How did you get (and keep) a job?

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I think most of the jobs I have worked have been a very bad fit for me. I've had a lot of entry level customer service jobs. They are easy to be hired for because I have acquired a reliable work history somehow, and most interactions run well on a set script. I do enjoy the challenge of juggling everything successfully, but I wonder what it would be like to slow down, focus on one area, and be rewarded for it.

I'm a software engineer so the interviews are very technical. Usually just have to write out different algorithms. I do well with that. It's keeping a job that's my problem. I've had over 13 different jobs in just the last 5 years. I just can't keep a job for more than a few months. I usually end up leaving because of my extreme difficulty in communicating with others.

I have only had a couple people dislike me because of better performance and actually wanting to do Salvage work at the Factory. It never went past a snide remark like saying I'm an overachiever. People are crazy.

I've been working at a small (7 people) company that helps people/companies with their taxes and giving them insight in their financial situation. It's my first job and i've been working there full time for almost 5 years now. It doesn't require much interaction, you're mostly sitting behind a computer bookkeeping and filling in tax forms. I sometimes have to pick up the phone and help people that come in with questions.

The first few weeks were difficult. I had a hard time getting used to everything that was going on. Learning the routines, the clients, the co workers, the social aspects. But it gradually got better.

There was one co worker who kept telling me i needed to talk more and that i was awkward. This really got on my nerves, trying my best to fit in but constantly getting talked down by her. This made me more quite and less social as i was scared i would/say something wrong. Thankfully enough after 2 years she got caught for messing with her working hours (she filled in more hours than she actually worked) twice and got fired. After that i started opening up more and got along with the other co workers really well. Just goes to show how much 1 "bad" co worker can ruin it for you.

It really helps that i work at a small company. I don't think i would be able to handle to work at a large company with so many faces/social interaction. it also helps that all my co workers are (much) older than me. They tend to be more understanding and less noisy than people of my age.

But keeping the job for any length of time? I know from the time I was 16-27 or so, my rationale in finding a job was to find something I was capable of doing that payed as high as possible. But after dozens of jobs I realized I kept making the same mistake over and over and I was never happy, all mainly dealing with having issues with people and overzealous work rules that dont have merit, and an inability to work with people who cant see 100 steps ahead of the current step and see future problems before they happen.

Not saying this is the right solution, but its a solution I can deal with (most of the time). I too would pretend to be an NT and say all the things they want us to say in an interview about being a "team player", in which Im not.... but interviewers really seem to respond to certain terms. Anyway, I just got it into my head to find a job that mainly involved working by myself which led to my current job which is in a series of rooms in a basement area that was away from everyone else in an office building (Just imagine these TV shows where people are walking around in a poorly lit office building basement with pipes running along the ceiling and some rooms off to the side of the hallway... thats where I work). It didnt pay what I needed it to, but what would I rather have, A job I could tolerate where the pay stinks, or a job I cant tolerate that pays well and I end up leaving and end up earning less overall anyway? So, when looking for the current job I had, I just came forward about who I am and how insanely picky I am about things, and told them I have high standards and need freedom to do things my way which wont make since to them but I reassured them if they allowed me to do things my way I could do it better than anyone else. I didnt figure they would go for me, but surprisingly my boss ends up being a person who pride themselves with finding talent in people no one else would consider... so I think I was fortunate.

One other thing that I have learned is that... I dont know about you, but I have a really strange way of learning how to do things. People can give me a set of instructions that dont include all the "in-between" things that your suppose to assume which I cant do then I end up driving everyone crazy asking a billion questions. I dont know if anyone else has found the way around this, but there is a cheat code to this problem. I think when you ask a billion questions about things other people just assume, I think people think your being hard to get along with on purpose or something. But that can be prevented by just telling them "Teach me this well enough so that I could teach it to someone else". And for me this has worked well. This forces them to include all the assumptions without having to ask a billion questions. It makes my life better, and Im sure its better for the NT's that train you.

In regard to Dealing with the politics, avoiding the wrath of your coworkers? Like I said, I just try to work away from everyone else if I can, and when I have to work with others I just try to avoid as much unnecessary conversation as possible. I then usually try to make it known what kind of standards I expect out of myself and others, and that's usually enough to push most oxygenarians who like to talk about non work related activities for eons. Avoiding wrath of coworkers... its inevitable, but as time goes on the more I see most problems just go away in a few days, so if someones mad at you, stay away, and they will find someone new to get mad at in a few days then the pressure is off you. Learning the basics of employment law is helpful in knowing what your rights are and knowing what you can and cannot do legally. Its interesting that a lot of rules companies put in place are not even enforceable legally. Its a portion of law that most lawyers aren't familiar with. Its saved me a few times.