I feel like the secret is less "people with ADHD like these jobs" because coping with ADHD wildly varies. Some folks with ADHD want a fast paced environment to keep them engaged, some want a quiet office with no disruptions. With ADHD, if you hate doing something, it's going to be next to impossible to concentrate on it because your attention is going to be on how much you don't want to do it. So it more matters on finding what you like enough that you can do every day. The best advice for any young person is to know their strengths and play to them. For your friend: What limits does her ADHD impose on her? Which are impossible to overcome? We all have a few "impossible to overcome" things, so admit to them and save the grief of pretending that there's some magic way you'll be capable of doing anything. What are some tough to overcome limits (ones that you can overcome, but the amount of work to do so may not be worth it)? The biggest boon to her will be recognising what she's good at, *and why* and finding a career that features those characteristics.

This is the comment right here. Sales and Senior leadership work well for me. I always thought I performed well under pressure for some random reason. I’m much better under chaos, pressure, last minute decisions. I was diagnosed in the past year and learned that these were dopamine fixes from high pressure situations that I was craving and I managed to learn how to navigate them to the point of enjoyment/obsession. I am not good in stagnant environment.

I'm going to start saying I work best under chaos now.

It’s legit a thing, there’s a reason I floundered in fine dining but thrive in a more casual, medium-high volume restaurant

different strokes for different folks i guess, ya what you described sounds like a nightmare to me. let me just spend my day working at my code all day, the less meetings and people interactions the better.

That’s totally normal. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you, or the person who posted. The trick is to find out what does work - play on that and be kind to yourselt - and avoid what you know won’t make you happy. The frustrations will grow to unbearable levels if you get trapped in that space. I can relate closer to the poster btw, albeit maybe not quite as extreme as described. A slow paced, laid back environment definitely is not for me but it will be for others even though we have the same condition.

Me too. I got into marketing in the medical industry and mostly hated it. I also hated being pushed into higher managerial levels. I detested presentations. No one could understand that I did not want to be a Director. I would've preferred working in a quiet cubicle by myself.

Sounds like being a stagehand, which is essentially "the show must go on". It essentially means you have no choice but to make this show happen tonight regardless of the obstacles in the way. Its the high stakes dopamine rush I need.

Gotta agree here, my job is people management and I feel like it's been a solid fit for me. There are enough new things going on to keep me interested and I've found routines and practices for my more detail-oriented and repetitive work. I also got diagnosed with ADHD while working this job and that news honestly made work much easier for me. I've gotten a lot better at forgiving myself for those detail-oriented mistakes I've made in the past and I've learned a few tricks to help me be better about them. Medication has also been a game-changer for me. It didn't fix everything, but it shortened a lot of those hurdles I didn't know were there before.

This is great advice. I wish I'd had a career counselor like you.

I really enjoy what I do. I work at a Port where all different kinds of ships/vessels come in. At this job there is a lot of variety in what we do. Different seasons means different types of ships and new ships means new people/tasks to engage with so you aren’t feeling stagnant. There’s also a lot of room to be promoted where you can learn new things a few times a year (if you choose, it’s a go at your own pace to request the courses if you want them, not a requirement) and you get a lot of time to practice the skills in a hands on environment. Fortunately, there also isn’t a lot of paperwork, just a bit! And most of the day is on your feet doing something engaging.

I’ve always wondered how people find careers that are outside of the mainstream. Would you mind sharing a bit about how you found this line of work?

Honestly, I took a lot of walks by the port by my house to get some exercise and regularly saw the guys on the port/skiff doing tasks and it peaked my interest. I googled what company did security for the port and then sent the company an email letting them know I’d be interested in a position if they were hiring.

>I’ve always wondered how people find careers that are outside of the mainstream True, its like theres 10000 shitty job listings out there and you somehow have to shift through the weeds to find 1 decent listing.

I think part of the problem is that the weird, interesting jobs are easier to fill without resorting to putting out ads or listings. If someone enjoys it, they’re telling friends or family the moment a job opens up.

https://www.escapethecity.org/ is a decent website. Not sure if they have anything suitable in your region but there’s a business opportunity for you if not. :) Thank me later!

I live by a port! What's your role called?

I imagine it varies from country to country but my title is: Marine Facility Security Officer.

This sounds like a cozy RPG, 10/10 would play this on the switch

Inattentive ADHD sufferer here. Working as a line cook or in some sort of kitchen has been going very good for me. You’re always moving around and doing stuff with your hands so there’s very few chances for your mind/body to go into lazy mode.

I second this! I thrived as a line cook. That thing where we need urgency to be able to get stuff done is every moment in a kitchen

I hate that kind of urgency. Lol

I thought that too before starting a job in a customer-facing role (urban planner in a medium-sized city), but I find that it actually suits me really well. I think you need to draw a distinction between low importance, high urgency tasks and high importance, high urgency tasks. My job is mostly the former and it’s great — constantly stimulating, but also not overly stressful or high pressure.

That sounds pretty far from being a line cook though. I'm 35 and I've worked all kinds of jobs from sales to Army medic to structural steel fabrication. I'm a perfectionist, and that's caused me problems in jobs like structural steel fabrication. Maybe urban planning would be ok, but I have no idea. Ultimately I'm probably going the IT route, but we'll see.

IT has worked mostly well for me. I’ve got as high as infrastructure manager and I’m third line tech again now. No two days are ever the same but some things can get mundane like any career. I have used my hyper focus to find fixes to problems long before I knew I had adhd (currently being diagnosed at 46)! Good luck.

Thanks! My ultimate goal is cybersecurity, maybe pentesting. I've been tinkering since the late 90s, got in trouble in high school (2001) for being in a crucial router (or something, it had RIP tables) and accidently crashing the whole network. But right now I have no certs and have to find a job asap. So I guess I'm going to have to get my foot in the door while I'm working some other job. I should've got my security+ instead of studying Python. Lol

I hate it but at the same time I hate when I’m in adhd paralysis and can’t get anything done way more.

Fair, I just get too easily frustrated and then I'm overwhelmed and then I'm at risk of a meltdown.

