Do Aspies need more education?

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I think that some Aspies could benefit from having more experience, as some higher up jobs have less social interactions, which would give a bit of a boost to an Aspie. But it really depends on who the person is and what they want to do. There are jobs without much social interactions in other fields other then University - some construction jobs for example.

Care to explain me what he consider coding then ? A bit curious, since in my formation (at least before I get sick) no one ever used equivalent term of coding that not computer programming related (but my course were in french also so maybe it just me missing something obvious but that I cannot see since of language barrier)

Sorry... I'm confusing you.

He did electrical engineering for no particular reason other than the fact that he suddenly lost all interest in becoming a stockbroker after the 1987 crash. Most of our group of aspie/nerd friends were doing engineering. (2 did civil, 2 did electrical) - only two finished the degrees and then out of those, only one is still working in "engineering" (and even then, he's actually a software developer - so it doesn't really count).

When my friend finished his electrical engineering degree, he, like most of the people who did the course, discovered that there aren't many jobs for electrical engineers - and most of them aren't exciting either. He started coding for a poker machine (slot machine) manufacturer - initially in assembler and later in C.

Ok I see about what kind of coding you speak of now, but rarely used in our day I would guess for just easier to do algorithm with a computer.


Actually plenty of job in electrical engineering in our day but maybe their specilisation is not what require for today job. Since most job are computer hardware, robotic and industrial machinery related now (at least around where I live). Me, I was going toward computer hardware.

I think that for most AS folks they don't need more education, they need more experience. It doesn't matter if you have 10 or 20 PhDs in your special interest, if you walk down the street and can't relate your special interest to anything else in the world, it's not going to do you much practical good. Everything in real life interacts with something else in some way, and you won't understand the true significance of your interest until you can see how your interest affects related things and even possibly unrelated things. As Aspies our problem is not that we don't know our stuff, the problem is that we lack the breadth of knowledge because we're so focused on a very narrow topic. More education in our special interest is not going to make up for this lack of breadth.

That's not to say that higher education (undergrad, graduate school) is useless, but it should be done in concert with more experience. For me, I did a lot of weird odd-end jobs while I was in high school (largely because my parents made me do them), went to undergrad straight after high school but then took 4 years off to work and do something else. It helped me to figure out what I wanted to do next. Only once I realized some limitations I felt I ran into while working did I decide to go to graduate school, as I believed that graduate school was a ticket to overcoming those limitations. Now that I'm almost done with graduate school, I now see limitations in what I've been doing, namely research, and am now looking at other things I can do. So I guess my point is that formal education should be seen in a similar light as getting work/life experience, using them as tools to get a better, more three-dimensional understanding of the world. You can't replace formal education with work/life experience, and vice versa.

Maybe I won't be as "successful" in a particular field as somebody else who almost instinctively knows his field and specializes in it from day one, since I seem to bounce around from interest to interest, but it's the only way I could have ever had any breadth of understanding of what's around me, and I tend to think that it's the same way for many Aspies. It's the only way an Aspie will be able to overcome this particular fundamental weakness in the AS way of life. Personally, I have found it a lot more satisfying being more well-rounded than being hyperspecialized, as I find that I'm a lot more capable of handling a diverse set of problems life can throw my way. We should pursue our special interests, but understand that special interests frequently come and go. We shouldn't feel like we need to stick to a particular career path for life, nor do I consider it particularly healthy or well balanced for an Aspie to do so.

I have become a "career student" simply because I love it. I triple-majored as an undergrad (sociology and psychology to help me understand people more, and visual communication which is my area of interest for a career). Now I'm getting an MA so that I can get into a top notch MFA program which gives me 4-5 more years of school to add to the 5 I've already had. They keep giving me scholarships and assistantships. Maybe I can be a professor once I have my MFA, if nothing else.

I started studying computing in university or high school (not sure what it would be best compared to in your system, as I'm from the Netherlands, I THINK something in between high school and university) in September 2008, after leaving "middle school" (again, not sure, but oh well), but couldn't cope with what was asked off me. In my previous school I got by because the stuff we had to learn was really simple (I was doing the "middle level" instead of the "high level" which I would've been able to do, but wouldn't need for my second school anyway), which allowed me to cut classes a hell of a lot (which was illegal, I've had lots of problems with my parents and stuff, but this was the only way for me to get through it).

In university/high school though, everything was a lot harder, and even though I managed getting pretty decent grades and all, being around there all the time with all those people, the deadlines, the amount of work and the amount of different projects overlapping each other, but ESPECIALLY being forced to be around people all the time, in this huge building where you have no privacy or rest, caused me to have a break down. I quit school and went to a shrink. The whole AS thing became clear there.

Now I'm doing a 6-months-course in webdesign at home, on my own, and this, I really enjoy doing. I've been really worried though, as I think this isn't preparing me for "the real thing". However, my dad said, when talking to him about this, that I'd never feel ready for "the real thing": going out and getting a real job. Which is right. No matter how much I'd learn, no matter if I'd finish a university/high school, no matter how many degrees I'd earn, I'd never feel ready to get a real job.

My dad himself has quite some AS traits, but never got diagnosed or anything. He doesn't have any degrees. He does have a "middle school" diploma (but lost it, lol). He started high school, wanted to become a teacher, but quit after two years because he always got into arguments with the teachers over there. He hated the system. Then, he just started working and worked his way up. He's done evening school for his job when he was about 30, which he hated, but it was the only right way for him, as he says. He's now 47 and the boss of 150+ people, he generally likes his job and seems happy.

I've decided I'll learn whatever I need to get in the website building world, and IDEALLY, start for my own. Building websites for small companies and such. Maybe bigger ones later on. I happen to have my first deal already: I was talking to my hairdresser about what course I'm taking and she said she needs a website. So I'll be building a website for the hairdresser soon enough.

So yeah, big story, but in short, you don't NEED high school or university to get the job you want.
For most people, high school or university simply is the way to go, but we are SPECIAL, aren't we?