Five fields an Aspie should NEVER work in
This is what we are saying. The jobs that we have been calling aspie friendly are those which have the characteristics that you have mentioned.
That is my job. Cut trees away from powerlines....don't get hurt, don't knock the power out. Trees grow back, do it again. Get a paycheck every Friday.
I love reading posts here. So many of them look like someone's been studying me and jotting down observations, lol.
I've always told people that my ideal job is the kind of job that would drive an average person nuts from monotony or just prolonged focus requirement, haha, now I understand why.
I could never work in most of those positions. MY biggest 'NO' job, though? Sales. I will never in my life hold another sales job if I can help it.
I actually LOVE short one-on-one positive human interactions. Adore them. I feel like I would really like customer service, because I REALLY like the idea of scripted, framed, purposeful conversation where I know exactly what we're supposed to be talking about, and where I know that I have the power to fix someone's issue and make them happy with me. (I know I respond well if a customer service person is polite and helpful, even though I called angry.)
Sales, though, I've found, requires lying and hurting people. I CAN'T do that! I am not sly enough to lie to someone's face to sell them a product, knowing that I am ripping them off!! NO WAY.
I even got a job selling dog food (dogs are my obsessive topic thing) and couldn't do it. I had a job that REQUIRED ME to bother strangers about dogs, and I couldn't do it!! (Normally this is my dream, lol)
My favorite jobs:
Pizza delivery, ironically- QUICK, scripted, very routine: Take ticket, check foods A, B, C, D. Bag, check out in the system, set the gps, go. Deliver, return, repeat. Lots of alone time, driving. It's stressful, but all work is stressful, so that's a tradeoff. You do have to talk to a lot of customers, but it's ALWAYS happy! No one is angry to see the pizza delivery person!
Small computer repair shop- Very few coworkers, no face to face with customers, very fine detail oriented, lots of self-motivated work, lots of room to immerse yourself in a job and zone out on it.
Going to college for programming, though. Loooooving it!
It boosts my ego SO MUCH to be SO GOOD at something! AND I won't have to talk to people very much! AND programmers are basically expected to be socially awkward, lol.
If "hospitality" encompasses all restaurant work, I'd heartily disagree with that. Aspies make spectacular bakers, sauciers and prep work.
Precision and repetition, noticing fine details such as an exact shade of brown or the subtleties of the balance of flavors in a spice mixture.
Idk about you, but I have attention surplus disorder ... can do one task over and over and over, even if it's in a series of up to 30 steps in the process.
_________________
No dx yet ... AS=171/200,NT=13/200 ... EQ=9/SQ=128 ... AQ=39 ... MB=IntJ
ASPIE UNFRIENDLY
CASHIER/WAITER: Requires good short term memory, executive function and motor skills (in the case of a waiter).
SURGEON: This would require fine motor skills, instead an aspie should become physician, general or specialized.
EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES: I left a PhD program about three years ago because I was told, and rightly so, that I was theoretical minded. We care about each and every detail which an experimentalist must ignore to take the initiative, we would then spend time reading about such detail and thus will not be able to give time to experiments. Also we would also be clumsy due to lack of motor skills. Other factor is lack of the ability to do multitasking and planning so that there is no down time as it requires common sense which we do not have.
ASPIE FRIENDLY:
TEACHER: I believe most aspies should become teacher barring those who are average I.Q. because while NTs with average I.Q. can and do become teachers and even become "researchers" because of their faking ability, we aspies have to be of at least slightly above intelligence to have such jobs. And I guess this rule applies even in other fields, it is often seen that an aspie because of lack of social skills doing a job whose requirement is far below his/her qualification. Highly intelligent aspies can, and they do, become theoretical scientists/researcher.
A very good reason to become a teacher is that in free time you can go to the library and do not need to socialize and also you need not figure out complex social relationship among people like you will have to in other jobs to keep the job. The point is that being an outcast would be much easily ignored in a school, college and university. Therefore I believe that aspies should receive an affirmative action for teaching jobs.
LIBRARIAN: This is also aspie friendly as it requires arranging books according to a rule, issuing them to readers according to rule. So it does not require people skills.
Love this idea about aspies being good teachers- really not the best job: constant change, dealing with angry parents, things being dropped on you last minute, communicating with your boss, sorting out 30 NT children all with very different demands, noisy and bright classroom, can't use all that intelligence as children can't understand things, having to constantly put up an act.
