Expert vs Self Employment

Post Reply New Topic

Finally watched the movie 'Adam', and it got me to thinking. He was an absolute genius at his first job, but got fired anyway. It seems though that his last job was secure, however, even then he really has no control over his coming or going. I knew an NT who worked in a planetarium attached to a tourist resort, and as good as he was, lost his job when the resort closed.

Self employment means never being fired. Though if the ship sinks, then the captain goes down with it. And any of the stresses, for example the requisite socializing involved in advertising and gaining business, are on the owners head if the business is too small to employ someone to do that stuff.

But back to my main question. What would give an aging aspie the best job security? Would it be to own your own business, which may fail or succeed depending on your business skills and local/world economy, etc.; or being such an expert in something that you hope others will always want to employ you?

It can go either way. I've seen people work at one place all their lives and lose their retirement benefits because the place where they worked went under.

I prefer to be self-employed with no employees myself. That way I'm in control and only responsible for myself.

I'm blessed in some ways because I will always have money coming in every month to live on and I will always have medical insurance. So being self-employed is something that is easier to do than it would be for someone who has no other income coming in to live on and no medical insurance.

I've worked for other people, companies and corporations, I don't care for the limits people just above you, often put on you because they want to keep you right where you are, under them. It's too constricting for me.

You can always learn how to invest your money whether you are an employee or self-employeed.

I prefer being self employed or doing freelance work. Most employers don't understand AS, if they've even heard of it at all, and aren't very good at providing accomodations. It's a huge relief not to worry about having to work in difficult conditions, such as being in a bright or loud environment. I also work better when I'm alone and don't have to waste time dealing with stuff like workplace politics or social banter. Working online is pretty good for someone with poor social skills because you usually don't have to interact with people except through email.

The downside is that it's very hard to scrape by with a new business and you may have to live very sparingly. When I had an online store last year, I made ends meet by working up to 10 hours a day sometimes just to pay rent and basic living expenses. Other downsides were not having health insurance and dealing with the IRS. The tax forms are more difficult to fill out than standard ones when your employed by someone else, and self employed people tend to get audited more often which can be really stressful.

My little business mostly fell apart after months of sales gradually getting worse. I'm going to try and start it up again soon and do things a little differently this time. Overall, all the downsides and stress were worth the freedom of doing something I loved from home.

Excellent views. Thanks. I guess in the end self employment gives us the options of control of environment, the choice to work in dream jobs or jobs that don't totally suck, and a job for as long as we can keep it going with the option to pick up and try again faster than talking another employer to take us on after the last venture failed.

Has a lot to recommend it.

I currently try to get my own company off the ground whilst working part-time in the field of my education, in a job that's way below my level of education but is still rather fun to do. i notice that like this i do have a steady income but working parrtime allows me to extend my horizon and do the things i love and do well. i am insecure about the parttime job however because its a very social job and it takes all of my efforts to try and blend in, do damage control and cleaning up collateral damage, but on the other hand it makes it abit exciting aswell. for me, its the best of both worlds.

I'd go with the freelance or self-employed thing, myself.

Having said that, I've arrived at that conclusion because of an enormous amount of prejudice experienced here in Finland from prospective employers.

The 'who you know, not what you know' thing doesn't help though. That isn't specifically an autism issue, since it happens to foreigners here anyway.

Starting to get that way in Australia too. Lawn Mowing and Cleaning are 'assets maintenance' certificates. It will get to a point where a person will only be able to work in industries they have certification for, including lawn mowing, cleaning, and factory work.