits by increasing revenue and reducing costs, so you can figure out which group will be prioritized when it comes to promotions and bonuses.
"So you think a CS chitty is automatically the best possible career in development no wonder you used a throwaway handle.
I would have said having a good grounding in physics or engineering can be a plus having to work from first principals rather than using memorised algo's for w=example."
Then you should have said that rather than whatever it is that you just typed.
I make a new throwaway every month so I don't get attached to HN karma - which often clouds your thinking for fear from judgment from the community.
If you actually read my posts, I have a physics degree.
This has been my experience within teams as well, but it was clear to me that we were hired in spite of our degrees rather than because of them.
I do not regret my physics education, and I would encourage young people who are passionate about the subject to pursue it. However, I think that they should go in knowing that unless they intend to stay in academia/research/defense, a physics degree is, at best, a signal of intelligence, and, at worst, a signal of overspecialization in a disparate field.
From my experience both interviewing and hiring, a physics degree absolutely will not help you in tech. You will have more credibility than any non-STEM graduate, but employers will constantly wonder if you've bridged the gap created by your lack of a CS degree.
Did you sign a contract promising a certain level of work? Do you have documented communications between the two of you whereby you stated that the job "was outside of my knowledge and did not feel comfortable"?
In all likelihood, he sounds like a scummy client trying to rip you off. Unless you agreed to a 3rd party audit prior to starting work, it is also unlikely that he has the right to withhold your last paycheck.
In his current situation, if he zones out, he produces nothing. In the situation where he's aided by the potentially faulty described system, if he zones out, he produces erroneously transcribed data.
The constant stress can definitely wear someone down if they don't have any proper outlets.
I had clear skin my entire life until I started to develop severe cystic acne as a 32 year old adult (after about 6 months of non-stop work into my startup). Once I started dialing things back, my skin got way better.
I've been chronically ill for over a decade and founded my first company last year. Perhaps the hardest truth I've had to learn to accept is that I simply do not have as many hours in the day as a healthy person. I spend at least 2 hours a day physically managing my illness, not to mention the mental overhead of my illness being at back of my mind constantly. So I've had to either become more efficient, hire and delegate more effectively, or come to terms with the fact that I can only expect so much output from myself (I've done all three).
As far as finding balance in my life - I've done a terrible job at it, but I was creating a novel product and rushing to get it to market. If I had to do it again, I probably would have done the same thing.
My company is not yet successful and my finances are dwindling, so I'll going to pick up some contract work and build up my reserves again. When I've got enough money saved for another 12 month run at my company, I'm going to jump right back in.