Microsoft announces pilot program to hire people with autism

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http://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2015/04/03/microsoft-announces-pilot-program-to-hire-people-with-autism/

Thanks for posting this.

I should hit them up tomorrow.

Sounds interesting. I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Microsoft or their business practices or products, but this is certainly an interesting opportunity. Maybe some good old autistic ingenuity is what they need to become a good company again.

^ Yeah but I'm just not sure they'll actually accept what we (read: anybody) have to say. I just left a 3 month contracting job there and obviously wasn't treated as an equal or even necessarily someone worth listening to. We're discussing workplace expectations well within the tolerances of Elon Musk. Granted, this wasn't Redmond; M$ is a CONGLOMERATE and will earn my respect regarding this when they expand these policies beyond their mothership.

I sent them an email at the address in the article with my resume attached.

Hopefully I'll hear something back...

I also followed up with my application at HP for their graduate program...

I'm running out of places to apply to...

I've never been to college in my life and I get 5 email offers a month from Google, sometimes a few from Intel and the list goes on. When my resume falls short , I study for weeks before I reformat it. Why not just stay in academia? That's the direction I'm thinking about going.

Funny on the other hand, with all my double bachelors in Marketing and Management Information Systems, and Masters in IT Management, I cannot land an entry job and most internships.

From what I've been told from interviews and such:

I'm not educated enough both degree and certification wise (most certifications in IT require you to be working).
I don't have enough "industry experience" for entry level jobs and most internships too (I have three internships, tons of IT projects and clubs under my belt)
I don't have enough experience with the company's proprietary software (Well duh... I've never used it)
I don't have enough experience with high end business software (well duh... I can't get it at this stage in my life due to costs and other restrictions)
I don't have enterprise software experience (well most employees aren't given this chance until 6th year or higher of employment at the company due to the sensitive importance of the software)...
I don't know the right software (It's not possible to learn all the software)
Yeah I actually was interviewed for a job that required ~3+ years of enterprise software experience and wanted you to be recent college graduate who had been out of school for no more than 2 years. (this isn't feasibly possible)
I don't have enough networking and college club experiences (General Motors IT brought this up at my interview for an entry level job)
I'm just shy of perfect enough and they were going to hold out for the perfect employee... (Yeah I was told this at a job, where they really liked my resume and me, and they hit me up for the job)
I'm too rigid and formal during the interview (Yeah I've been told this)
I'm not rigid and formal enough (Yeah I was told this too)
I'm not young enough (I graduated from Masters at 29 last summer, still 29 for a few months)
I'm too smart (Yeah, this has been causing me trouble...)
I'm too __________ (fill in the blank with many words they have used to describe me).

My resume is great from what numerous interviewers and recruiters have told me, but according to the upper level and final interviewers, I need to keep it to one page but make it more detailed.... I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE ROOM ON MY RESUME FOR MORE DETAIL!! !

I was a founding member of my university's TedX club, I had place on the executive board.
I am a member of Association for Information Systems (degree club)
I am being initiated into Beta Gamma Sigma (the international business honor society) tomorrow for being in the top of my master's class.

I am really considering starting my own mobile app development company.

/venting over trying to land a job

My dad has lost many job offers when they found out he lacked an engineering degree, despite having a very detailed resume and career as an engineer.
General Motors was the most recent one to rescind a job offer they sent him over his lack of a degree.

If you want to become a professor, you will need at least a Masters in the given field.
Many schools require Ph.Ds in order to become a professor.

...

At least I have time to clear my backlog of video games... RIGHT?

Illegal age discrimination, grounds for a lawsuit.

A lot of the other reasons are anti autistic discrimination but hidden under you don't fit the company culture excuses.

It must be different where you live, my rejections in the last 15 years have been
1. Never hearing from them again
2. Your resume is in our file

Prior to that my resume was often praised during unsuccessful interviews. It was only recently after getting diagnosed and thus finding out I take things more literally then most and often do not understand the hidden meanings that I figured out that that was thier indirect way of saying I was the problem

Hopefully Microsoft's pilot program will create a Autistic friendly hiring process and company culture.

I've gotten plenty of employers never responding back and the resume is on file reasons too.

The list is what those have told me in person (some employers will give you "advice/explanation")

I've had career professionals, professors who work(ed) in the IT field, and others tell me how much they love my resume.
So I know it isn't my resume...

Though it's not unusual to be getting looked down upon for being 29 and fresh out of college, due to American cultural standards being stuck in the past.

American cultural standard and expectations, have traditionally seen people be done with education by 21 and married by 23, and owning a house with a full blown career by 25, with a kid by 27.
This was true through the mid 1990s, before the massive economic and educational shift took place.

Most of my aunts and uncles pulled it off, my dad had most of it by 25 except for the house (though he was divorced by the time he turned 26).

My mother took longer to get her life started because she was an education major to get her teaching job.
Though she had her second husband and kid (my younger sister) by the time she was 25.
She got her job around 27, and we got a house when she was 29.

Granted my mother doesn't even have a house and a career anymore, let alone being married (she has a common law marriage now for her 3rd marriage ).

The reason why it took me literally 10 years to go through college to Masters was due to all the requirements, having trouble to pass a key math class, suffering a massive meltdown in the middle of my undergrad, followed by the economic meltdown in 2008 and the lingering effects.

I literally couldn't get an internship after my last one in summer of 2011, because of all the stupid work experience requirements and certifications.

I mean the Dean of my business school (not to be confused with university president), had to drop the internship program because the businesses didn't want college students (they wanted people with many years of experience).
This is still the case for the most part.

I still see most internships here in Metro Detroit and Michigan requiring a minimum of 2+ years of experience and other requirements (including unpaid internships).

Because my three internships were summer internships, they don't add up to 2+ years of industry experience (yes I was told this during a phone interview).


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Microsoft's corporate culture is very strict and professional, this is what Bill Gates wanted.
Though it is supposedly changing to match the other tech companies.

they have already hired hundreds of us
i guess they like the optics of formalizing it

Anyone hear back yet?

Sound's Great! I would really need a job.

Article explores how the program is doing

Any special reasons for so much attetion to your resume?

For me this sounds as 100% pure marketing. They didn't even write what apps or services they have created so far.

PS is anyone interested for them to do a IAmA?