A casual community for people with ADHD
Values:
Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.
Rules:
Encouraged:
Relevant Lemmy communities:
lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.
I had a really great professor in a class I really liked. I went to his office hours towards registration time for next semester and asked about an individual/independent study course. He was open to it and even fought for it to count towards something I needed to graduate.
It was so liberating to chase my wild ideas down their various rabbit holes and do legit research. I wasn’t, and likely won’t be a phd, bs in engineering was enough for me, but it was a nice break from the norm
The open source system might be a good avenue. Look for projects that are aligned somewhat similarly. Or start your own!
Your question is how do you follow your adhd driven deep interest dives without committing to a graduate program while contributing to the field.
As a PhD student and someone who acts similarly with hobbies, current one is self hosting, I would say a couple things. Firstly, if I had to do it again I might say get a good paying job that you’re interested in and explore your hobbies on your own. Not getting a PhD won’t make you miss out on anything but 7 years of work for some credentials. Most of the skills you can hypothetically gain on your own, depending on the field.
Secondly, there is such a thing as an independent research. If you understand how research works in a field and can research and write accordingly, you can certainly do that.
For wanting to contribute I would start a website for your projects. I would use this to contact people in said field for advice and ask what they think about your ideas. You could use them as a stepping stone for potential publications.
I would say at least 50% of academics especially the 30-50 year old one’s are more than willing to help, or at least meet with you, if they have time.