Career Advice?

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I have read that you should choose a career that is related to your special interest, I don't have a special interest...

In fact I'm not sure I know what I like, the phrase I like everything, and I like nothing springs to mind. One day I could be looking at becoming a chef, the next day a train driver. I just lack that "spark"(probably not the right word) or eureka moment, I want to be a ....

I normally hyper focus on the idea e.g. becoming a chef : look at qualifications, cook books, restaurant menus, blogs etc. Then I just suddenly lose interest and move onto the next thing.

How did you choose your career?

Anyone else experience this phenomenon of not knowing what you like?

It can be quite overwhelming when you start looking into all there is to know about a topic at once, it sometimes demotivates me too.

When learning something, I try to first figure out what I want to learn. Then I find a source of knowledge I like (i.e. a specific book), and finally I can focus only on working my way through that material forgetting that there is so much more to learn. I enjoy this last part, where I can just get absorbed in something, and with a concrete goal within reach, it's not overwhelming anymore. As time goes by, many such cycles takes my knowledge further, but the real benefit is the fascination while learning.

If you are more driven by projects where you create something it might be a bit different, but I suppose somehow identifying a reachable goal is still a good idea, one that is meaningful for you by and of itself, regardless of what you may do in the future, because you enjoy it.

Now for the difficult part that you have to figure out of yourself: What do you want to work with? What are you passionate about? What can you keep doing for hours without noticing time goes by? Is it highly theoretical? Is it practical? Is it project-driven? I am a believer of pursuing such interests as careers rather than doing a job that makes you miserable.

I hope you find this helpful.

Possibly the best type of job for someone with invisible disabilities is government civil service. They really can't fire you for being different, for being variable in your performance, and so on; you really have to screw up bad to get canned. Although there is still plenty of office politics, you do have some protections.

That said, learn what your strengths and weaknesses are. I'm good with words, not too bad with images, and I do all right, within certain limits, with people. I'm rubbish at maths, or even at numbers - for instance even just data entry and proofing numbers.

It's easy to lose interest in a topic, but at work, you have to keep performing and keep returning your focus to your job. That's the deal adults make. You give something, and you get something.

Don't try to think too much about what you like, as you said it's keep changing. Even if you were interested in something for longer, doesn't mean you would still like it when you spend 30+ hours a week doing it, that is true even for neurotypical.

Find a job where you can use your strenghts, that will make you feel good and you will be more relaxed.

@PorridgeGuy I've never really been one for setting goals, though I know I should. I am methodical about learning new things, and once I get into my head that I know enough about a subject, it's like I've "completed it" then I just move on.

@BeaArthur Logic is my only real strength I would say.

@carbonmonoxide yeah i know in the real world their are people that hate their jobs and just do it for the money. I think I lack the emotional connection to know what I enjoy.

I have passions for three things: The military, the law, and history. So I went into the Air Force Reserves and became a paralegal. I did okay. Started an E1 Airman Basic and ended my career as an O4 Major. I still practice as a paralegal and am slowly working my way through law school. I've done okay.

When you have "completed" it, how about moving on to a related subject? Would you be motivated for that? If so you could build upon what you've already learned.

You say you're strength is logic. I can think of a bunch of trades building upon logics. Examples are logical philosopher, mathematician, physicist, engineer and programmer. I'm not sure how the job market is where you live, but I would say on a general basis that in programming and engineering it is easier to get a job. Programming also has the advantage that it covers a wide range of work and prerequisites. For instance, you can start working with web design with a rather short training period, and you can then also get involved in graphical design (though there are already quite many who do this). You will have endless opportunities to learn more. You could also do a PhD in computer science (depending on motivation) for instance developing novel encryption algorithms, so there is s large range. And programming is heavily based on logics. You could also get involved in business aspects of it but that's not very logics-based.

Since you seem a bit uncertain I wouldn't plan for a PhD now, but maybe a Bachelors degree in something?

@PorridgeGuy

Yeah that's probably a very wise idea.

I all ready have an engineering degree (though not a very good one - MH problems), and I've got half a business masters (MH problems again!). As for programming, I've created a basic website, just HTML/CSS. I got half way through a java script booked but got a bit side tracked but I will probably come back to it at some point. Front end stuff is maybe an option. I know for the back end stuff you have to be really good at maths, I would need to work on that before I ventured down that route.

If you already have an engineering degree then you have a lot to build upon, that's great

If back end requires a lot of math depends on what you mean by back end I suppose. As for web development, you can do a lot of back end without really any math. I notice that the languages you mentioned are exclusively client-side languages (HTML/CSS/JavaScript). You will have a lot more power to create whatever you want if you learn one server-side language (e.g. PHP, Ruby or Python), and perhaps a way to query databases (e.g. MySQL). I used to tinker with web development some years ago, and then I used PHP as my server-side language, though today I would recommend learning Python. It is a more efficient and beautiful language to write code in, and it can be used for a plethora of other things than web development if you figure you want to do something else later. There is no need to learn many languages that can do the same thing, so I recommend Python. You already now some JavaScript so I would postpone expanding upon that. The next step after Python, would be to learn to use databases. I'm not up to date so I don't know which are good options today, but MySQL which I used, is probably outdated. I've heard some rumours of databases requiring no use of SQL like MongoDB. Maybe that's a good solution?

If you're more into graphical design than photoshop or fireworks or any of those tools may be something to learn? But I really don't know. I've always sucked at graphical design.

Now, I'm a bit afraid of saying "you should do this", because I don't know what's the right answer for you, so take this as a friendly suggestion only.