Bad and good jobs for people with aspergers.

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Observation: I worked as a postal carrier, and got along with everyone. Earplugs are considered totally acceptable to deal with office noise so you can concentrate while sorting, and they limit the amount of time you can talk to your co-workers or customers...enough to where you can't say the wrong thing. You also spend no more than 2 hours inside a day.
Now, I work as a clerk. What a nightmare! Inside all the time, have to talk to the same people everyday. There are other Aspie clerks too, and we give each other a nod and go back to work. The NT clerks are tough to be around.

Bad: Server: stress out taking food back people talking bad to you, stressed when hit with rush

Truck driver: never home, stress when you want to do it one way but dispatcher tells you otherwise, alway eat fast food, hear truck when you try to sleep, no routine schedule

Fast food: Always busy when hardly any break, stress out

Good: Screenprinter: by yourself, not hard to do, always rewarded with extra pay

Laborer: not talked to a lot, take your time.

Desk clerk: Relax most of the time, Same process over and over again.

believe me, i did all of these jobs.

A good job for an Aspie is something they really like - working in a field they love or, at least, are obsessed with.

A bad job for an Aspie is one where they don't care a bit about the work, can find nothing of personal value in it, where it's physically uncomfortable (loud, crowded, bright lights, whatever is your thing), and where you dread going there every day.


I've done all sorts of jobs in my life. I was a mainframe computer operator alone in a high-rise office tower on graveyard shift. I loved it. I was also the academic advisor for college students in a theatre program for a few years. I loved that, too (and the kids voted to give me an award for being the best)....


My dream job right now would be as a nature observer - live in a small old house somewhere on the coast where I would take various scientific measurements from time to time and log and report them. Maybe caring for orphaned or injured wildlife as well. Preferably well distant from the nearest neighbor.

good job
Think Tank?

@MartyMoose: You and me both. XD

Anything that requires a bit of social interaction and answering telephones - my job

A good job, on the other hand, would be working in a warehouse.

*Shutters* I would die in that type of job!

Good Job: (depending on interests)
Scientist
Editor
Book Store (Maybe not the cash, but organization or helping others find books that interesting)
Artist (we Aspies have an unique sense of creativity, so that could sell)
Graphic designer
Librarian

grocery store is the worse job you can do. i worked in the grocery industry for nearly 4 years and it was complete hell.

i also did self employment (internet commerce) great job p=.

Packing at costco = hell

Not only are you basically forced to interact with hundreds upon hundreds of visiting clients,
theres also the fact that any attempt at being alone and quietly doing something is severely frowned upon, and mostly punished.

Dammit.

Self Employment? Dang.. XD Alot of people, much less aspies are able to do that. What was it like?

Bad examples (some already stated):

Sales staff:

I worked in a shoe shop for 3 months before being fired at the end of a trial period. They said I was 'underperforming'. I say I was very bored. Shuffling round, refilling shelves and dealing with severely unobservant customers is not a thinking man's job. Especially when there's greener grass around. The stockroom. My place of respite!

In my second sales role, again 3 months, it was a frozen food store. More customers who could really use some tweaking. One of them asked me if a cake we sold was nice. First of all, I put it in the display freezers. I don't sample the stock. Secondly, define 'nice'. Again, I loved the huge walk-in freezer.

Third on sales, again 3 months. Office stationery. Same story.

Fast food chain:

I walked out after a month. Though I didn't have direct customer contact, they still got to me. Huge demand for my chicken royale-making expertise made me completely exhausted within an hour. On the cleaning side, I always made the place spotless, and placed caution signs where I had mopped. After just an hour or so, there would be food everywhere, someone would have almost slipped after kicking the sign away, and that's not mentioning the state of the toilets. I left when the manager called me in on my day off (the day after my birthday), when all I wanted was to sleep off a long night of heavy partying. I did about 30 minutes work before throwing my work hat at the manager.

Cinema staff:

I've put it in the bad column, because its similar work to all above, but somehow I actually liked it a bit. Maybe it was the free tickets and limited customer contact (on certain shifts. I hated the tillwork shifts, but enjoyed the cleaning, and making popcorn).

