Good God, this is why I changed my OkCupid profile to omit the fact that I work at a tech startup.
A bit dishonest, to be sure, but I just want to have a chance to demonstrate in person that I'm not the kind of insensitive, entitled dickbag that makes comments like the ones in this thread.
Downvote away, guys, because hey, I'm engaging in some SHAMING here. Frankly, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I'm an engineer, and I had an extremely bad stimulant problem (amphetamine when I could get my hands on it, methamphetamine when I couldn't). It came pretty close to wrecking my life, but I got over it.
Don't take this the wrong way if you're reluctant to deal with the problem right now (before I got serious about quitting I hated it when people lectured me about this stuff), but here's what got me clean. It's really hard, but it's possible and I wish I had done it much earlier.
For me it took a stint in rehab (30 days), which I strongly recommend if your job will allow it. While it's certainly possible that owning up to your problem at work will cost you your job, HR folks usually have training and experience with employees with substance abuse problems, and if you're at all valued as an employee, they'll usually give you a chance to get your shit together. Most people have a sense that rehab is kind of shitty, but to be honest, I had a blast. Basically summer camp with group therapy.
Whether or not you're able to do rehab, you should absolutely check out Narcotics Anonymous. NA meetings are not all created equal, and some are really bad -- dealers showing up, no one really staying clean, that kind of thing. Shop around before you give up on it. I was pretty turned off by all the God talk, especially since I'm pretty sure that I couldn't actually get myself to believe in anything like that, but nobody shoves it down your throat, and in my own experience it works perfectly well whether you believe in God or not. It's mostly about social support.
Ninja edit: I don't have any personal experience with opiate withdrawal, but I've heard really good things from a lot of ex-junkies about Suboxone. It's not a magic bullet, but it's a fuck of a lot easier than being dope sick for a week.
A bit dishonest, to be sure, but I just want to have a chance to demonstrate in person that I'm not the kind of insensitive, entitled dickbag that makes comments like the ones in this thread.
Downvote away, guys, because hey, I'm engaging in some SHAMING here. Frankly, you should be ashamed of yourselves.