People like to overstate amount of people on the spectrum in programming - and it likely went down as it gained popularity. High functioning autistic are easy bullying target for "alfa geeks" and can't really cope well in companies where culture fit is important. They also have harder time coping with time pressure, working in open space (noise, disruptions), tight agile cooperation (this is two sided hell), have hard time controlling emotions (go into rage), have hard time deal with changes of plans, unexpected and plenty of other situations currently present.

I guess it is less bad for them to be in programming then in marketing, but normals still have it better.

Also, they are good in some thigs - great with routine, rarely make mistake, rarely inattentive, great memory. Then again, as a rule, they have less good abstract thinking which limits them a lot, goes into rage because programmer on unrelated project used slightly different code style.

If we are talking about people who are normally diagnosable, diagnosis is not exactly shock for people who work with them. You may not be able to guess diagnosis, but you are aware that the person is off.

That's why it's called a spectrum. The people you call "alfa geeks" are probably on the spectrum themselves, but are even higher functioning.

No, they are not. They are highly socially successful and know exactly what gives them praise. They know how to do politics well. They eagerly form cooperating packs. That is opposite of autistic.

People on the spectrum are clumsy systematically - agains bosses, against customers, and time it hurts them.

Alpha geeks act like jerks to get ahed - put down opposition without needing to argue, protect their social status or raiser popularity by being fun. People on the spectrum are not fun. They act like jerks unintentionally - they don't understand what they are doing.

I think claims about "the spectrum" are often overblown. Most software developers do not exhibit any traits linked to autism.

I appreciate this carefully cited informative comment where you state your own biased opinion/observations as fact.

Are you claiming that most developers are on the spectrum? That would be quite strong claim.

No, the claim is "most software developers do not exhibit autism symptoms". It was made without supporting evidence.

The default position a logical person without evidence to the contrary should take is most software developers are not on the spectrum.

General population for men is approx 1 in 42 boys are on the autism spectrum (https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/faq)

There are roughly 2 million Americans on the autism spectrum and roughly 3.6 million software developers.

So for the counter claim to be true pretty much every single person with autism in the US must work in Software development.

>>General population for men is approx 1 in 42 boys are on the autism spectrum (https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/faq)

Right, and if you read the link you provided, you will see that they said that number constitutes a ten-fold increase over the past 40 years, which can be at least partially attributed to improved diagnosis and awareness.

So the actual number is probably much higher.

> So the actual number is probably much higher.

Why? Can you please walk me through your reasoning?

Autism is now well known and fairly easily identifiable.

Child care centers, schools, etc all have staff who can identify development issues and will refer to a trained medical professional to diagnose. At least in moderately sized cities.

That was not the case 40 years ago.

It is higher, because women have autism too - through less often and they are better able to masks it.

Nevertheless, majority of those diagnosed are not particularly talented at programming or it just happened that they became obsessed over something else.

This is probably one of the best comments I've ever seen on HN

No. I don't have enough information to make any such claim.

I'm merely asserting that the parent comment also likely isn't backed by enough information to make their claim either.

I'll happily be proved wrong by citations in either direction.

Anyone know a study of for on spectrum programmer vs on spectrum other profession?

I sometimes wonder if we sometimes self-label ourselves, in general, as being "on the spectrum" just so we can justify getting pissy when uninteresting people interrupt and harass us while we are trying to concentrate on interesting problems.

I think this is the DSM's criteria for high functioning autism.

Having difficulty getting back on track after an interruption is part of ADHD (well, more difficulty than the average person, interruptions disrupts everybody's concentration to some degree). There is a high level of comorbidity between Autism Spectrum Disorders and ADHD-PI (formerly known as ADD).

Ok, but some people are jerks or without being autistic. No one likes being interrupted, not just autistic. They just make it while another level.

If you act angrily after being interrupted, then people will interrupt you less. People with high social skills do that intentionally for exactly that reason. The difference is in inability to control the bad reaction. Merely being rude and self centered is not enough (autistic come across like self centered, but that is oftentimes unfair).

I had an IEP because of autism and work in the industry.