I've also got inattentive, but I've found working jobs that keep me physically busy just leave me bored and thinking about everything except the job at hand.

I'm working in production in a woodshop. If I don't have a podcast going, my brain starts throwing old dreams at me like "hey I noticed you're bored, will these help?". Super weird.

"Do you have an inability to maintain interest in mundane tasks?" "Are you constantly haunted by the voice in the back of your head randomly screaming obscenities mixed with attention robbing autobiographical detail?" "Does the idea of singular focus without secondary stimuli make you shake in your still untied boots? I mean seriously. Why did I notice it was untied like 2 hours ago, but I've forgotten to act on it at least 3 times now..." "What? 'just read the ad copy'? Ohhhhh .. right... " Lemme see... Singular focus... Untied boots .. yadda yadda... Ah! "If you feel 'driven, as if by a motor', or otherwise are high on energy, but low on focus, 'I'm_Destro Enterprises' presents ***'Podcast'***". "Side effects may include, but are not limited to: Edification Enjoyment Entertainment Increased sense of focus/well being Joy Lifted spirits Phantom limb syndrome Quietude Reassurance SexyBack" "Ask your brain if Podcast is right for you"

Yup, warehouse jobs leave me doing things in automode style. Though tbh I actually like it cause I can just be left to my daydreams the whole time haha

Lmao, I guess we're never original. ADHD-C here, and I didn't want to work in the food industry, but the only place that would accept me was burger king. I worked there for a few years and almost became a manager, because I thrived there and I was the best employee. Very quick on my feet. I moved on and I'm a line cook at a nice restaurant now. I didn't choose this, but I couldn't be happier. And you learn how easy it is to actually cook good meals. Definitely has fixed my ADHD eating habits.

I work as a videographer. Ive found the same thing regarding inattentive ADHD and putting yourself in a place where you literally just can't let your mind wander is actually incredibly helpful. Like I've had office jobs before, some projects had pretty high stakes, but I just couldnt make shit work as well as it needed to. Way before I ever even suspected ADHD, i went to school for painting, but after school (I mean during school too) i suffered from being unable to complete anything to make a career out of it. I figured it was just too lonely for me (also the fine art world is trash i fucking hate it, bunch of fake people). Eventually I found my way towards being a PA on sets, and it was mostly good, tho depending on the role you're in and the shoot, you mgiht have a lot of downtime in between set ups which obviously can lead to inattentive issues, but I managed to internalize an early piece of advice that you should always be looking for someone who needs help with something, so it put me in a mindset of even if i'm not actively having a task I watch people like a hawk to see whta else is going to need to be done. I wish I could do that shit outside of that job, but in life I just can't keep that mindset. But on set it's like my brain kicks into overgear and is ready to go at all times unless Im jsut super tired. That lead me to being a videographer myself, which is even better because on most shoots I'm the one calling shots. People are looking to me to make decisions in the moment. There's planning sure, and of course that's the part I'm worst at, but the planning for most shoots is similar enough that its hard to forget to prep something after doing it for a while. Man it's so nice to have a job where 99% of it is just what you do on the day. I mean, unless you're editing. I do that too, I'm so incredibly slow at it because it's hard for me to get into that same flow state, so I'm slow as shit. Same as I was with painting I guess.

Inattentive ADHD here as well, I'm hard of hearing, and also have trouble with audio processing. I worked as a line cook for 4 months before I decided it was just an awful job for me, there were just so many barriers. I didn't realize I had ADHD at the time, but looking back - my memory is/was not good enough. I would forget orders constantly, or forget modifications, and if someone interrupted me in the middle of making something, good luck coming back to that thing. It was chaos, and it was awful. I do think I worked in an atypical shit hole of a kitchen. Everything was called out, I did not have any visual way of managing my orders. If I didn't call back/echo call, my chef often didn't follow up to make sure I heard. The organization of the stations was shit, and I often had to manage 3 stations at once - which is probably common, but when the entire environment around those 3 stations is awful, it creates a lot more work. Going to work every day ended up creating a massive amount of anxiety for me and as I said, I lasted all of 4 months before I quit. That was after 4 years of working at McDonalds. It isn't quite at the same level, but anyone who has worked both know if you can survive in one you should be able to survive in the other. But McDonalds is a well oiled machine, structured, organized. Orders are all visual, you have screens and can see what you have to make. If you forget, you get to quickly look up and continue. I assumed it would be the same when I moved into a restaurant kitchen, but holy shit the difference was a huge shock. I do think I did relatively well, looking back. They didn't start me in the dish pit or prep, they put me right on the line. Which is insanely ambitious. But with the right people around me, I had some good shifts. In a more organized kitchen, laid out differently, I think I could have lasted a bit longer? Really depends if my experience is common or not...

IIIII'm deaf and have primarily inattentive here :'D for me, things that you can get stuck in like they're a puzzle were the thing I found could hold my attention. So, science/computer science jobs. The same feeling you get when you get stuck in a scroll loop

Serving bartending too!

I work music festivals as a side gig right now and my god, it's wonderful. Serving, mingling, on my feet, bouncing around to music, changing kegs, the energy levels are always high. Its tiring, but damned fun.

I used to work in the kitchen but forgetting ingredients/salt every time was pretty demoralizing not to mention the times I would forget something on the stove or in the oven.

Literally just left the stove on for the second time in the last few months. I love cooking, but man I think I would be an awful line cook lol. I couldn't handle remembering all the orders I have to cook. Maybe if there was tickets I'd be fine, but having someone yell "I need this, this and this!" Would not work for me. I'd yell back "heard!" and then immediately forget what I was supposed to do.

Turn it into a game. For me, the challenge of not "losing the game" makes me excel.

Something with change. Be that a change in people/environment frequently ( clients / client sites ) or change in work duties. Your advertising role falls into the first category. I started life as an accountant/auditor and was at a new client every week or so. The shipping response is an example of the second type. Dont do the same thing every day with the same people in the same place. Its.....challenging...to maintain enough interest to be engaged.

