Felt stupid then found genius?

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Has anyone spent a huge part of life feeling incapable of productive and profitable activity, then found out they had a genius or at least a good consistent competence (preferably one that will bring a paycheck)? How did you find it? Is the ability to stay at a thing indefinitely and tirelessly any indication?

I still have the feeling stupid part down cold, but in anything i've spent time learning (alone) i have had people, even ones with the job or degree, asking me for info. (Background-high school only yet, no degree or certification of any kind) That leads me to think that i actually do have some dormant, marketable capability that i cannot find or at least define.

I'm in a position to finally return to school and work on a degree or certification, but pretty much have just one shot due to time and financial constraints. I can't keep changing my major or taking extra classes to 'find myself', so i need to know where i'm headed before i begin.

Any help from those who know appreciated.

No to that, I was rather good in school and at the beginning of the 80s the first wave of cheap home computers hit me. And that became a good source of income all those parts of my live where I wasn't to depressed to make use of it.



Somebody said: Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% transpiration. To keep concentrated is a good base for whatever you can do. I wished I could concentrate better for my job. In programming that's very important.



In what area? Maybe you can use it, maybe not. Depends. Nobody asks a good programmer where or how he got his knowledge. Nobody asks an artist.
Would be different for a pilot or doctor, they need degrees to make sure, they don't kill people.

Have you looked into training/working in computer systems?

I was barely able to get out of high school, my grades were so bad, and eventually I got a useless degree in Biology after struggling through college. Eveyone thought I was hopelessly stupid.

Then I went back to college in the computer field, and got another degree, this time in a field that made sense to me.

As a database administrator and software specialist, believe me, my persistence and focus allow me to solve problems that no one else can.

Also, I can not only design and build software systems, I can also build a computer from scratch and deliver it, complete with a great operating system and fabulous software.

There's a lot of money in the field, and it's like getting paid to have fun, if you're lucky enough to have a boss who let's you do things aspie style. That's been the biggest challenge for me - finding bosses who will turn me loose to deliver my best work.

Thanks for that account C.A. I've thought a lot about something in computers. It seems that i have more tenacity with them than with almost anything else, but i have had so much trouble in math that i have to wonder if i can make the grades. I seem to be an excellent non-math problem solver, but have trouble with the symbols in math, i guess. I am willing to work at it as long and hard as it takes, but i just don't have the leisure to get that up to speed first. Are there some lucrative non-math or light math computer related degrees or certificates (with, of course, non people-interactive work)?

Tx also to Pilot P. for the input.

It is backwards to me.

I used to feel genius, but now a lot of inability to do a lot of stuff is beginning to handicap me in relation to others of my age. I am repeating certain college subjects a lot of times because of silly reasons

Vex, that sounds so familiar. When i was young i was tested for the gifted and talented programs repeatedly, but never made it. Looking back it was probably the testing methods that were to blame; not Aspie friendly (plus, i had no diagnosis until now). I had, and still have moments when i literally shock people with what my mind produces, but still had to take an equivalency diploma. At many other times, i know that what i am being 'taught' is deficient, but there is no way someone without the paper credentials will be heard by those who have them. How frustrating to know that i know but not be able to use it! I regularly 'figure' things out only to hear some 'expert' repeat in the media what i already knew. It's flipping maddening to see them getting famous (not that i care about that part) while i'm still sitting here without even a paying job.

All that is to say that if you are young enough to have the blessing of being diagnosed early enough in life to get the help you need for those necessary pieces of paper, don't rest until you get them! Keep on at it, mate. Find your strengths and a work niche that accommodates your quirks and use all you've got. You won't regret the difficulties of getting it done.

Oh, you'll love this - I had to take remedial algebra in college, and to finish my degree, I had to hire a math tutor! But telling a computer how to do math is different from being 'good' in math, because it comes out of a different part of ones brain.

I have actually written very complex calculators for different offices I've worked in, so that people can do very specialized, job-specific calculations, and when I worked for Citigroup, I wrote their whole tax compliance process, and it was totally flawless. Without a computer though, I still count on my fingers!

People who are good in music, languages and logic are MUCH better in my field than mathematicians - invariably! It's kind of funny. They are way too rigid, whereas the people who are naturally creative are much better at wildly inventive problem solving.

