Not going to college but also have no idea what job I'd want

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Ok, so, I turned 20 years old last October and am not in college, as I have known from early on that I would not want to go to college. I loathed the idea of having to go to school for another 4 years or even 2 years (community college). College is not my thing at all and luckily my parents totally understand that and are not forcing me to go to college. I agree with everyone who says college isn't for everyone. (to those who who happened to have found college easy: telling me that won't help at all because just because something is easy for you doesn't mean it will be easy for everyone) Plus college requires that you know what to major in, and I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars when I have no clue what I want.

So, yeah, I still live at home with my parents. I searched the forums the other day and found a few threads where people say they don't really want to work. I myself have always said I never want to work, but I do know know it's necessary some day if I want to make money. Some people say 20 or over is rather old to be getting your first job, but better late than never right? Plus, I'm kind of Aspie (not full blown, but somewhere on the spectrum) and some of us are different from the average NT when it comes to that, am I right? Last year I was diagnosed with epilepsy, which is now controlled by meds, but even on meds I may have another seizure in the future so that's why I'm not working right now. I have to agree with some of the posts in the older threads though that I found that say the loss of freedom would suck. Yeah, I'd totally hate that too.

They say find something you love and make it a career. The problem is there isn't one thing I can think of that I'm truly passionate about and there never really was. There are certain things that I like, I guess, but nothing that I like so much that I would want to do it for the rest of my life. I know there are other options out there like trade school, but even that can take years and even that requires that you know what trade you want to learn and, honestly, many of the trade options out there don't really appeal to me. The other one is an apprenticeship, but I have no idea what I would want to pick either. Again, no passions. It would be awesome to work from home (set your own hours/schedule), but I have no idea for that either and there are usually startup costs so.....

Can anyone identify with this? Anyone have any any ideas maybe for cool online business ideas?

You could try talking to different people in depth and in person.

You could try your local state/province agency to see if they offer career path testing, which would show you what fields fit your strengths and weakness.

Then go from there...

I would make a list of things you like to do, hobbies etc. Then you can determine if any of those can be realized into a career. After bouncing around a lot of jobs including three years in the U.S. Army, I finally realized what I wanted to do, it was already a hobby of mine, and after an on the job apprenticeship, I haven't looked back.
I used to not want to go to college, but I after years of different jobs after the military, I realized that careers rarely fall out of the sky into your lap, if it does then good for you. More often than not, careers do require some formal training/apprenticeship or school, everything takes sacrifice and self discipline, and that is difficult.
I was in my late 20's before I hit my "Jackpot", but it was a lot of hit and miss, because like you, I didn't know what I wanted. I wish you the best in figuring out sooner than I did.

Also, don't let the epilepsy deter you from pursuing anything. By law, employers cannot discriminate against any disability, and you sound like you aren't really hampered by it.

If I had to do some sort of training, the only thing I would ever do is an apprenticeship with ONLY hands on experience. Also, honestly, the list of things I like and hobbies that I have that can be turned into a career is VERY short. Not even kidding, I don't really have hobbies and theres not really anything that I've liked my whole life. (I may be really interested in something for a couple days or weeks and then I lose pretty much all interest.) This happens with almost everything for me
Like I said, something online would be cool, but I have no idea.

I definitely can relate, the fact is sometimes what you are interested in does not have any realistic career goal so you just have to try to get started somewhere you feel you can have success at. Not everybody can be president or a pro athlete unfortunately so I figure its better to do something more practical and burn out at it later on then never doing anything, at least then if you have a change of heart you aren't starting from complete scratch. Like I'm learning IT stuff right now, I wouldn't say I love it or have a real outside interest in it the way I do other things but at least its useful knowledge and I use a computer every day. I wish I was at the point I am now back when I was 17/18 but I had a lot of maturing to do to get here.

Perhaps if its available to you, you can sign up for Voc Rehab and they could help you with deciding on a career and even job placement. I've found VR to be fairly helpful, I at least have some direction now as opposed to just sitting at home doing nothing. How much they help varies probably state to state, city to city, office to office, counselor to counselor. If you get somebody mean or unhelpful and you live in large enough area you can just request a new person, I've had to do this and I did get a better more caring person.

You can try and apply for SSI but it isn't a sure thing by any stretch and it's not really a great life with the amount of money they give you along with the restrictions, if you can get it great as it obviously beats nothing.

I can relate.

Time will pass anyways, so no sense in wasting it doing crap work at low pay for years just because you don't have a passion.

If I were your age again, I'd pick a trade I was most interested in and apprentice it. Maybe you finish it, maybe you don't if you discover your passion along the way.. but if you don't discover a better occupational passion, at least in 4 years or so you'll be at the top rate of pay for your trade and have transferrable skills.

Alternatively, you could spend 4 years doing crappy jobs because you can't pick a good one you want to do. Most of us fall into this trap. Don't do that. Pick something you can at least tolerate and just get to work on it, then if you find something better - then make a change. No one says you have to pick something and stick with it for the rest of your life.. but picking nothing will get you nothing.

If you don't love anything, figure out what you hate the least.