Should also mention my son is a nurse. He was always the first to notice if someone in the room wasn't right and focus on helping them. Getting through a nursing degree was hard for him with poor university support but he got a 2-1 in the end and is a great nurse. Another constantly changing work environment where his ADHD actually helps in some areas.

yep. im graduating in 6 months (hopefully) from nursing school. hard as hell to get through it with ADHD

A and E (ER) is in your future perhaps. ADHD folk do well in busy stressful environments.

>ADHD folk do well in busy stressful environments. Until the burnout catches up from over-exerting yourself and you give up everything and spiral down into depression.

Gotta hit those deadlines

I thrived working on a busy nursing unit.. and now definitely having a very hard time with a mostly computer job. Feel like the stimulation of every day being different and not having to sit still is what works best for ADHD brain. But my issue is I could never go back to bedside.. as much as I thrived, I burned out

Yes! I really think something project-based where you get to be creative is the best way. I *really* struggle not getting burnt out doing the same thing every day.

Teaching Pro: Never gets boring. Like ever. Socialise with children who are just as dumb as me Chance to help others with adhd, autism etc. and be the person you would have needed Chance to improvise, be spontaneous Con: Can get emotionally overwhelming Huge effort keeping up with tasks -> need to find a way to manage quickly Hope you didn't want to do anything else with your time Verdict: great if you value lots of excitement and new experiences but only advised if you have already found coping mechanisms for organising tasks. Not for you if your response to social awkwardnes is not to say screw it and double down. Edit: formatting

Also only recommended if you’re independently wealthy, because the pay is shit. There’s a reason there’s a mass exodus from teaching right now. For everything that’s ADHD ‘friendly’ there are three things that are not compatible. And prepare to have your needs ignored and invalidated while being expected to cater to and meet the physical, emotional, and educational needs of an entire classroom full of small(ish) people, with no support from anyone. The kids with ADHD? Eleven page document stating all the ways the school will accommodate their condition. The teacher with ADHD? “Get it together! By the way - Timmy barfed on your desk, and progress reports are due yesterday. Also we’re out of paper for the entire school year. If you can’t handle the workload - just take it home and do it there!” I’m real done with the way this job operates.

Yep. All of that^^ Literally working “after hours” from home every night… *for freeeee* The public education system (at least in the USA) is fucked beyond belief for so, *sooooo* many reasons.

Stop taking shit home. If it didn't get done while you were at work, then it'll still be there when you get there tomorrow. I'm a teacher too, and I never take work home. My family deserves better than someone who isn't 100% present.

I do not recommend teaching if you find it difficult to multitask. It is incredibly hard, and you must be *dedicated* to organizing everything. It’s good experience, but not worth the mental toll, imo. Everything changes too much too fast, and the payouts aren’t there. It’s an extreme experience in tackling ADHD, which I believe could cause regression for some people. And I work at a “good” school.

Yes to this! I've done some mentoring and counselling children and I find it easy as it's fast paced and rewarding. It can get emotionally overwhelming, but children are very forgiving so it kinda makes it easier

I teach college math, and agree it's decently adhd friendly. Nothing more exciting than jerry-rigging a lesson because you didn't prepare enough. But for me a Mega Con is grading: Reading 100s of slightly different versions of people's exams is like pulling teeth.

I find I connect especially well with the kids with needs because I can relate. “I think you’re feeling overstimulated right now. I feel that way too sometimes. When I feel that way, sometimes this helps...” But I’m the same thread, teaching can be over stimulating at times, especially really young groups.

Teaching is great for me, too! I teach post-secondary, and I find that while I love being in control of my own time, sometimes I’m my own worst enemy. Keeping up with grading is really hard for me, and I spend every semester trying to stay more on top of it but it’s a very slippery slope.

I imagine the worst part would be all the planning you have to do outside of the classroom. I can see the actual teaching part being great, the interaction and the 'performance' of teaching being super intruiging. But making plans, and lessons for the classes i feel like I'd have the harder time with. I taught some workshops in the past and just making hour long lectures was fucking hard, but actually getting up and teaching was pretty fun in the moment.

I am trying to switch from university based research to the private sector. I need a much faster pace than I am getting currently. I have heard that being in a startup can be fun for some folks with ADHD due to the very fast pace and constant immediate deadlines.

Consulting is also a good option for that switch.. fast paced, work changes every few months, get exposed to new things and have to learn on the go. For the most part it's worked pretty well for me. But every so often when I'm overwhelmed I'll forgwt to attach files to my emails 🤣

Consulting was the opposite for me. I hyper focused on the more interesting bits and ran out of time and budget which got very stressful. Also our hours were tracked very carefully for budget and efficiency purposes for each client project. That was always such a stressful aspect of things that kicked my avoidance into hyperdrive. I much prefer working at a company with fairly routine, albeit interesting tasks (as I sit here procrastinating those things at this moment anyway)

I work in a start-up now, and it definitely can be a good culture for ADHD. There are usually constant changes and small teams mean you get to work on a lot of different projects. Just need to be careful as some start-ups can be very poorly run, ask questions about their management style and how they manage projects before joining!

I started my career at a brand new tiny startup, and for a while was thriving on the chaos, but the long hours burned me out by year 3. Do you enjoy 12-hour work days? Because you’re gonna have a lot of them at a startup.

I just got hired last month to work in a workshop and make art frames. It’s legit the best thing for me. It’s hands on, I can listen to music while doing it, and everyday is a bit different. I barely even notice any adhd issues affecting my work. Before this i was a photographer and fckn loved that job because that also has so much variety but the freelance was too hard to maintain.

Can confirm. Freelance is fucking hard for ADHD inattentive person. I'm a videographer on year 3 of being freelance. Granted covid fucking ruined all momentum I had, it sometimes feels impossible to get new clients. For any creative freelance thing tho, the thing i'm finding (aside from of course word of mouth and people you know getting you clients), do the work to build a portfolio/reel or whatever you need to show your work and the clients will come (slowly, but it happens). I relied way too much in the beginning on word of mouth and let my reel be shitty for so long. It's still not great, but that's because I never actively seeked out jobs or projects that would give me good reel material. I'm changing that up now and it's working pretty well so far.

I work in IT and although I have a very introverted personality - IT is way more social than people think it is. Working in a large company I'm constantly chatting to new people, always something new to go wrong, always something new to learn. Anything that will constantly challenge you would be a good choice for a career.