On the other hand, working with 7 year olds, for me, is better than working with adults, as the emotional intelligence is about the same, they take things literally too so understand when I do, I get to do creative and fun things and it means that within the 4 walls of the classroom I am completely in control of who does what when!
It also means very much that there is routine where everything is at the same time every day to the bells! And stability as it's a permanent job.
_________________
Depression, GAD, Social Anxiety and unidentified mental health issues too
And now OFFICIALLY DIAGNOSED!
On the other hand, working with 7 year olds, for me, is better than working with adults, as the emotional intelligence is about the same, they take things literally too so understand when I do, I get to do creative and fun things and it means that within the 4 walls of the classroom I am completely in control of who does what when!
It also means very much that there is routine where everything is at the same time every day to the bells! And stability as it's a permanent job.
Please tell why is this not the best job? And what others do you consider the best?
I do not think there is constant change.
Why do you need to sort out children aren't they already sorted out?
Once you start teaching it is not noisy or you can put strict rules on talking
I do not think that many have problems with brightness. Perhaps an anti-glare specks can help even if its number is zero.
Initially I though that working with kids will be difficult for an aspie as they are noisy and uncontrollable but learning your experience it seems that aspies perhaps can also be primary school teachers.
See the point is that aspies will have some or the other difficulties we have to choose those jobs where the difficulty is minimum, I would contend that teaching is perhaps the best jobs for aspies.
So I have worked sales(I suck at it.).
I agree I end up being a computer tech 99% of my working life.
I can accomplish almost anything with computers, I understand them, I can research them, I dunno.
I think my ideal job would be something based with research, I can spend months or even years on end researching one thing and I will beat it with a stick until I find all of the information I can about it.
Always thought it was weird that I would do that... Guess in reality its normal(for me anyway.).
awesome thread.
On the other hand, working with 7 year olds, for me, is better than working with adults, as the emotional intelligence is about the same, they take things literally too so understand when I do, I get to do creative and fun things and it means that within the 4 walls of the classroom I am completely in control of who does what when!
It also means very much that there is routine where everything is at the same time every day to the bells! And stability as it's a permanent job.
Please tell why is this not the best job? And what others do you consider the best?
I do not think there is constant change.
Why do you need to sort out children aren't they already sorted out?
Once you start teaching it is not noisy or you can put strict rules on talking
I do not think that many have problems with brightness. Perhaps an anti-glare specks can help even if its number is zero.
Initially I though that working with kids will be difficult for an aspie as they are noisy and uncontrollable but learning your experience it seems that aspies perhaps can also be primary school teachers.
See the point is that aspies will have some or the other difficulties we have to choose those jobs where the difficulty is minimum, I would contend that teaching is perhaps the best jobs for aspies.
I wouldn't know wht job would be good for an aspie: I've only ever been a teacher, so I can't comment about anything else. And I think that unless you've actually been a teacher, you'd have no idea how hard a job it can be. Example: when children have fallen out and are upset, what do you say? When you have always got something new to do that has to be done now and is never good enough; when the children you work with are from one of the most deprived areas of Britain and their parents just don't know how to bring them up properly; my latest is that I have to start teaching about social and emotional learning: laughable when I don't even understand half the things I have to teach anyway.
Probably a job SOME aspies would be good at, just like SOME NTs, but in general, really not the best job.
_________________
Depression, GAD, Social Anxiety and unidentified mental health issues too
And now OFFICIALLY DIAGNOSED!
Probably a job SOME aspies would be good at, just like SOME NTs, but in general, really not the best job.
Yes, I confess I have not been a teacher but I have done MSc.so can speak a bit about it.
Which grade do you teach. I think high school [age 15-17] and primary [age 5-9] would be much better for aspie and it is the secondary which is problematic [age 10-14]. What do you think?
Hey guys, don't worry about not being able to be a waiter/waitress, despite it being the quintessential rite-of-passage job for many youth...I remember an episode of Dr. Phil, where he openly admitted that back in his younger days, he was the worst waiter ever and didn't make it through his first month. So people who are very insightful, intelligent, and yes granted Dr. Phil is better with people than most of us but the point is, such people are not diminished by sucking at serving.
