I am in a similar boat in career. I lead a small team of data engineers and do more code review now than code writing. For me, yes the meds help. They keep the tracks for my train of thought from disappearing. It stops my brain from having the context switching problems. The brain fog clears and I can actually think straight.
I'm on methylphenidate (36mg ER), but different meds work for different brains. Your experience may vary. Caffeine also affects us differently, helping us focus instead of keeping us hyper. I've heard it also helps convey some of the meds for more effective delivery.
I find note taking along the way with AI-assisted code summaries help too, but those don't help my context switching difficulty.
Edit: I'd also add, schedule management REALLY helps. Avoid 30 minute back to back meetings with different themes if possible. Give your brain downtime after a meeting to chill and think. After 3-4 meetings of different concepts, my brain can't handle anything, even with meds. This causes burnout more quickly than anything I experience.
I was bored at work one day. I decided to put a nyan cat easter egg in my company's app. If at the loading progress bar screen you typed NYAN it would turn the progress bar into a rainbow being created by a little nyan cat while playing the nyan cat song. The mp3 (inconspicuously renamed without the extension) doubled our build size. No one batted an eye cause no one paid attention to the build size much.
Fast forward 5 years later, at a different job, I get a phone call from the old boss. Do you happen to know anything about this nyan cat file we found?
I am in a similar boat in career. I lead a small team of data engineers and do more code review now than code writing. For me, yes the meds help. They keep the tracks for my train of thought from disappearing. It stops my brain from having the context switching problems. The brain fog clears and I can actually think straight.
I'm on methylphenidate (36mg ER), but different meds work for different brains. Your experience may vary. Caffeine also affects us differently, helping us focus instead of keeping us hyper. I've heard it also helps convey some of the meds for more effective delivery.
I find note taking along the way with AI-assisted code summaries help too, but those don't help my context switching difficulty.
Edit: I'd also add, schedule management REALLY helps. Avoid 30 minute back to back meetings with different themes if possible. Give your brain downtime after a meeting to chill and think. After 3-4 meetings of different concepts, my brain can't handle anything, even with meds. This causes burnout more quickly than anything I experience.