I think a very large portion of social skills are unconscious for most people, so most people don't understand what they do to get along with other people, or understand what is going on when things go wrong. I have noticed that some of the posters here say that they can get jobs alright, and there are other highly qualified individuals who can't get jobs at all. What effect AS has on life is probably highly dependent on the individual, and neither the individual nor the people around him probably know what exactly is going on with his social difficulties.
This is my experience: I worked as a bussboy before I went to university. I graduated with an engineering degree in 2015 with good grades (I got the high score in maybe 1/3 of the tests I took), but didn't have much work experience when I graduated. In my last year at university (2014-2015) I applied for literally every internship I knew about which I thought I might be qualified for, but I got nothing. So I applied for tutoring positions, and got nothing. Then I applied to work in local hardware stores and grocery stores, and got nothing. So in the summer of 2014 I grew vegetables on my parents' property to try to reduce bills. Then (for a variety of reasons which I won't discuss) I decided to try to move to Russia. I'm currently working in Russia as an English teacher. I actually do okay as a teacher. I don't have much trouble with formal communication anymore. But my students are unreliable, and I get paid by the hour, so I don't get paid much. I have a really hard time finding new students, I guess because I'm inexpressive, but students I've taught seem to be pretty loyal. Maybe I just have to wait for a while to build up a student-base. I'm also trying to look for English teaching jobs that offer monthly salaries. I think it's kind of stupid that I have an engineering degree, but wasn't able to get a job because I didn't network or do other social BS, but I got a job teaching English in Russia and my only real qualification is that I'm a native speaker. I guess the demand for English teachers in Russia is so high that they'll accept even socially awkward people as teachers. It's kind of hard to get a visa into the country though, because it's inconvenient for employers to sponsor them. But it's not hard that hard to find work once you're in the country.
13 Oct 2015, 2:38 pm
