Good jobs...not so good jobs for aspies

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if you do any job your are consider ****ed... worse system ever capitalism.... all it is big business destroying other businesses... competition leads to destruction.... you should enjoy what will happen in the future.... since most people are clueless anyways!

The jobs i liked the most: fast food cook. I just made the little square hamburgers. It was fun when it was super busy. I would work real fast, and the coworkers didnt really give me a problem. This is where i started to suspect that i may be a little bit on the spectrum. They helped me realize it.
sign spinner. I just listen to music and make over minimim wage. Automatic win for me (college dropout)
Unloader. I had usually one partner so talking was easy and sometimes i could work alone. I just did the same thing over and over. Unloading 53' freight containers is hard work, but i liked it.

My worst job: writing for the college newspaper. I lived the idea of it but the bad part was interviewing people. One time i left a guys office and some other professors who were ease dropping were laughing when i left and some lady said "stop, thats not very nice"....

Best job ever before I retired: Providing one-on-one telephone assistance for owners of machinery the company manufactured. After working for the company for 2+ years in the assembly department, using the technical knowledge I'd gained, I transferred to the Service Dept. with the understanding I would never be assigned to work "in the field" and I progressed successfully in this job for about 20 years.

Although there were a couple of funny/embarrassing incidents when a occasional customer, who I'd assisted for years, would show up for sales purposes etc. One business person even refused to believe I was the same person (I could have done without that experience for sure).

Anyway, working with people on the telephone and helping them with their technical problems, was a GREAT 20 year experience for me. I'd recommend it to any one that can pull it off. I began this work when I was over 40 years old and wish I could have done it or something like it years earlier.

denny

I would rate OT as one of the worst jobs possible for an aspie. One day of failing to read body language of a staff member during lunch break is enough to fail a student. Even if the disability is explained in detail to the CI and the CI is aware of the disability and of how to accommodate it, some CIs, probably the minority, will fail you, will not want to work with you and completely refuse to accommodate you in anyway. I told the facility that I would function better with shorter hours, and they repeatedly told me they didn't care and wanted 8 hours, which turned into 11. If any aspie wants in the therapy world I would recommend speech over OT in a minute. Not as much physical work, which leads to sensory overload. Nursing is also one of the last jobs I would recommend for an aspie. Anything medical I would say pharmacist, doctor, dentist, dental hygenist(maybe, likely not), and Physician Assistant would likely be better than most therapy jobs. Pharmacist would probably be the best medical job for an Aspie. Additionally, the documentation and productivity requirements of most clinic, hospital, and school based therapy jobs are completely draining. At least for me. I've had a few jobs, and I think OT is one of the worst for an aspie. What kind of traditional OT setting would you recommend to an Aspie? Even my movie theater job from high school was a better fit. Also never work as a home health anything. That just sucks in general. Dirty work, physically draining, even if it's just cooking for someone, it still totally sucks.
I agree with whoever says government jobs and computer jobs are the best for an aspie, as are over the phone jobs. I recently turned 27 and I'm an aspie trying to find my way in the career world, and I can say, over the phone, computer, and government jobs are really good fits and so much less draining than face to face customer service positions. Retail sucks in general.

Also, my dad is Aspie and he was a government accountant- double good job for an aspie. Also, actuary- basically stats for a living, another golden aspie job. More bad jobs for aspies- day care worker, that's just bad for anyone. Anything sitting in front of a computer. Anything where the public can complain about you, not a good fit. Teaching? Forget it!

I want to be an university professor and researcher. Seems great, you spend the day by yourself doing research on your obsessive interest and when giving classes you talk nonstop about your obsessive interest for people that actually want to hear it, and even get paid for it!
why is it you said teaching is not a good idea?

I think being a college professor teaching an advanced class wouldn't be so bad, but I couldn't imagine doing anything with pre-school through high school.

same here! No kids and no teens they are evil

Worst jobs:

Fast food employee, I absolutely hated this as I had to constantly deal with people. It was unbelievably draining, and it made me suffer from constant headaches. I remember on a couple of occasions hyperventilating because I was so stressed from having to be around so many people all the time, and having them stare at me and judge me because of the stupid uniform I had to wear. I just felt like a walking target and it did nothing for my already terrible self esteem.

Care work was the absolute worst though, as it actually made me ill and completely changed my personality for the time I was there (3 years). It turned me into a really bitter, hate filled person because of how I was treated by clients and staff alike. The clients were regularly verbally abusive and would threaten me with violence for no reason other than they were ill and "couldn't help it".

The management staff, were unsupportive, unorganised and didn't give a damn about the health or safety of their employees. As far as they were concerned the clients were always right about everything and could get away with being as abusive as they liked to us with no consequences. We were also forced to constantly be "on call" for the days we were working, so even if we had finished for the day they could make us go back into work. Even when not at work we had paper work to fill out and constant emails giving us more things to do, it was just endless.

