MountainWest RubyConf 2013 Devs and Depression by Greg Baugues
Why Hacker News recommends it
Repeatedly recommended in mental health threads for its honest storytelling that resonates with developers.
What it is
Greg Baugues tells his story of living with bipolar II and ADHD as a developer at a Ruby conference. He urges openness about mental illness and explains how to get help and support colleagues.
Recommended by 7 HN commenters across 7 different months, 2013 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec rbshadel · 2014-11 · on “Startup depression”
Here's a great talk by Greg Baugues in which he discusses his own mental illness (bipolar type II and ADHD) and notes that often there is a fine line between a symptom of depression/mental illness and a trait of a successful developer: [this video]
Strong rec 29athrowaway · 2020-05 · on “Surviving Depression”
I recommend this talk about depression and software developers: [this video] There are newer versions of this talk, but I think this one has the most powerful storytelling.
Recommends gregorymichael · 2013-07 · on “Ask HN: I can't think straight, my life is in limbo, and I want to end it now”
I am so sorry you're going through this. Remember, you can always procrastinate ending it all, and do it later while you examine other options. There is a community at DevPressed[1] of developers who struggle with depression. I am a developer and gave a talk on my struggle with depression and the greater issue of Developers and Depression [2]. Email me if you'd like to chat - greg at baugues.com 1. [LINK] 2. [this video]
Recommends cschneid · 2014-09 · on “Tech Has a Depression Problem”
There is a discussion forum specifically for this: [LINK] Please check it out, and also any of the talks [1] by its founder, Greg Baugues. It's from a ruby conference, but is applicable to all developers. [1] [this video] )
Recommends Ezhik · 2015-07 · on “Developers and Depression – Getting Unstuck”
I've watched the video by the author of this newsletter, and a lot of things did ring true for me. [1] I moved to the Bay Area all the way from Russia, as a student, with the intention of diving deep into this startup and developer world. Eight months later, however, I still have no clue at all what I'm doing. Don't have enough projects for a portfolio, don't have enough proper skills for a resume. Got overwhelmed with classes due to not paying enough attention in class, decided not to take any classes in summer - with the intention of working on some projects and maybe figuring my life out. Here we are what, three weeks later, and all I have is a static mockup page for the project and I hav
Recommends partycoder · 2016-09 · on “Devpressed is now OSMI”
I don't suffer of depression myself, but I think this initiative is worth supporting. This talk might be relevant: [this video]
Recommends samuraiseoul · 2019-10 · on “Ask HN: How to cope with burnout every 6 months?”
I think it's worth looking into for sure. I ran across this when I was suffering from some depression and was trying to see how other devs deal with it. [this video] It's a talk about Bipolar Type II which doesn't have the same kind of full blown manic episodes as regular bipolar type I has. It has hypomanic episodes that are not often reported to the doctor because they seem like happiness or something good, or a sudden drive to do something productive. I've been getting looked at for it myself now and normal depression meds(SSRIs) can actually negatively effect it. It may be worth looking at OP!
Cites jayhuang · 2016-03 · on “Why mental health idealism might not overcome the market”
As someone who has, and still is struggling a lot with mental health issues, it’s immediately obvious how big the gap is between the impact of mental health, and the amount of attention it gets in the media/social circles. The social stigma of mental illnesses are so strong that you rarely hear sufferers of depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc speak out about it, which is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. Making it known that you have a mental illness is simply not the same as having a physical handicap (please note I am not trying to downplay the pains of physical handicap or any other illnesses). People simply do not know how to react to mental illness. Or they’re incapable of und