What kind of jobs can someone with Asperger's get?

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SadAspy
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07 Jul 2011, 8:13 pm

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What about creative skills? Graphic designer, writer... What about business skills? Engineering? Agent?
Speak for yourself SadAspy.


Engineering is a technical job, so that doesn't refute my point at all.

As for the rest, there's a lot of competition for "creative"-type jobs, especially in this economy. Again, I'm saying how things are, not how they should be.



Aldran
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08 Jul 2011, 1:05 am

Graphic Designer tends to be more technical as well. And Agent for what? Car Rental Agent? Travel Agent? Real Estate Agent? All of these are highly social jobs, and usually have very little routine for someone with aspie's to excell at.

I like what one person said about being a Call Center person. I could see that working, and have had it suggested to me numerous times since high school.

Personally, I drive. Im on my own most of the time, get to see the world outside my house, and usually get to do what I want as long as w/e Im driving gets to where its going in at least some sort of timely manner. Its fun reading Traffic Patterns and what people are saying with their cars. Get to listen to NPR all day long as well. Pay could be better, but ke sera sera.

As for what Sad Aspy wrote about certain degrees, I agree. History and English Degrees are about as good as toilet paper these days. My mother has a Master's in History and a BA in Library Science (She always wanted to be a librarian, but the only thing older then libraries tends to be their librarians, so those jobs dont open up very often, and usually go to well liked long established people that have been working there forever and a day because their spouse is paying their bills anyway). My God-father had IIRC about 3 Master's in History (Different eras or something), and he only got by because he would go be a keynote speaker/lecturer at a university he lived near once in awhile (He was also the oldest living man without a colon till he passed away a couple years ago). Finally Ive known others with similar degrees get by only by virtue of "Having a Degree" equating to "Oh, well, you have a degree, so Ill trust you with this job in a field totally unrelated to your field of expertise! After all, you went through college, like me, so we should have at least some shared experiences!"..... Drives me nuts, I could never deal with college because of the whole "You want the paper? KISS MY ASS HARDER!" Attitude I kept encountering.....



Subotai
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08 Jul 2011, 12:22 pm

SadAspy wrote:
Quote:
What about creative skills? Graphic designer, writer... What about business skills? Engineering? Agent?
Speak for yourself SadAspy.


Engineering is a technical job, so that doesn't refute my point at all.

As for the rest, there's a lot of competition for "creative"-type jobs, especially in this economy. Again, I'm saying how things are, not how they should be.


So there's competition, so what? There are countless niches to make money and chances are your talents mesh well with some of them.
You probably won't find it without adjusting your attitude though.



Subotai
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08 Jul 2011, 12:26 pm

Aldran wrote:
And Agent for what? Car Rental Agent? Travel Agent? Real Estate Agent? All of these are highly social jobs, and usually have very little routine for someone with aspie's to excell at.


That's just for lack of a better term.
For instance my dad is highly knowledgeable in his field and people call him for risk assessments etc.
Maybe a better term is consultant.



SadAspy
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08 Jul 2011, 4:09 pm

Aldran wrote:
As for what Sad Aspy wrote about certain degrees, I agree. History and English Degrees are about as good as toilet paper these days. My mother has a Master's in History and a BA in Library Science (She always wanted to be a librarian, but the only thing older then libraries tends to be their librarians, so those jobs dont open up very often, and usually go to well liked long established people that have been working there forever and a day because their spouse is paying their bills anyway). My God-father had IIRC about 3 Master's in History (Different eras or something), and he only got by because he would go be a keynote speaker/lecturer at a university he lived near once in awhile (He was also the oldest living man without a colon till he passed away a couple years ago). Finally Ive known others with similar degrees get by only by virtue of "Having a Degree" equating to "Oh, well, you have a degree, so Ill trust you with this job in a field totally unrelated to your field of expertise! After all, you went through college, like me, so we should have at least some shared experiences!"..... Drives me nuts, I could never deal with college because of the whole "You want the paper? KISS MY ASS HARDER!" Attitude I kept encountering.....


I have a bachelors and masters in Political Science. Now, believe it or not, THERE ARE JOBS IN THAT FIELD, but they go to the people who know someone, not the people with educational credentials. I've lost out on political jobs to people who only had their bachelors and in some cases, didn't even have that.