I ended up having a nervous breakdown and I had to quit working for the company. I didn't know I had Asperger's then, so I had to suffer though that horrible job with absolutely no support. It was an absolute living hell and never want to go back into care work again.

Best jobs:

My current voluntary job at Oxfam is the absolute best job I have ever had. I work in the stockroom, so I rarely have to interact with customers. I look forward to going there each week and the atmosphere there is so easygoing and friendly. I get on really well with one of the women who work there, she's really lovely and I even consider her to be a friend (it's rare I can say that about a person).

I also liked the cleaning job I had before I went into care work (I got offered the care job while working as a cleaner), and sometimes I wish I would have kept it. It wasn't fun or anything, but it was predictable and non stressful. It was a job I didn't mind doing, I liked the fact I worked alone and didn't have to talk to people much.

The most miserable six weeks of my life was when I was unemployed, and the job search was working, so I tried telemarketing for a mortgage broker. You had to start with the tele before you got to be a broker. I was of the mind set that if the job search for an engineering position wasn't working, then I had to try *something*, any thing.

Best Job: Project/ Campus wide move from Windows XP to 7; repetitive backups to staging folders, updating tickets. When I gain momentum and do the same thing over and over again, it doesn't even seem like I'm thinking (in a good way) and I don't feel any boredom that would slow most down. Not surprisingly, clear expectations, lots of autonomy, alone in a cubicle with absolute silence.

Worst Job: IT Help Desk; complete unpredictability of issue, no planned approach to solving problems, constant dynamic problem solving, if I fall behind on tickets than I have to remember all the details of the tickets I need to catch up on which rarely happens, difficulty with auditory processing, asking clients to repeat information; noises everywhere

Other bad job: Food runner; basically the same as IT help desk, anything and everything in the restaurant besides management, cooking and waiting.

I did well as a Tech Support III. I worked alone most of the day and just escalated issue to other people and managed the incoming data files. The position was great until they decided to restructure my position to included assisting the manager. This included attending meetings, interacting with other people and doing more multi task job functions. I've been written up twice since then. Are department is being faced with layoffs soon and I'm sure I will be one of the first to go. I've been with the company almost 14 years. So I would advise that once someone finds a position they are doing well at make sure it is not possible that the company will restructure it to include other functions you are not comfortable with.

Two good jobs that I recently have been exposed to ten years too late are: Medical Lab Technician and Pharmacist. I seem to get along great with both and recently had to visit an Medical Lab for work. It was like heaven! I would fit right in at such an environment: hard working, intelligent, no nonsense, high class people everywhere. Same with Pharmacists. Even not being a fan of prescription drugs in general I have always liked Pharmacists and had the chance to talk to one 1 on 1. He certainly showed plenty of Aspie traits and was highly respected and well paid to boot!

I do work in one of those union environments where I get the nice paycheque, pension, great hours and am pretty much set for life now but the downside is that many of your coworkers are downright lazy and have no motivation or drive. As someone who is highly sensitive this can make for an unpleasant working environment in spite of the excellent compensation.

I see how someone mentioned about daycare workers being a bad choice and I know two female Aspies who are going for it. Be curious to know how it works out but I would assume their childlike demeanor will serve them well: I know it does to me around children! The pay sucks but they are in very high demand right now.

Best job I ever had was at a big box hardware store. One summer, I was put in charge of the garden centre stock. I spent all day on a forklift filling up the stock and keeping it clean and presentable and helping customers. My supervisor was tough but fair and I LOVED going into work and frequently (almost every day) stayed late just because I was having so much fun. Coworkers used to laugh at me but I didn't care I was HAPPY! Unfortunately, it only lasted just over three months (since the centre was only open May-early August) before I was reassigned and later found out sales went up 25% that year and then after I was reassigned went down almost 25%. I never got the chance to do that kind of work again and left on bad terms a year later.

I've been trying to get into personal care support for a while. How can one do this? I've been applying and even trying to network my way in but every time the employer suddenly stops communicating with me and I never find out why I didn't get the job. I love going out and seeing different parts of town and feeling good about providing some level of help to someone in need, and family and friends have recommended this as something they feel I would be good at. It also helps that I seem to naturally disregard social cues that people who have various disabilities often give off that frighten others away.

I'm not sure exactly what my problem is - are there really legions of highly qualified people ahead of me who want this kind of work (I've been told the opposite is true, that they can't find enough people willing to do it)? Is "No Irish Need Apply" back again? Do they only hire people living with illiteracy?

Please don't tell me not to do this - I really want to!