Good advice here, too. Work is called work for a reason. It's not always fun.

One guy I know chose his profession based on how lucrative it may be for him. He figures if he has to go to work every day it may as well be doing something that makes him a lot of money so that he can enjoy the rest of his non work hours of life. He doesn't hate his career or anything, but it's not his true passion either. He does it because it pays well, which lets him get ahead in life and play w/ somewhat expensive hobbies.

As for hobbies, for some they make ideal careers.. for others, making a hobby you enjoy into your job can zap all of the fun out of that activity so it's best to avoid turning some things into jobs for a lot of people.

A while back I was on a website for my state that showed apprenticeship courses available in my county with the description for each of the jobs. Based on reading the descriptions, there weren't really any of them where I could say "I'm most interested in_____ (something from the list)"
However, I'm able to say that I'd perhaps like baking or pastry arts. There's a technical school/college in my area that has a pastry arts course that's about 5 months in length and costs some over $2,000 (but less than $3,000).
This is what it says on the website: "The Baking and Pastry Arts program is designed to prepare students for employment as a baker or pastry cook in bakeries, restaurants, hotels and in any facility where baked goods and pastries are produced. The course of study will include training in Food Safety & Sanitation and will encompass the ServeSafe food Manager’s Exam and certification." Should I go for this? After I finish this course I'll be certified and be able to get a job right away.

Hmm.... I wonder how much I would make working in baking or pastry arts.

It's typically not a very high paying job. Some of the top pastry chefs at high end hotels make pretty good money. But a typical baker at a bread bakery or something does not earn a lot of money.

If you think you might like investing your time and money into becoming a baker or pastry chef, go contact some bakeries/pastry places and see if you can come in and job shadow with someone for a day here and there and see what they do all day and see if you might like to do it. Then at least you'll have an idea what the jobs are like and if you could see yourself doing that 5 days a week before investing your time and money in training.

Are you serious?? I'd be spending $2000 on a course only to get a job earning peanuts? You'd think if you do a 6 month course and get a certification, you'd at least get a good paying job

Hi, hey_there. Glad to see you again. I enjoy reading your posts.

Any way, I hear that the majority of the people in food preparation, hospitality etc don't make good money. And also there are relatively many stress-causing (rude, rough etc) people in those fields, too.

I think you had better spend some time to find out what you really want to do. After all, you need to specialize in something, even if it's not really a highly-skilled job. You might benefit from visiting a careers advisory center or whatever you have where you live. They have a lot of information on all sorts of jobs there plus some advisers to help you with that process.

Pretty much, yeah. People who do those jobs are usually pretty passionate about them and don't do them to earn a good living. They do them because they love them and couldn't see themselves doing anything else to earn their living, even if it just pays enough to get by.

Further to that, $2000 is not a lot of money to spend on an education. 6 months is not a lot of time, either. Neither is nothing, but it's not exactly comparable to a college education in terms of cost or time commitment, so one can't exactly expect a high paying job out of it considering the $ & time people spend educating themselves for years in preparation for other higher paying careers.

There are, however, inexpensive certifications and educations people can get that do pay off very well. I'd say the best earnings to cost ratio I've had myself is getting a licence to serve alcohol. Bartending/working at bars/restaurants has paid me fairly well over the years. Next up would probably be the licence I have to operate scissor/manlifts & work at heights. Then of course there's my college education.. lol which cost a LOT more, but hasn't made me as much money directly like those other things. In the long run my business school education will pay off so I don't regret it at all.

Also, trades are in high demand where I live, so a guy could get paid to learn a trade the whole way through an apprenticeship and finish up w/ a very decent paying job, no debt, and cash in the bank.

Totally depends what you want out of a job. Money? To do something you enjoy? To minimize stress? The best workout? Mental desk work only? To create? To destroy? To analyze? etc etc.. Obviously money is a larger consideration for you vs. just pursuing a passion. So, try to pick something that pays well. If you can't decide on something, just DO something that pays well until you decide what you Want to do that pays well or better. You can do whatever you do to pay the bills, then do what you want to on your own time. Ie maybe you become a plumber to earn decent money, and spend your evenings and weekends making pastries because you enjoy it.

With the consolidations (and the break up of Wonder Bread/Hostess Cakes) the days of marginal to well paying bakery jobs (at least at the big bakeries) are long gone. Talented pastry chefs on the other hand, make pretty good money creating what amount to works of art. Training in Food Safety & Sanitation could land you a decent job at a commercial bakery or a food processing plant (canned, frozen, candy, snacks, etc.)

So sometimes the categories of "what you want" and "what is possible or realistic" are mutually exclusive. No education. No previous work experience. Not even really willing to go to a trade school. Taking a couple of baking classes is not going to count worth a hill of beans to anyone. The only jobs you are going to be able to get are telemarketing, retail, or food service. None pay a real living wage and they would be hell for an aspie socially and sensory wise.

Fact is most jobs worth having require a degree of some kind of trade school. I know you don't WANT to, because it will be difficult for you, but you should consider going to trade school. I will say that post high school education is very different and could be easier to handle than high school. Some trades are in high demand and would lucrative as soon as you finished school.