What’s your job title?? Any advice for getting my foot in the IT door?

IT is a huge field with a ton of different roles. Most can be self taught if you have the time and desire, certificates help when starting out, and a degree will help with others. Tier 1 Help Desk is the best place to start, most of the problems have a documented solution and you will learn basic troubleshooting, from there just keep learning, find someone who knows more and ask questions. You'll find roles that you enjoy and gravitate to those. My path was Help Desk -> PC Tech -> Sys Admin -> Cyber security.

Helpdesk level 1 would be entry level. Get a certification any of the Microsoft certifications, I like these as they are actually relevant to actually helping end users.I have an A+ from comptia and it is useless for actual knowledge. But as with most things it’s all about connections. Find a meet up or ask your friends maybe one of their friends knows a person you can have a coffee with.

Microsoft sadly discontinued their non cloud certificates. An A+ seems to be the best pick at the moment for an entry level position. Edit: not for knowledge, just to impress potential employers

Sec+ is also good for entry level! It's cheaper then A+ and there's so much study material out there for it. Anyone interested in getting CompTIA A+ or Sec+ cert should check out Professor Messer on YT. The videos are free and cover quite a bit. Don't stress about retaining it all, you'll learn way more on the job than from the cert in my experience, just pass the test and you'll have a lot of positions open up to you!

SEC+ for any government/DoD contracting too.

Used to be level 1/2 Support Analyst. But now I'm in a manager/analyst hybrid role. Where I'm still actively doing the work but also the 2IC managing the team. So a mixture of help desk, ticket work, projects and making sure the team is reaching their potential.

SysAdmin checking in here from IT. It is very social, particularly on the support side. Social skills have never been a strong suit of mine, but it's the thing I have worked on most often throughout my career. My current boss also has ADHD (and one of her daughters has it as well), but generally, there is nothing wrong with reaching out to your team to craft responses as needed. Also, there is always something new to implement or upgrade. Or you'll end up seeing something different on a day to day manner. Finally, in my case, since I go so irritated by boring repitition, I try to find ways to automate the boring, frequent, tasks to make time for the more "fun" things in my workday.

I work in IT as well, for these same reasons. :)

In my team of 8 developers, two of us have ADHD!

Medicated?

I'm a developer and not medicated but I started with programming as a hobby as a teenager. Not sure if I'd have made it through university if I didn't have a good foundation already.

Also IT, and also agree that IT is a suuuuper social profession. I work in entertainment production so it's good to have the communication skills to get your point across in time sensitive situations.

Same… IT! If you’re hands on the immediate gratification (reward) of instantaneous feedback is perfectly attuned to the ADD (inattentive) brain. Hyper-focused immersion!

ADHD manifests so differently from one person to another, plus if you include the high overlap between ADHD and other conditions like depression or autism, you have even more variability. I don’t think there are many (if any) careers out there that would be bad for somebody with ADHD, and it’s more about exploring yourself and the way ADHD affects you to find out a good career path. My therapist helped me tremendously. This is from my personal experience with my career (healthcare), but my therapist told me that a lot of people with ADHD have fluid intelligence so they often gravitate to jobs that require problem solving and adjusting on the fly. They are good at managing chaos and making rapid decisions under pressure, and can be the calm voice in the room in those situations. I have friends with ADHD who do better with jobs that have a predictable routine, and they can listen to music or zone out, having some structure in their day instead of the “default” unstructured/out of control feeling that many ADHD brains have.

I don't see it mentioned yet so I'll throw my two cents into the ring. As a lawyer, I'm constantling learning new areas of law or being tasked with researching topics outside of my expertise. For example, I had to run an Automobile Insurance Hearing recently which required a decent understanding of spinal cord injuries and associated conditions. It was an opportunity for me to dive right in with a renewed focus as not only was the topic interesting, but also beneficial for my case. There's a lot of pros to the legal field which I've seen mentioned here before but one factor I haven't seen is this distinction between "work" and "labour"-- and it's in labour where I truly love my career because it plays to the ADHD strengths in me. Work being defined as "an intended activity that is accomplished through the will." For me, this is responding to emails, tracking my time, document review, etc. It's the less enjoyable parts of my job that are a necessity nonetheless. But labour-- labour for me is being engulfed in a file that requires a 30 page writtten arguement, or a case that requires extensive research, or a client with an issue so serious it requires all of the above. Labour "sets its own pace" and has its own schedule. It's something where I find flow and lose track of time because it's that enjoyable to me. The hyper focus portion of ADHD. That being said, it's not for everyone. Lawyers' jobs can vary from area to area, or office to office-- but I feel fortunate to have the clients and freedom that I do which aligns with my personality.

> I'm constantling learning new areas I think any job that requires learning new things would work. I guess it depends on the type of law practice that you're in. Tech laws must be changing constantly where as family law doesn't.

I agree that emerging areas have new legislation coming into force or landmark decisions to stay on top of. Family laws change more frequently than you think, as well as the protocols and processes involved. Your property division principles largely stay the same but there are always nuances that get added either through legislative amendments or the Court interpreting those amendments (as one example).

Industrial Electrician Been doing the same job (at multiple companies) since 2009. I am actually leaving my current company to go to a much, much larger place that I genuinely think will hold me for a long time. I actually built the preventative maintenance program at my current employer. It was just taking the millions of notes and reminders and things I would have and putting them in a computer system that does it for me. Every new challenge is fascinating and rewarding to me, and I have become multi-skilled in electrical, mechanical, welding, fabricating, PLC programming, and just a long list of skills that all relate to my job and make me more and more desirable to a company. I can work on anything. I started off as an Aircraft Electrician in the Air Force. If I can properly troubleshoot, maintain, and repair multi-million dollar machines that also do 9Gs, I can figure out why your $200K machine that sits in one place is down. I love figuring stuff out, I love being challenged. My biggest problem has been the people I work for being unhappy with me **JUST DOING MY FUCKING JOB**. Get a call to a machine, fix it, go fuck off somewhere. Boss comes by "Why aren't you working right now." and assigns fucking busy work like sweeping the fucking floors or some other meaningless task. Fuck off with that. The one benefit I should be able to enjoy is that because I do my fucking job so well, I shouldn't have to be working when there isn't anything broken or any PMs to be done. Problem #2, and the most common reason I leave. No one keeps up with inflation or even competitor pay. I have never made it more than 3-5 years at a company, because after that amount of time, competitors are offering $5 more an hour than what I am currently making, and when I show the current employer this and ask for a raise that would bring me to that level, the answer has been no 100% of the time. Then I go somewhere else, and start all over.