About the ONLY job that my degrees (although you only need a bachelors) can get me that I couldn't get otherwise is teaching ESL.



milkman3817
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13 Feb 2012, 5:37 pm

I went to college and got my degree for Electric Transmission systems technology. After about a year on the job I was running circles around people that have been in the industry for years. I am right at home in a room full of computers. Yea I have to talk to people on the phone all the time but it is a technical conversation so it is no sweat. I think my ability to hyper-focus and remember large amounts of technical information make me perfect for the job. Oh yea its gooood money too.



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13 Feb 2012, 5:43 pm

MyWorld wrote:
SadAspy wrote:
If you're a math/science savant, you can be a computer programmer or engineer.

If you're not ,repeat after me: would you like fries with that?

And no, a liberal arts degree won't help you one bit.


Maybe for you. For the rest of us, were not gonna losers like you.


I've never gotten how someone is a loser if they work at a fast food place, especially when people who eat at fast food places say that because its like 'fine, how would you like it if they all quit because they don't like your elitist attitude.' Someones gotta do that job, but it wont be me........not because I'm 'not a loser' but because that looks like a fast paced job so I would fail.


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jinto1986
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14 Feb 2012, 5:19 pm

SadAspy wrote:
JMG wrote:
It's hard for someone with Asperger's to work in fast food. I know that from first hand experience, bro.


I was just trying to get my point across that without technical skills, an Aspy will usually be stuck in a low-paying job.

Quote:
There are plenty of jobs besides the ones you mentioned for us.


Okay...like what?

Quote:
working as a historian, politician, or anything like that would be just fine as long as we aren't too exposed.


There's not that many of those jobs out there. Do you really think I don't know what I'm talking about? How's this....I have a MASTERS in Political Science and can't find work. The jobs in my field go to people with only a bachelors (or less than that even) with really good social skills.

Quote:
I just don't like your tone one bit.


I'm telling it like it is. See my thread in general autism discussion.

MyWorld wrote:
Maybe for you. For the rest of us, were not gonna losers like you.


Really? What are you going to do if you don't have math/science skills? Those are the Aspies who are able to get good jobs. The rest of us are screwed. Believe me, I WISH it wasn't this way, but it is.


I have a pretty good part-time to full-time (depending on the time of the year) job doing respite and hab work. The pay is not great, but I would never be able to make 13 dollars an hour at McDonalds.



Xyzzy
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14 Feb 2012, 5:58 pm

Follow your passion - The same advice that everyone should follow, but that's especially important for an Aspie.

If you really feel strongly about something, that passion will help you work past the other issues and it will come through in your work and interactions. Employers and coworkers will overlook a lot of things if you're dedicated and good (or even just competent) at what you do.

Aspies have distinct advantages in a number of areas, but everyone is different (even amongst Aspies). Some of us are good at math and others can't make change for a dollar without a calculator. Some like teaching and public speaking and others would shrivel up into a ball if put into that position. Some have become very good at passing for NTs and others are likely to fall apart in social situations. You need to be objective about your own strengths and weaknesses and figure out what soft skills you need to work on to get to your "passion" work. Find the interest, passion and fit and then worry about the education and technical skills to get you there.

If you don't even know where to start, I'd recommend a book by Temple Grandin called "Developing Talents: Careers for individuals with Asperger's and HFA". It's pretty basic and won't surprise most people. But if you're really looking for a starting point, it's a pretty good one.

http://www.templegrandin.com/templegrandinbooks.html

If you aren't familar with TG, I'd recommend checking out her TED talk, "The World Needs All Kinds of Minds" from a couple of years ago. It's a 20 minutes video recording, so it's easy to digest and I'm pretty sure that you'll enjoy it. She's one of us and proud of it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin ... minds.html

Good Luck!


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kg4fxg
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17 Feb 2012, 8:25 pm

Think about bookkeeping. I have always work in accounting departments. But if you just have a High School diploma search for bookkeepers. Math is not that hard and we all use adding machines or excel. Ok, I work as a CPA at a high level but I am an Aspie. Accountants can be low key, not the greatest communicators, same office and routine. Every month is a cycle. You get into the flow. Just something to think about. There are opportunities for all levels of education.

You want to discuss more send me a private message. Really.

Tnx
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Xerillius
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19 Feb 2012, 6:43 am

SadAspy wrote:
If you're a math/science savant, you can be a computer programmer or engineer.

If you're not ,repeat after me: would you like fries with that?

And no, a liberal arts degree won't help you one bit.


