I'm way behind on responding to posts; it's a busy week at work.
But on a whim, I decided to search the forum to see if there were any other software engineers here, and I was pretty astonished. There were a lot more than I expected.
I know a lot of us struggle with brain fog, and that can be really unpleasant in our field. I was thinking about starting up a listserv for software engineers with Sjogren's so that people could ask the questions that might be too embarrassing to ask at work. Maybe we could help each other out.
Anyway, reply here or PM me if interested. Back to coding :)
Styx
P.S. If I'm breaking a forum rule by advertising, please accept my apology, and I'll work with administrators to see if there is a more appropriate avenue for this.
I am re-tired and on disability. I do not know what area of software you are working in. In college I wrote or modified close to 100 non graphic games. I also developed a sort of relational data base that compiled to 64k and was very fast.
The languages that I have programmed in include: BASIC, COBOL, C, C++, FORTRAN, RATFOR, SNOBOL, BAL MASM, COMPASS, FOCII, RPG, HTML, XML, JAVA, JavaScript to name a few off the top of my head.
They are starting to fade from not using them (retired). I can read many more than I programmed in. A private message will get you my direct connections.
I was a software engineer (and other high tech roles) for many years. Now out on SS Disability. I like your idea, but wouldn't personally participate since I'm not working.
I know my biggest problem with programming while the Sjogren's was coming on was simply keeping things in my head - you know how when you are working on a piece a code, you sort of know the key variable names, and the parameters to common functions? These kept leaking out of my brain and I'd have to check them all the time, which just made me MUCH MUCH slower.
All the best!
Same here, used to develop software but have been on Disability since 07.
I was having a big problem at work during the last year - when I put one project aside and came back to it later I was repeating things I'd already done because I would forget that I'd done them. I had to keep very detailed notes on anything I researched, analyzed or just worked out in my head, or else I would end up doing it again the next day. This was new - I used to keep all this stuff in my head no matter how many different things I was working on or how many times I was interrupted.
I think I managed to keep this mostly to myself, but I do know that several people noticed that I was forgetting a lot of things. I was pretty freaked out about that.
I used to build databases, but no longer do that (partially due to brain fog--migraine related). I'm doing a bit of website development now, but have decided to be a legal assistant & writer instead for a living. I can do that on auto-pilot much easier than coding all day! haha If you'll have me, I'm interested. Thanks!
Aaah, software engineers. Love that title. Although our employer likes to refer to us as Programmer/Analyst. Right now, I work in HTML5, CSS, Javascript, PHP, etc. I got away from our mainframe coding with an outdated little known language. Thank goodness.
When I'm in a major flare, it is hard to keep up. Lately it hasn't been too bad for me. In 3 years I will have 25 years in here. That is my ultimate goal. But I'll still be too young to retire from it.
My issue is that I've not had formal programming classes since 1985. Everything else is self taught. Sometimes it is very hard to keep up. When interviewing for promotions, they often ask what materials I read/use to keep up on technology. Read? Who in the heck feels like reading anything after coding for 8 hours? My eyes struggle so much. I tried listening to tutorials or books through screen readers. No, that doesn't work. I'm struggling with that the most.
The lights at work bother me. I get distracted very easily in the cubicle environment.
But I love what I do. I love solving puzzles all day. I document as much as I can so I can refer back to things until I can retain it. I hate talking code.
Not a software engineer, but I do something along the lines. I am a GIS analyst and developer. The only code I work in is VB script and Python. I have to make huge notes now and refer to them often, where used to, I had it all in my head. Some days I struggle worse than others. Luckily, on 25% of it is code and the rest is design with tools. So I would be no help but just thought it was curious how many of us work in these type fields.