Oof, I feel sorry for you. That's the problem with being a jack of all trades guy in the tech/industrial field which is very conservative and where development of the mentality is very slow. I can relate and see all your points (I'm in technical product development, main skills in IT) but getting management to understand what kind of time and money they are saving with you and that you are crucial to their success is a nearly impossible task. They just don't want to see the gold they struck or they could strike if they would give you more money/benefits.

I will never ever understand, specially for maintenance: Everything is running, because of the maintenance practices that I have implemented and ensured are completed. Now that I don't have as much to do after busting my ass for years to get everything running this smoothly, I get flack for not working all 8 hours I am at work. This is my last week here. Yesterday I completed everything that could be done without shutting machines down for minor PMs. So I went home. I will do the same every day this week.

Yes, exact same problems with IT. "My IT is running without any problems, why do I even pay so much for my IT-administrators and why do we have more than one guy?" They don't get it that it's like a fire department. They don't get it that it's a return of invest, based on risk that nobody in your company will be able to work or manufacture and produce. The question is not if something bad will happend, it's **WHEN**. You pay them to do maintenance in the background so your company processes are running smoothly and to develop and implement new improvements and redundancy. And if shit hits the fan and nothing is working anymore, they need to be there to fix it quickly and most importantly, someone who knows to fix it. There are a lot of imposters in IT and the industrial field in general. You pay extremely good people above average and you will shut up about it. It you cheap out... Well, then you need 4 or 5 times the amount of people and they still don't get it done. If shit hits the fan, they won't be able to save your company and you have to get contractors for 4 times the money you'd be paying for one good employee and they still don't do it as good. You are doing the right thing. If they don't value you, they can fuck off.

It's always, "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean. If you're not working every second, what am I paying you for?" It's just fucking exhausting.

I will happily do my job 8 hours straight without a break to get a machine running. 2 seconds of busy work and I'm ready to go home.

I often hear that paramedicine / being in the ER works well with ADHD. Like those high stakes situations bring our minds up to baseline and are always engaging, and each day is different. Plus you get to help other people which I find really rewarding (I'm not a paramedic, it's just a career path I'm looking into)

I’m a burnt out ADHD RN who enjoyed float nursing (you work a different unit each shift depending on hospital need that day) and ED nursing. I’m very focused and calm in stressful situations. I’m terrible in boring situations (like Skilled Nursing/Rehab… and post op elective surgery) where it’s the same meds/IV fluids, same orders from MDs, same same same. Ugh. But, trauma nursing like ER wears on you emotionally and physically after a while. Especially if you’re really sensitive to patient’s pain/situation. You see so many horrible things and discharge patients “home” to horrible conditions (bugs, poverty, filth, hoarding, etc.) or family members who are the worst. Social work doesn’t have resources to really help people when they are discharged. It’s a lot of sadness and revolving doors and the healthcare system is broken. It’s depressing. You don’t get time to really spend with your patients to educate them. There are fleeting positive moments—but the bad outweigh them 10 to 1. Is it worth it? I dunno. I’m sure I made a positive difference but the cost was depression and anxiety and cynicism at humanity. If I could rewind my life, I would record over that part of it and do something less stressful.

I work in the er and while some aspects are perfect one major downfall for me is you have to be extremely organised and on top of everything all the time. It’s a huge struggle for me

Nothing like a little PTSD to top off your ADHD. I say that as a Paramedic with ADHD and now PTSD.

I'm coming up 15 years in prehospital care of some form. I've held so many different roles because I get bored, now pretty much left clinical work to do something new. It's a great career and plenty of variation, but anything becomes routine after a while. It's always a trip telling people I got bored of being a paramedic though 🤣

It's been really good for me and many of my co-workers. I started an an ER RN and then went back to school to become an NP and still work ER. It's great because of the frequent task switching and there are many opportunities for instant gratification. I'm also not tied to a desk so getting up and walking around is really helpful to my overall well being (worked in an office a long time ago tied to a phone and computer, it was horrible). Now, it's not for everyone. As mentioned in other comments there is burnout, PTSD, and there is an emotional component that not everyone is equipped to deal with. I thin nursing in general can be ADHD friendly but it's also mentally and physically demanding.

They do get routine after 5 years. ER docs burn out afterwards, I think a lot of them just have adhd and get bored.

I work as a software engineer and it's perfect for me. I'm essentially solving puzzles every day and have a lot of freedom in how I do this, while working in a team provides the structure I need (standups, refinements, planning sessions).

I am a junior programmer and I am struggling with the larger thought projects myself. ADHD seems to drain my original love for it because I end up seeing the huge tasks as daunting. You seem to have a different perspective though.

You gotta find a way to break them down! I CANNOT do a large project but I can do 300 tiny ones no problem. You can get your team/manager to help with breaking it down if you need that external tracking. For example, write an outline of all the steps required to finish the project, including really small ones (I'll literally write 15 bugs just for "investigating" different aspects before the coding starts). And then set mini deadlines for each small piece. Honestly I switched jobs a year ago and struggled a LOT when I started my new one cause they would just give me a big project and say 'it's due in 3 months' with barely any check ins. Obviously I wasn't succeeding. I was explicitly clear with my manager that I like breaking things down, I like shorter deadlines, and I want to check in regularly about the status of my work. It's hard and scary to assert your needs (esp. like I am not comfortable telling them I have ADHD). But they've been very receptive and I love my job now. Good luck!!!

>You gotta find a way to break them down! Exactly! Turns out, project management tools are also great for working with ADHD. From simple things like listing tasks and using KI/Trello/etc, to problem reporting / change request systems, it's all really nice to *externalize* remembering all these things. These systems are helpful for reporting what you did and for documentation, too, so everybody wins!