I am not a math/science savant by any standards, but I have been called a brilliant programmer by every professor I have had. I write code in my head and finish programs with minimal debugging..


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NarcissusSavage
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20 Feb 2012, 8:13 am

The positions I've held that I've found most suited to were; Building automation technician, stationary engineer, and utility system engineer. The ones that have caused me various issues were; food service, military, construction electrician, hospital maintenance.

I was physically capable, and mentally capable of performing all job duties of every job I've held satisfactorily, in some cases "beyond our wildest expectations" but the ones I had issues with entailed much more interaction with people, or hustle and bustle.

My current job is the best (utility system eng), as I get to work on creative and technically challenging projects that keep me engaged, work nights and avoid direct interaction with all but 2-3 people for short periods of time, and operate fairly autonomously and am essentially my own boss. The field I'm in is interesting too, Biotech, and I like our general company mission.

I do not think we are limited in what we can be good at. All we have to do is figure out how to adapt what we are good at into what someone wants.


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AliTatt
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20 Feb 2012, 9:27 am

I've worked a fast food job. I've found I'm actually pretty handy in a retail- and food-industry sort of job, despite my aspergers. Yes, I get flustered when we have a huge rush and get too many people ordering at once when I'm the only till, but other than those periods of time working for KFC wasn't too bad. Heck, if I had to go back to Canada, my old KFC would be my first place to look, and when I'm not on a working holiday visa I'm gonna be heading straight back into retail and fast food.

now, I KNOW fast food and retail aren't everyone's cup of tea. I read on a site that creatively oriented aspies can go into drafting and fields like that; I draft for hobby. I'm slowly learning about proper proportions and scale drawing. I figure I might get something out of this, or maybe be the soccer mom that says "would you like to upsize those fires sir?" xD

Okay, I am going to post a list from "myaspergerschild" to make people more informed of the jobs out there for us!

Quote:
Bad Jobs for Individuals with Aspergers—

• Air traffic controller -- Information overload and stress
• Airline ticket agent -- Deal with angry individuals when flights are cancelled
• Cashier -- making change quickly puts too much demand on short-term working memory
• Casino dealer -- Too many things to keep track of
• Futures market trader -- Totally impossible
• Receptionist and telephone operator -- Would have problems when the switch board got busy
• Short order cook -- Have to keep track of many orders and cook many different things at the same time
• Taking oral dictation -- Difficult due to auditory processing problems
• Taxi dispatcher -- Too many things to keep track of
• Waitress -- Especially difficult if have to keep track of many different tables

Good Jobs for Visual Thinkers—

• Animal trainer or veterinary technician -- Dog obedience trainer, behavior problem consultant
• Automobile mechanic -- Can visualize how the entire car works
• Building maintenance -- Fixes broken pipes, windows and other things in an apartment complex, hotel or office building
• Building trades -- Carpenter or welder. These jobs make good use of visual skills but some individuals will not be able to do them well due to motor and coordination problems.
• Commercial art -- Advertising and magazine layout can be done as freelance work
• Computer animation -- Visual thinkers would be very good at this field, but there is more competition in this field than in business or industrial computer programming. Businesses are recruiting immigrants from overseas because there is a shortage of good programmers in business and industrial fields.
• Computer programming -- Wide-open field with many jobs available especially in industrial automation, software design, business computers, communications and network systems
• Computer-troubleshooter and repair -- Can visualize problems in computers and networks
• Drafting -- Engineering drawings and computer aided drafting. This job can offer many opportunities. Drafting is an excellent portal of entry for many interesting technical jobs. I know individuals who started out at a company doing drafting and then moved into designing and laying out entire factories. To become really skilled at drafting, one needs to learn how to draw by hand first. I have observed that most of the individuals who draw beautiful drawings on a computer learned to draw by hand first. Individuals who never learn to draw by hand first tend to leave important details out of their drawings.
• Equipment designing -- Many industries, often a person starts as a draftsman and then moves into designing factory equipment
• Factory maintenance -- Repairs and fixes factory equipment
• Handcrafts of many different types such as wood carving, jewelry making, ceramics, etc.
• Laboratory technician -- Who modifies and builds specialized lab equipment
• Photography -- Still and video, TV cameraman can be done as freelance work
• Small appliance and lawnmower repair -- Can make a nice local business
• Video game designer -- Stay out of this field. Jobs are scarce and the field is overcrowded. There are many more jobs in industrial, communications business and software design computer programming. Another bad thing about this job is exposure to violent images.
• Web page design -- Find a good niche market can be done as freelance work

