Have you found the "right" job?

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I currently work as a newspaper reporter, which is what Ive been wanting to do since I was a teenager and it allows me to indulge my love for words and facts. Talking to people/strangers is sometimes a pain, esp for someone like me, but I call it the hazard of the job. Also, I cant do shmoozing with potential sources and am bad at small talk but I've developed certain strategies to make my working life easier.

In reply to your question on right job aylissa,i have had great problems finding the right jobs for me over the years,and my c.v
keeps gettin longer and longer.I,m currently out of work again,and now find myself wanting a total change from what i was doing.I only recently discovered i am a true aspie,and career troubles seems to be something we all have trouble with.
I guess its that feeling of being the only player on your side,but everybody else supporting the other side,very daunting,and very lonely.I,ve always had trouble "fitting in " with all my jobs,and now i know why! I am at present searching for my dream job,or rather i,ve always been searching for it,but have taken a stand about it this time,and am not going to accept second best.
Can anyone suggest career help for aspergers in the uk? As i need some inspiration at the moment!Great forum by the way.
regards nostro

God knows I've yet to be there. :\
Hopefullly, I'll find it in either Engineering, or Computer Science. :\

I think the ideal job will change often for us. I thought I had an ideal job for a while, but after a few years, the little things start to add up. Dealing with Nt's on a daily basis will inevitability end up with some tough scenarios and hurt feelings. I am about to (celebrate?) my 10th anniversary at my current job. I can't decide if it is the ideal job or not for me anymore.

The NT thing certainly is an important element of an ideal job. I'd always thought my dream job would involve minimal interaction. But as I've gotten older I've actually found that the more experience I have working in social situations, the better able I am to fake my way through interactions in everyday life. When I worked at a library, I was terrified of other people and avoided interaction as often as possible. But since then I've worked as a waitress, and worked in a few team environments, dealing with customers and answering phone calls. Those tasks intimidated me, but there was always a script involved - what to say when you take someone's order, or what to say when you answer the phone. After awhile you pick up on the kind of small talk other people make and you start mimicking that too.

I've found that taking jobs with scripted social interactions have really helped me learn the rules of interaction. I'm 1000% more comfortable making phone calls, dealing with customer service reps, and just pretending to be a charming human being. So even though I don't naturally enjoy a social work environment, I've found that working in fairly structured social environments - where you have a defined role and the majority of what you say is predictable - have actually helped me in my real life too.

I agree with scripted social interaction being helpful. For a while I worked as a product demonstrator. That's where you go to a store, set up a table, and try to sell the product. I had a whole big script, and was also scripted at how to answer specific questions. I did pretty good with it for a few months, but it started to drain me when I got bored with it.

Yeah, the "scripted" parts of my job probably are easiest most of the time. However, they also tend to be the most boring. I need intellectual stimulation to exist.

I'm in IT with my AS acknowledged, It's a pretty good job with more stability than I have had in a while.