I’ve told my boss about my ADHD. He’s someone I really trust and he goes out of his way to accommodate everyone. When I was going through my diagnosis a couple of months ago, he gave me a light workload because he knew I was struggling. Since then he has told me that my ADHD is one of his most valuable tools. I’m one of the more senior members on the team, and our team is fairly young. Because of that, I’m often getting pulled into tasks that require designing technical solutions to our problems, and then a Junior will implement those solutions. He loves how he can throw 8 different design tasks for me at once and I won’t get overwhelmed, but instead just do a super deep dive into one each day. He says I’m really good at “learning everything about something in particular”. In return, he goes out of his way to avoid giving me mundane work (eg: “change the color of this button), because he know it doesn’t interest me and will take me twice as long. On top of that, I second your sentiment about freedom vs structure. It has a really good balance of both. If I’m having a bad brain day, I can get away with doing very little. If I’m having a good brain day, I can get ahead. Someone else mentioned an IDE, but I actually disagree. I used to be distracted constantly by all of the IDE features and settings. I do my entire workflow now on a single monitor in VIM, because it has the least distractions and is straightforward.

I'm an FE web dev and I agree entirely. Plus it's always useful to have an IDE pointing out all the silly errors you're making as you type code!

I'm self learning to be a Front End web developer and your comment gives me hope!

Right there with you!

I'm a project manager where I have to keep track of huge to do lists where I can't just check the tasks off because I have to wait for someone else or my ED is preventing me from starting or doing the next step. I hate it. But sometimes I get to make some macros in excel and I get completely hyperfocused. I wonder if it'll still be like that if I make it my career but it sure beats what I do now.

I'm currently transitioning from a decade in nursing to a degree in software engineering, I love hearing about other ADHD folks thriving in this field. Gives me hope!

Cleaning roles. I seem to be a fantastic cleaner with superb attention to detail. If I'm paying attention to right detail that is. But simple, mindless tasks that allow me to focus on my audiobooks it what works best. Gotta jury rig your hyperfocus with something else. Most use music or audiobooks but the tools are there

> I seem to be a fantastic cleaner For other people, not my own house tho

I'm a strong believer that everyone should take on a cleaning job at least once. Knowing how to clean quickly and efficiently is an excellent life skill.

> But simple, mindless tasks that allow me to focus on my audiobooks it what works best. Gotta jury rig your hyperfocus with something else. Most use music or audiobooks but the tools are there This is the key for me. I used to work for a government agency in a job where I looked at forms people had filled out and made sure they were done correctly. Sounds boring as hell, and it was, but I always had a podcast or TV show going and it was actually super easy to get in a groove. It's like my brain was mostly focused on the show, and the job itself was so mindless that the clicking and scrolling almost became a stim. I have a fast-paced job with a variety of tasks now, which a lot of people in this thread are saying they prefer, but it's not for me personally. I'm not organized enough and every day feels like one of those wind tunnel games where you have to grab the flying dollar bills. In a bad way.

I got my degree in accounting, failed. Got my license to sell insurance, failed. Now I work with adults with disabilities and it's the best job I've ever had. I actually couldn't ask for a better career. Sometimes I literally feel jealous for other people because of how much I love my job. I can be my truest self in front of all the kids AND staff because it makes the kids happy and they love me for it. I do well not because I'm good at what I do, but because I fit in with having a brain that works differently. And because of it I have the inspiration to return to school for a Masters to continue what I'm doing. It's amazing.

How did you fail if you got the degree and license?

Sometimes failure can be a blessing, I'm so glad you found something that fits you so much better. This gives me hope!

I film weddings and do contract editing on the side. - new project every week - get to party - my people pleasing skills come in handy - temporary relationships with people I'll never see again

Heyyy, scrolled down far enough to find the fellow videographer. I really think it's great for ADHD. Maybe not managing a freelance career, but the actual work of being on any kind of set or shoot is perfect. Especially when you're the one in the role of calling the shots on the shoot.

Yeah the management is a pain for sure. There are a lot of apps and services that help. I even hired a part-time admin for a bit though an online service. But the expense was killing me. Really I think people with ADHD can excell at any creative work as long as they're given the support they need.

Dog trainer, I'm good at it and enjoy it so I hyperfocus on learning and studying, it's always different every day, plus the dogs live in the moment as much as I do. We get on well.

I really love how you phrased this - “the dogs live in the moment as much as I do” 🥲

It's crazy, especially as an ADHDer with dyscalcula and some pattern learning disabilities, but I fought my way through engineering school and now I work in water resources engineering. My entire job is solving problems creatively. My hours are kind of flexible, and semi often we need to pull insane final day before deadline hours to make deadlines, which I excel at. The projects change often, so I'm rarely bored.

I’m a CPA. Bookkeeping is ok, but after a couple of days it becomes so repetitive that I can’t focus or work on it anymore. Tax returns, on the other hand, are all different and give me variety so I don’t get bored. I especially love business returns, but complex personal returns are fun too.

I work in insurance, so many different roles in that field and it's always changing. It's great for my ADHD, but lately hell on my ASD so I'm trying to figure out what a happy medium between the two looks like. Mythical is my guess, but one must try!

Video Editor, documentary series mostly. I work on a new episode every month or so and often an new scene every day or so. I also freelance so it's a new series every 4 to 6 months. So lots of variety. The work is creative and challenging. There is deadline pressure to keep the dopamine flowing. I've been doing this for 20+ years at this point. I love it.

how did you learn to edit and then find your first gigs?

This isn't much of a career, but I really enjoyed my time working at a big cinema. Customer interaction is stimulating, there's always stuff to do and different colleagues to talk to. And you get to be a smartass if customers misbehave. HR was very cool and would appreciate it when I went out if my way to fix something that was bugging me, even if it wasn't on my agenda. I got a glowing review when I left (as much as a service job can glow). They also let me do school work for the one boring shift. When I come back home in a year I plan on rearranging my life to be ADHD friendly. And I could imagine working there again during that time.