I was a spectacular server, but I didn't enjoy it in the long run...kept carrying the stress home with me.
But I made great % tips. Usually around 30%. Why? Because I wasn't sleepwalking, like most servers are. I might not be good with facial expressions, but I'm usually good with tone of voice. So when I ask an honest "how you guys doing today?" (expecting an honest answer), their tone of voice told me how much interaction they wanted to have with me.
Also, I never lied about the menu, as in "Oh, the shrimp? It's great." I would be honest and say "Well, they boil the shrimp in cream and usually it comes out a little overcooked and rubbery. If you like seafood, get the fish and chips. They make the beer batter fresh and it comes out tender and flaky, but not dried up and falling apart."
People actually appreciate honesty in a server. Perhaps because there is a lot of trust involved between customer and servant in the job. And also perhaps because lying and apathy are the expected norm.
_________________
No dx yet ... AS=171/200,NT=13/200 ... EQ=9/SQ=128 ... AQ=39 ... MB=IntJ
I'll respectfully disagree. As I stated in the thread about going into law enforcement, I've been a police officer for 20 years. Most of my time has been spent on patrol, but I also did a six-year stint in dignitary protection. What I've observed of other officers over the course of my career is that the so-called stress that cops feel is often a product of the fact that they get sucked into the drama themselves and/or over-react due to fear. I have never had any such issues. The drama of any given situation tends to wash right over me and fear isn't really an issue for me. Being out of sync with the normal emotional cycle is actually a huge advantage and I've found that I'm able to make clear decisions without any feeling of attachment to a given situation.
I don't really get the whole brotherhood thing, to be quite honest, and generally don't socialize off-duty (actually never). Going out for a drink with the guys after work would be far more stressful for me than anything I face on-duty. I am frequently told that I don't come across as being typical of what people think when they think of police officers. One of my wife's friends recently told me that I seemed more like an engineer than a cop. I am fit and have decent motor skills, which I realize is an obstacle for many on the spectrum. I am also fortunate that my sensory issues tend to fall into the tactile category; if you have issues with loud sounds or flashing lights, this could obviously be a problem.
Overall, however, it's been great profession for me and Tony Attwood even writes that jobs in the legal profession are often good fits for Aspies. This has been my experience in life.
Last edited by Catamount on 06 Oct 2011, 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Notwithstanding our stereotyped affection for patterns, I think that this is subject that defies patterns. For every job that a "typical" Aspie should avoid, there will be an Aspie who excels at it. For every job in which a "typical" Aspie would thrive, there will be dozens who would hate it.
For my part, self-employment was a disaster (indeed, it was the disaster that led to diagnosis). But I am sure there are others for whom self-employment is the only environment in which they can function well.
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--James
For my part, self-employment was a disaster (indeed, it was the disaster that led to diagnosis). But I am sure there are others for whom self-employment is the only environment in which they can function well.
I disagree . It depends upon which profession your are seeking self-employment in.
Crap.
I'm an emergency doctor and an Autie. And I know several other emergency docs who are AS. The most important thing in this job is to be good at diagnosing and treating people. A lot will be forgiven on a social level if you work hard and do your absolute best.
It's possible to enjoy the variety of a job without being stressed by it. I worry about people on the spectrum being told there are jobs they should 'never' consider. My advice is to go for something that will hold your interest, because the most stressful thing is to do a boring job that you hate. And set up your non-work life in a way that counters your job - quiet downtime spent doing the things that help you recharge.
Crap.
I'm an emergency doctor and an Autie. And I know several other emergency docs who are AS. The most important thing in this job is to be good at diagnosing and treating people. A lot will be forgiven on a social level if you work hard and do your absolute best.
It's possible to enjoy the variety of a job without being stressed by it. I worry about people on the spectrum being told there are jobs they should 'never' consider. My advice is to go for something that will hold your interest, because the most stressful thing is to do a boring job that you hate. And set up your non-work life in a way that counters your job - quiet downtime spent doing the things that help you recharge.
I think that the original poster made some very good observation and I agree with him on EMERGENCY SERVICES point.
Perhaps doctors can be excluded because their job would be according to routine so they may not have common sense issue. However it would be highly stressful for a aspie to become, let's say, a nurse because it would demand short term/working memory. A nurse can be seen as a medical waiter.
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