Too many options or none at all?

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I'm an aspie but I'm also a Gemini. That means that I recognize my special employment needs but keep coming up with a million possible jobs to try to meet them - and settle on no option at all.

I have a degree in biology but then I realized that there isn't much earning potential in biology without becoming a doctor or a PhD (ie managing a lab). So then I did a Masters in policy, but policy work is apparently all about working with people. And very amorphous - not structured the way I like my work.

So I work in an office right now and do some data analysis, but a lot of coordinating crap. I have to take minutes at meetings (which is okay because it's a good excuse not to participate and helps me understand what people are saying if I have to tidy it up in print) and manage processes and keep in touch with 3 managers (hate that part). I've been criticized for not communicating with my bosses enough. I realize I need a job where (i) my coworkers are more quirky, (ii) I can be appreciated for my technical skill, and (iii) where I have a more structured idea about what it is I'm doing.

Have no idea what that job should be, though. In the last few months I've seriously evaluated the following:

- Accountant (numbers good, teamwork bad, coworkers blandly normal?)
- Air traffic controller (love the 3D puzzle, the time pressure, and the techical skill; not sure about the team environment)
- Interactive multimedia designer for educational or training materials (love the creative potential and ability to build a reputation, opportunity to freelance, love the problem solving of programming; hate that I don't know enough about programming and not sure I can do that much school any more)
- Freelance editor/writer (been thinking about this for awhile; been praised for my writing, especially humour writing, but maybe this should be a side hobby so I can write what I want instead of writing because I have to)
- Something in the lab (grad school? hospital lab tech? DNA technician in forensics lab?)

I'm 26 now. I'm too stressed about finances to take an uncertain path now unless it was something I've loved all my life (like writing). But I'd love to just find a job that I can be content with so that at 5 pm I can go home and write. I don't do that today because at 5 pm I take classes and do research to try to shift into some other career that I can't decide on.

So what on earth should I do? I can't focus. I often get swept up by totally wrong jobs that look good because people look like they're having fun when they're doing them. But I'm realizing that my personality would prevent me from enjoying those jobs. And now I can't figure out where to go. All I know is I need some technical skill to be worthy because my personality won't impress many.

Need your opinions, please! Any suggestions about potential career paths? Or any advice about how to find my focus?

Are you certain you can handle one of the most stressful jobs in the world, making sure that planes don't collide in mid-air as an Air Traffic Controller?
Do you like looking at numbers all day long...going through large amounts of paperwork looking for that one, often very well
hidden mistake that won't let you balance the books... as an Accountant? In addition, Accountants do have to work with people...
if you are an Auditor or Certified Public Accountant or... you can hide in an office cubicle. But, the higher paying positions require
working with people.
One of my professors is a Forensic Scientist and he told me that jobs working in a Crime Lab are very difficult to obtain as it is
a harsh, cruel and very political environment. You can easliy find a job in a laboratory as a technician...those people are always
in demand.
Since you like to write, in addition to your science background, why not become a Technical Writer? Someone has to create those
manuals of instructions for understanding things and putting things together properly.

I had difficulty finding my career choices.

What helped me was taking part in voluntary work and work experience placements in my spare time. This enabled me to 'try out' a lot of different things and to get an idea of whether they were right for me or not (while still keeping my day job, just in case!).

Good luck. I hope you find what is right for you.

Yes, my volunteer work has taught me a few things:

I'm the calmest, most collected person in the TV studio who can do the job of 3 volunteers and still keep an eye on the new recruits. I work the phones and the teleprompter and think this is like a small window into the world of air traffic controlling (with much lower stakes, of course). That volunteer position is the only thing I do that makes me feel confident and happy in a workplace environment - I like the adrenaline of the job, and the facade of working in a team without really having to be overly social.

I love hunting out tiny mistakes - I've done some editing work and I have an eye for those wrong elements. I can always find out what's wrong with a computer program, I point out typos and spelling mistakes, and I'm always the person who calculates the tip. The corporate environment is the only thing I dislike about this jobroute.

Dunno... the more I explore these potential routes the more clueless I feel. What skills do you need to be a bum? Ahh, scratch that - I'm not entrepreneurial enough.