An Amazing Job

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I'm Aspie, but have gotten good at faking it. However there are a few areas, especially related to a workplace, that I am unable to cope with in the long term. This resulted in lots of <3 month employment periods. Ive feared since I was in Middle School that I would be 'unemployable'. Recently I have found the perfect counter example!

I work at the United States Space and Rocket Center (in Alabama), as a camp counselor for Space Camp. I work evenings, so I don't have to wake up before noon. Training was >3 weeks long, so I was fully confident before I ever had to deal with children. My bosses and coworkers are (almost without exception) the type of people I could get along with in a social setting. I get to teach else-wise unsupervised children (I am primarily dealing with 11-13 year olds, in groups of ~15) about space and rocketry with impressive historical artifacts (we have a real Saturn V, the Pathfinder Shuttle Orbitter, etc). I also get to give them the time of their life in the mission/training simulators. It does require lots of memorization of nerdy facts [like duration of a SRB's burn (123 seconds) to rocket fuel names (monomethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide)] but thats a large part of whats made it so much fun during training.

My typical day on has me working 6.5 hours, 4 days a week. I'm told it'll pick up to full time in the spring. The pay is low, but just enough to cover my bills.

I'm 21 and I realized yesterday that I was happy to be at work and wished the day did not have to end! What are the odds?

Hopefully you will consider a job similar to this, as the work is very fulfilling... as is the experience of genuinely valuing your job.

Wow! what a wonderful job!

I'm jealous

Hi PA!
What a small world. I grew up (well, from 11 - 19) in Sherwood Park, on the far side, beyond the creek, near Rideout Road. The Space Museum was built when I lived there. The rockets are awesome. You should have heard and felt the violent vibrations when they tested the Saturn boosters at the Marshall Space Flight Center/Redstone Arsenal. It was like an earthquake and sounded like a tornado that went on and on and on.

You are very lucky. They didn't have Space Camp in those days. What a great job! I'm envious.

Cool! Congratulations on finding a way to get paid for your passion!

Happy to be at work? Wishing the day would never end?
It sounds too good to be true! I'm sure it is though...and i'm glad that your doing something that you enjoy.
So many people these days are doing jobs that they gain no enjoyment from...you always hear people complaining about working and that they hate their bosses, other employers, environment etc...having a job which you have a passion for is the one thing more people should do.

Aww! I'm really pleased for you!