Good Jobs for Non-Visual Thinkers—

• Accounting -- Get very good in a specialized field such as income taxes
• Bank Teller -- Very accurate money counting, much less demand on short-term working memory than a busy cashier who mostly makes change quickly
• Clerk and filing jobs -- knows where every file is
• Computer programming -- Less visual types can be done as freelance work
• Copy editor -- Corrects manuscripts. Many individuals freelance for larger publishers
• Engineering -- Electrical, electronic and chemical engineering
• Inventory control -- Keeps track of merchandise stocked in a store
• Journalist -- Very accurate facts, can be done as freelance
• Laboratory technician -- Running laboratory equipment
• Library science -- reference librarian. Help individuals find information in the library or on the Internet.
• Physicist or mathematician -- There are very few jobs in these fields. Only the very brilliant can get and keep jobs. Jobs are much more plentiful in computer programming and accounting.
• Statistician -- Work in many different fields such as research, census bureau, industrial quality control, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, etc.
• Taxi driver -- Knows where every street is
• Telemarketing -- Get to repeat the same thing over and over, selling on the telephone. Noisy environment may be a problem. In telephone sales, you avoid many social problems.
• Tuning pianos and other musical instruments, can be done as freelance work

Jobs for Nonverbal Individuals with Aspergers—

• Copy shop -- Running photocopies. Printing jobs should be lined up by somebody else
• Data entry -- If the person has fine motor problems, this would be a bad job
• Factory assembly work -- Especially if the environment is quiet
• Fast food restaurant -- Cleaning and cooking jobs with little demand on short-term memory
• Janitor jobs -- Cleaning floors, toilets, windows and offices
• Lawn and garden work -- Mowing lawns and landscaping work
• Plant care -- Water plants in a large office building
• Recycling plant -- Sorting jobs
• Re-shelving library books -- Can memorize the entire numbering system and shelf locations
• Restocking shelves -- In many types of stores
• Warehouse -- Loading trucks, stacking boxes


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Wind_Drinker
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20 Feb 2012, 7:15 pm

Good luck.

I've never quit any of my jobs. I've been fired from everyone of them.

I didn't go to the company Christmas party and they took offense to that. They found a reason to fire me but told me not going to the party was a contributing factor.

I've creeped people out (whatever that means?) and been fired for the betterment of the company.

They said wear a shirt and tie. I did. They fired me for dress code violations. I guess a purple tie and an orange shirt was too much for the bank where I used to work. They didn't say what color I could or couldn't wear. I followed directions and instructions and was still fired.

I could go on but the point is, find something you can do by yourself and preferably at home. You'll have more success that way.


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24 Feb 2012, 11:46 pm

Wind_Drinker wrote:
Good luck.

I've never quit any of my jobs. I've been fired from everyone of them.

I didn't go to the company Christmas party and they took offense to that. They found a reason to fire me but told me not going to the party was a contributing factor.

I've creeped people out (whatever that means?) and been fired for the betterment of the company.

They said wear a shirt and tie. I did. They fired me for dress code violations. I guess a purple tie and an orange shirt was too much for the bank where I used to work. They didn't say what color I could or couldn't wear. I followed directions and instructions and was still fired.

I could go on but the point is, find something you can do by yourself and preferably at home. You'll have more success that way.


I find NT's funny. I worked at a place for a couple months and the new boss came in and told me to cut 4 packages of one ham and 1 package of another. And I mentioned we actually had a surplus of the one she wanted a lot of, but where almost out of the one she didn't. The shelf was running low. She then screamed "ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?"... to which I took a little bit to answer - thinking why would she be that irate? So I said questioningly... "yes?" thinking maybe it was some kind of odd test...

Was walking out 5 minute later, lol. So your not alone - I've done this at about every job I've been at. Fired from another place for getting in a accidentally being insubordinate more than once (couldn't explain what happened). Laid off for getting in a discussion with a boss, laid off for making a boss mad, laid off for not walking fast enough. Laid off for accidentally mentioning the temp agency told me that the company I was sent to was stupid (they both shorted me on my pay).

Aspie job prospects are looking grim.



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25 Feb 2012, 11:57 am

Aldran wrote:
I like what one person said about being a Call Center person. I could see that working, and have had it suggested to me numerous times since high school.


Not for people on the spectrum who are severely uncomfortable talking on the phone.


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