Coding with short-term memory

The purpose of this topic isn't to ask for support or indulge in a bout of imposter syndrome but try and get some sort of discussion going about coding if you are neuro-diverse.

By neuro-diverse, (I'm not sure how widely used this term is) I mean on the autistic spectrum or have Dyspraxia, dyslexia or some other form of specific learning disability.

I've spoken about my dyspraxia before in this forum. I'm pretty sure I have dyslexia as well and I'm that kind of thinker. That means I have issues of flip-flopping between areas of focus, organising my working memory.

I have worked with a lot of technologies in the last 10 years.

I've developed proficiency in

• HTML5
• CSS
• WordPress Development

I have exposed myself to various other languages and technologies in that time.

• Java
• Ruby
• Python
• JavaScript (of course)
• React.js
• Git
• SQL
• Node.js
• Express.js
• Vue.js
• Laravel for PHP
• Sonic Pi (for Ruby)
• Android (for Java)

There are others I am sure.

And I have "forgotten" pretty much everything I need to know about the above to make me proficient in them all. I'm not trying to downplay myself or do myself an injustice.

But what do I mean by proficient? Do I mean to know what I'm going to code when I see a blank slate in my code editor? Do I mean knowing what to google or which set of documentation to use? Do I mean how exactly to read the documentation?

Or do I mean "How to focus my mind so I remember the concepts for the particular technology I'm supposed to be focussed on now?

Today I had a blast getting back into some WordPress development so I can build my own blog. And it was fun. I knew what I needed to do, but I couldn't remember, despite all the years I've been working with WordPress exactly the syntax for WordPress Loops. Enqueing styles, the tags for getting content and post titles etc. So I literally googled and coded, googled, and coded until I was done coding the particular functionality I wanted for my blog.

And in doing this I'm not focussed on the other technologies, because I can't be. And I'm losing the muscle memory I previously spent up doing Laravel or my project in Express.js. And when I'm done with WordPress, I'll lose that too. It'll be like I'm a beginner to WordPress all over again.

I guess my point of discussion is, is this any way to be a developer in this business? Would your employer be comfortable with a coder who works specifically in that way? If you work for yourself, do you manage to work this way? Is all of this unique to me or do others feel like this too?

I'm aware that looking things up and using documentation isn't cheating. But is there a company or a developer who doesn't work this way?

As I say, this isn't an imposter syndrome thing. I've learned a long time ago that this is me and the way I have to learn. I'd just be very interested to see other people's thoughts on this.