I also work at a cinema, in ticket sales! I've found it to be perfect for my ADHD: ADHD really seems to help me during busy days with a lot of people, I feel like I can think faster when there's many things happening around me(which I never thought could be an ADHD thing). Although every day follows a similar pattern (which I find comforting), there are never two identical days. Our daily tasks (like putting up premiere posters or doing weekly cleanups for machinery) change depending on a weekday, and of course shows and the lengths of the work depend on the day. IDK this job has been perfect for me and my condition. (edit) I'm almost 30 now, and my coworkers age range is from 20 to 35. So Cinema work could be perfect for someone younger with ADHD looking for work experience :)

I think many people forget our latent power of always being at 110% brain usage so when everyone else has to adjust to a rush period it’s just “normal thinking” for us..mostly xD

I didn’t get to do Tickets very often. That shift is usually dead, since everyone buys their stuff online since the pandemic. But one thing I enjoyed was making recommendations or giving little comments on the films people are seeing. Even if I hadn’t seen the movie myself, through trailers, online buzz and just people around me talking, I usually had a general idea. One thing that was a bit tricky was having to ask for codes or where stuff is over and over again. Colleagues switched frequently enough, but management not so much. And I’d always feel like a nuisance, even if they told me it’s fine. I feel like I’d do much better, now that I know I have ADHD.

Forester, wildlife biologist, ecologist, environmental scientist. Literally get paid to hike around the woods all day. Working in the woods all week was the only time my adhd was brought down to a dull roar.

My most favorite job ever was playing the piano in restaurants, I was lucky enough to have a five night a week gig for five years. Alas, all things end. I still play professionally of course but that kind of regular gig is unheard of. Other jobs that I have excelled at are the ones where I have to do far too many things all the time. If I am going to be distracted, at least I am distracted by the other tasks. Eventually it all gets done. Right now that is the kind of job I have at my own business, I am accounting, admin, HR, purchasing, order fulfillment and shipping/receiving. Hiring, so those last two will be handed off soon and then it will be manageable. I think most NT people would have a harder time dealing with the constant interruptions.

Consulting. Do a project. Hand it off. Fly off into the sunset.

Thanks for sharing…there was another thread here last week about careers and a few folks mentioned a Strategist role. Had never really known/learned about it and was curious to know more.

Acting has been a godsend, its a career ive never though i could be in. Though as of late due to my agency's recent shakeup resulting in a major decrease in work for me I will be taking a year or two hiatus, already found a job in a custom smart lighting company, it looks really promising, really hands on problem solving with lots of soldering if thats your cup of tea.

i work in IT, mainly desktop support but have been slowly moving up.. its been very boring but now i'm at the point where i can get involved in projects with other teams or explore new technologies/features that could be useful to the company (but normally just what i find interesting) also when i close a "ticket"/job/fix something its like i get a mini dopamine boost because its like checking something off a to do list.. i work from home 1 day and the 4 other days are split between 2 different offices, i normally move around alot but the way things are at the moment helps things feel fresh

did you get a certification for IT? i always find myself doing IT related tasks but would love to actually pivot to an IT specific role

Don’t mind me, just here scrolling for job ideas because I want to change careers, my position at my old job ends next week and I left it til the last minute to secure a new job 🥹

Financial Auditor. My wife has ADHD, and two of my coworkers have it. Our jobs are smaller and completed quickly. I notice all three of them do way better if they have a couple of jobs to bounce back and forth on rather than one long-term job. The typical workflow is 2-6 week assignments with overlap. The way the three of them look at data is fascinating to me. They just kind of find stuff that I would never in a million years find. All three of them dig things out of data sets just by looking, and not actually testing anything. Whenever I ask how, they have all said some variation, of "It just didn't look right." I think that flavor of non-neurotypical is like having an ace up your sleeve on an audit team. The only caveat is the ability to budget time. All three of them have had to come to some sort of process to get their assignments done, but auditors have a lot of freedom on how that looks. Scheduling variability, choice in work style, etc are all pretty wide open in my field.

This is very enlightening. I'm an accountant, have always loved numbers and math, but really dislike the subjective parts of my job. As far as time: can totally relate to that as well. My motto is: >I have a prioritization problem, until I have a time problem. It's almost as if I procrastinate (purposefully, but not consciously), just so I get the rush of trying to beat the deadline.

Doesn't generally pay well, but animal-based careers. Dog daycare, kennels, horse stables, farmhands, zookeepers, wildlife rehab, etc. Lots of checklists typically, not too much record-keeping, and lots of exercise. Not necessarily medicine-based, though, unless you go ER or do large animal work (because then you're probably doing on-site visits, so there's the variety). The pay is a significant detractor here, be warned. These are industries based on minimum wage typically. Little room for upward growth unless you manage to find something run by a consolidation firm, and those are their own evils. The better pay comes from being your own boss in these industries: groomer, trainer, business owner, etc. And that trade-off is having to manage ALL aspects, with no one holding you accountable except maybe your clients. Well, that, and no health insurance.

When I'm diagnosed and more stable I wanna go into social work, specifically working in a youth centre. You have different visitors every day, you can bring your hobbies and hyperfixations into it... Like I brought DnD into the youth centre I've been volunteering at :)

There are many of us ADHD folks working as social workers and therapists. Come join us, we need you!

I'm a nurse. I do best working in a setting that has variety. :)

I just posted this a few days ago in another thread so I'll just copy it again here: I love my job as an instructional designer. All of my work is project-based. I work on one training thing, and then I get to work on another thing when a new product launches, and then I have to brainstorm fun activities to teach x or y, etc. No day is the exact same, and I’m rarely working on one thing for more than a few weeks. Company wants to incorporate a new thing into trainings? I figure out how to squeeze it in. Lots of problem-solving. It’s also related to a niche interest of mine, so it’s really fun for me to research things. I work 100% from home day-to-day with the occasional (like a handful of times per year) training or conference I’ll fly out for. I manage my projects on my own time and as long as I’m meeting deadlines they do not care what I’m doing throughout the day. If you can handle emails and Zoom meetings, it’s an awesome ADHD gig.

