Graduated with a Math degree... feel like a moron.

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Ah, I think you misunderstood her. Some of us actually try to work instead of living off of the government, and most jobs require drug screenings.

Ah but...

Depends where you go, in my uni its the one dept who manages over 50% firsts (well over in fact). If you are good at maths, provided you don't go to the very top university, its normally a joke.

Here's a link to the recent article a couple of people referred to above:

http://www.careercast.com/jobs/content/ ... 10BestJobs

It is work to find a job, and it is work to expand a bit beyond your specific interest to produce something of value to the employer. Do the work and you may be able to find a nice situation where your skills are valued and you aren't burdened with a bunch of unbearable nonsense on top of it.

Congrats on your graduation.

Biologist is #4!? In the UK some of them are retaining to be gas fitters...

> In the UK

Well, isn't the article about the USA? The land of biotech.

I think the articles one-line description of biologist is way off the mark:

> Studies the relationship of plants and animals to their environment.

That is a biologist focussed on ecology. Most biology today is molecular biology -- genetics and biotech. I think I've seen James Watson refer to ecologists as "dinosaurs" or something like that. Currently, his side rules the field. (He's a jerk, but, hey, don't the jerks usually rule?)

Do you have any interest or background in programming? Having a math background seems to provide a benefit in the development of algorithms over the average coder (personal experience shows me cases where a regular CS major would write code that ran in fifteen minutes that a fellow math major coworker could get to run in under a second).

There is especially a small niche for scientific programmers, how do understand mathematical concepts and can put those into code. Such jobs are normally located in research departments of big companies and academic institutions.

They have also an other benefit, that you have good change to live quite comfortable for some years in an other country - institutions like the CERN, the EBI or the Sanger Institute are regularly looking for new qualified personal. You will find in this area some of the most interesting jobs.

Sorry to join the thread late, but I'm an aspie and an actuary.

The only time I've worn a suit on the job has been for job interviews and the occasional time I get trotted out as an "absent-minded professor" to opine for regulators or legislators.

Avoiding office politics is mostly an exercise in choosing the right employer, and/or accepting a bit of detachment by refusing to play.

The only downside to the profession is the actuarial exam process. Even that can be an advantage for someone with aspergers, as early progress in your career tends to be measured by how many exams you've passed, rather than just the intangibles which are relied upon in more mundane professions.

He said 'chill out for a while' aka long enough to AVOID the drug screening, and don't even look for a job currently.

OP, can't you work with urban geography?

you can try Kronos if you speak languages other than English.

In my experience the academic and research institutions in Europe do not make any drug screening - nor the majority of other employers. Such screening is reserved for security relevant jobs, like railway, air-transport, etc. which is quite sensible. Having a joint does not make a worst programmer, but I certainly would like to sit in train when the driver gets a black-flash.

I do have interest in this type of programming. And that is exactly the kind of strength I showed in the CS program. There were many times when my solution used much less code and was many times faster than the brute force "copy and paste" program the average CS student was coming up with.

My problem is one of forgetting all the CS jargon and the detailed syntax of many programing languages. Especially it seems with using the standard libraries that most software is developed with...

If I worked with a language in a full time capacity for a couple of years I am sure I would be able to overcome these difficulties and then some. But for the time being I can't say I know any language well enough to work with it in a job environment. But maybe I'm being to hyper-critical of my programing skills...

Just_some_guy_dave: Thanks for the info about the 'business' side of your actuarial job. That definitely puts the job in a more favorable light for me. How did you get started doing that kind of work? Did you past tests first or did you get the job then start passing tests. I'm sure the first couple of tests would be easy for me with a bit of preparation. I looked at a practice test... not too bad...

I am chilling out for a while , but with no drugs... not my thing. I am letting my hair grow out.

I got an interview at a video store next week... that shouldn't be too bad for a McJob.

I keep flipping between pursing a career in Stand Up comedy while holding down these crappy jobs... or just settling down and focusing on one of the aforementioned career paths.

Thanks for all the responses, everyone.

Pugly,
I think you should consider teaching at a private school for students along the spectrum.

Yah! Got a job.

I only kind of know what it entails, analyzing data and running some programs on it. I start monday.

I'll combine this with working at the tutoring center to get the double dose of money... until I get burned out or don't need as much money anymore...

I have to give out thanks to my sister for helping me find this job. She works there too, and put the word in for me and explained my degree and they were interested.

Finding a job is stupidly easy when you know people... It makes me angry... but I can't be too angry now that I've found work...

congratulations on getting a job pugly

i am going for a bachelors in mathematics too and wondering what sort of openings will be available to me