A good job (for me):

Dispatch Rider:
Studying for it was hard work, walking anywhere up to 40 miles a day to learn the roads of this huge metropolis called London. Once the best bike routes through the city were ingrained, along with the city map, in my mind, it was off to apply for work. Most companies will take anyone, no interview.
Pros:
Riding solo. No constant customer presence. Only at collection and delivery. 'Sign here please' could well be your entire English vocabulary. Mostly, it's just you and your radio.
Plenty of raw data to work with. Postcodes, addresses, names, signatures, times. Bliss for statisticians.
Work slows down in summer. It may as well be a paid holiday for those with a guaranteed wage. Sunbathing for money.

Cons:
No security at all. Without a guaranteed wage, little work means little pay. With one, it's still very low paid work. You injure yourself, you get no sick pay.
Dangerous. Riding a pushbike on busy streets drastically increases your chances of dying, especially in bad weather.
Real tough work. Eight hours of hard pedalling takes some getting used to. Fitness is essential.

That sums up the year's worth of work I've had over the past 9 years. I lost my courier job when I put my left elbow permanently askew by breaking it falling off my bike halfway across a metal bridge during a gale/downpour combo.

Having such short jobs, so few and far between, makes me undesirable to prospective employers, so I'm pretty much a lost cause now (at only 25).

((((hugs))))

~Loving Light~

Of the jobs I have done....

-beer store clerk
-bad. lots of people. I got fired.

-pizza joint cook/cashier
-lots of people, but wasn't too bad. there were people problems though.

-dishwasher
-it went really well because I had noone to piss except the cook 90% of the time.

-pita deli maker/delivery driver
-went very bad. I'm surprised they didn't fire me, but I crashed my car first.

-video game store
-lots of people, it went really well. I got laid off after 2 weeks though.

of the jobs I have considered

lawyer
-probably bad. Lots of people skills needed.

businessman
-guaranteed bad. Nothing but people skills.

bureaucrat
probably ok. at least some people skills would be involved.

driving truck
good, not too much people skills needed

rig technician
probably wouldn't be too bad, but you need to get along with coworkers well.

I think I already said this: Depends in area of law. A lawyer in civil contract law, administrative/constitutional law (or the area called on the continent "public law") or international law does need to have any people skills.

I am an Esthetician (Facial Specialist). It has worked well for me. I only have one client at a time, each service is a methodical procedure. I have my own treatment room, so no one touches my stuff and it is always in the order I left it. Most of the time it is very quiet. I can chose my music, usually classical. It bothers me when a client is late and I have to leave or shorten steps in the service. I am a perfectionist, so I often take longer to do things like waxing, but those clients are loyal because I make sure all the hair is gone.

I have also worked as a community educator for a Domestic Violence Shelter. It worked well because I memorized my presentation and all questions were related to this subject in which I am very interested.

The job I hated was working in a legislative office dealing with State Senators and Representatives. The small talk and kiss ass conversation was pointless and exhausting to me, I just didn't understand it and it made no sense to me. You don't get far in that world with limited social skills. Plus the needless spending to keep these people happy at the expense of the state was frustrating to watch.

I've worked at the same job for almost 12 years, as a clerk in a government office. It's not so bad, I'm know the policies and rules that govern my office, and through years and years of doing the same thing have gotten a good routine down. The drawback is dealing with catty, bored and clique-y coworkers.

In the past I've taught daycare, which was a lot of fun. A lot of work, too, but the kids are so refreshing and honest in their communications and so eager to learn that it didn't really seem like work (I left because it didn't pay very well).

My favorite job of all time has been a volunteer job where I get to work outdoors in a small composting facility for a non-profit agency. I like the outdoors (any weather is good if you dress right for it) there's no unnatural lighting, people tend to leave me alone (it's a bit smelly and yucky) and I enjoy the simplicity of the task. Plus I get to marvel at the wonders of mother nature at work, and the monotonous manual labour puts me into a really serene state. An added benefit of the physical work is that it helps me to sleep better at night. If I could get paid to do this I'd quit my regular job in a heartbeat!