I used to think that I was incapable of living up to the academic standards of my peers when I was at school. I thought that I was stupid because I was failing at quite a few things.
This all changed when I had an IQ test early this year. It reassured me that I am not stupid and the reason I failed was based on my lack of motivation...which has caused many problems in my life other than academic.

Even though I am more aware that I have the potential to do well, my lack of motivation is still hindering me from doing this.

Yeah, I almost always got bad grades, but the teachers thought I was smart. I would read all the time. I could draw.I got into college by getting a good SAT score, but got bad grades there too. I majored in Art, and after I graduated, couldn't find work anywhere. Finally, I became an apprentice to a clay sculptor and found I was good at that. Then I got a job in private industry, doing models of consumer products. Now I make digital models of shoes for a major shoe company, and its working out pretty well!

I think lack of motivation is very often related to depressive tendencies. Also, I think that if a person has a tendency towards being more modest and lacking in self-belief, this can contribute to a lack of achievement.

I dont know how many times I have seen people achieve success in an area when actually they didnt have much talent in it, only a strong belief that they can do it. It can clearly be seen that they are not really that good in the area but their self-belief seems to do something to other people's heads and make the other person believe that they are good at it. It is really weird but I have seen it happen.

I wish i had this kind of belief in myself.

I have a similar problem. Technically I am supposed to be a genius, but functionally I am a B student who might as well be totally average... simply because I can't use what I have unless I'm very interested. And I'm not interested in anything I can turn into a career. Either I have a bad case of ADHD, or I need to go and find a guru or something. *sigh*

Thanks so much to you all for your input. This has my bean going in a good direction. I've been doing the personality type tests for assistance but can easily fit into three different types. I think i can analyze those and see where they overlap, etc. I've also been doing some looking into Dyscalculia and think that may be a large part of the answer for me. When i was very young i made a nearly perfect score on my first standardized math exam as well as a perfect score on the language, but then it all went down from there. I also remember getting excited about math early on, but having a good bit of trouble and being slow with the writing part of it. So, of course, that would have made it more difficult to keep up the longer the problems/equations became. I'm looking into it.

City Asylum, thanks for that insider's input on the way things actually are in your field. That is most encouraging. Maybe with the knowledge of what i'm fighting and some help i can make the grades and get into something like that.

Zen_mistress, good observation about being 'modest'. That is likely another strike against me as i will not compete with anyone or stay any course that 'crosses' anyone. I always defer and then never get anywhere. I'm sure i need to understand that better and do something about it.

AspE and Brittany2907, and PilotPirx thanks for that inspiration.

Callista, hang in there with me and let's keep on trying!

Coming absolute dead last in academic performance at my high school, and then finding out that I have a high IQ (genius by the old scale). The irony makes me laugh. I actually never thought I was stupid, nor did I think I was smart, but I saw myself as smarter than many of my peers due to the stupid [and downright mean] things they did.

Mainstream schooling isn't for the autistic.

I'm the opposite. People assume when I display vast knowledge about something, I'm a super genius and I must know about everything, but I only score in the high 120's on IQ tests and I fell rather dumb sometimes

Assuming they were written, is there any possibility that your trouble comes in with the pencil and paper skills on the tests? The mental and physical processes that happen when we do something as simple as transferring an answer from scratch to test sheet are staggering in complexity and number. Any one tiny glitch along the way will ruin the result and a true picture will not be achieved. Did some of the testing involve verbal exchange with another person? The possible mistakes for an Aspie are pretty obvious there.

Any number of these kinds of problems make these tests wild guesses at best. I am coming to believe that only we can really know for ourselves and need to stop letting other people tell us what and how we are. Thomas Edison did not let his school tell him he was deficient, he just went into his lab and did his thing. I think i'm about ready to do the same.

Btw, 120 is not a low score!

nah, there are people that hire solely based on college experience and won't hire those that have hands on experience because the ones hiring really know nothing about the field that they are hiring for.

As far as artists, well I am a musician and have run across other trained musicians who treated me like I was a liar for never having formal training and treating me as though playing by ear is impossible.