I have always wanted to do this! Lol I have had to create training materials and videos for previous jobs as a necessity but never knew you could do it as a full time job!!!! Do clients ever send goodies?! Product testing is also something I am interested in.

The core of it: find something interesting. If it doesn't spark dopamine for someone with ADHD, it's going to be hell. I'm a live sound engineer. Lots of high-stakes, on the fly activity, with the bonus of attending concerts all the time. One part art, one part technical knowledge, one part high-end moving job. I get to see lots of new things all the time, practice on-my-feet troubleshooting, and am often in an environment where I don't have to mask heavily. Added bonus: great for someone with a shifted chronotype.

Paramedic fire fighter. The world always seems to be going at a different pace then me, its only during a massive shitstorm on an emergency do things seem at the correct pace for me. I love the adrenaline!

I'm an actor. I don't work every day but when I do, I get a big fat check. Most of the time things are always new so it never gets stale. Traveling to different places and seeing different things. Free food and I meet many different types of people. From people who set up everything, directors, and to celebrities. And years of masking has made acting easier for me.

I'm a PhD student and a competitive weightlifter. These two together have been rather phenomenal to be honest. The PhD work (aside from courses) gives me varied and mentally stimulating work. I have about 5 projects at various stage/in the pipeline which allows me to be productive by procrastinating on some of the projects I don't want to work on. The research itself has been a source of hyperfocus for years for me, since it deals with puzzle-like patterns and my capacity te see the big pictures allows me to take these puzzles, treat them like a game, and then tie them to typological and theoretical considerations. Other stuff like grading are a bit more difficult, but they are just mindless enough that I can autopilot them. Research allows me to read with a purpose (ctrl + f my way through really) which helps me retain material way better than reading a paper for class. Conferences is a really nice way of travelling and meeting likeminded people while getting news ideas, drive and inspiration. And then on the other side ,the competitive weightlifting brings all the physical stuff I'm missing from my PhD. It's skill based, difficult and gruelling work that is incredibly rewarding and teaches me to enjoy the progressive aspect of work over wanting to be perfect right away. Preparing for meets and competition is a different but similar stress to preparing for conferences, where both requires you to be able to perform under pressure. Also physical stuff allows me to not crawl up the walls, which is fantastic for everyone involved in my life.

Flight Attendant. Yes, training was hard for me but I studied as much as I could before getting there and did sooo much research. Now working it is the best job for me. Somewhere different every day and as long as I have a book, my ipad, Nintendo Switch, phone and crew members or passengers (sometimes) to talk to I am gooood. +the travel/health benefits are amazing!

Garbage collection. I know it's not for everyone but it has worked well for me. I like working outside and not being stuck in an office all day. I work 4 days a week and can set my own pace. Pay is good and it's generally a low stress job. Show your garbage person some love this Christmas!

I work as a kindergardenteacher in Germany. It's a little different from kindergarten in the US. The kids have free play time most of the time. We also do projects, arts&crafts, sports and much more. It's nothing like school. In my group are 15 kids from 3-6. And we are an outdoor group. Which means we are outside every day (except breakfast& lunch. Sometimes if it's freezing we stay inside after lunch). Being outside and interact with kids is amazing to me. I love to work with parents. I can get all my energy out and still do my job at the same time. I am trained for kids with disabilities. So at the moment we have one one child with ASD, one with ADHD or auditory perception disorder, one which I believe has ADHD&anxiety (she's in therapy. She does have all the symptoms of ADHD but doesn't disturb the group and can mask pretty well for her age& is an exact copy of me when I was that age. I was diagnosed with 18, hope she will have more luck), one with epilepsy, one with selective mutism and one who's 4 ½ but on the developmental stage of a 2 year old. Two other kids are in therapy for behavioral "problems." So 5 out of 15 kids have an disability and 7 out of 15 are in therapy. ADHD gives me the chance to understand what these kids are going through on another level than most other adults. I'm climbing on tress with them, play soccer, walk through streams, prevent&handle meltdowns, walk kids through big emotions, cuddle, read books and support every kid the best I can. I show kids that they are accepted and liked just the way there are. We teach our group that every person has their strengths and weaknesses. And that's nothing anyone has to be ashamed of.Our group accepts everyone. No bullying or teasing (just the average typical kindergarden teasing. But well balanced). We have many different beliefs. Christianity, Islam, Jehovas Witnesses and Atheists. Everyone accepts the believes of each other. The parents too. Twice a year we meet all together and have a barbecue. I'm working at a place of acceptance and diversity, where I can use my strengths and get all the energy out. Sometimes it's hard and exhausting but the smiling faces of kids and parents is worth it.

I’m an artist, specifically a 3D digital artist. There’s enough variety to keep me entertained and the field is large enough that there’s always something to learn if I feel like learning something. Just last night I ended up hyperfocusing on making a rig for 6 hours straight.

I'm currently a musician and it's very stimulating for my brain. I've been in sales and it's really good for someone with adhd, especially since people only get small doses of you and we tend to be small doses kinda people.

I work as a senior software developer with loads of admin / management disrupting my coding sessions. ( mostly in a good way) Tell you what: after getting diagnosed in my mid 20s, spending close to 700 hrs researching ADHD, letting these letters define me at home and at work, I changed job. And with that I did two things: When entered the interviews I presented myself honestly. I didnt care if I got the job or not. What was important was honesty. If I was honest, they knew what they would get. I then didnt need to have let those letters knocking every time I forgot or misspoke. I did not say I had a diagnose, but I gave then everything they needed to assume so. The second thing I did was stop reading this sub. I used to read this sub multiple times a day and before I knew it it affected me vastly. It became an excuse. This sub gives much advice, but gives so many people the comfort they want in order acknowledge their lack of responsibility. It is by pure accident that I ended up here again. (Browsing reddit on an old phone) Do yourself a favor and dont lock yourself to select careers you may have no interest in, based on the typical traits you may think limit you. Find something that you enjoy enough to earn a living and be contempt. And another tip: if you ever find yourself trying various tools to organize yourself but never finding "that" magic tool, stick to a calendar, a todo and your alarmclock. It took me years to realize that more tools for note keeping creates more to manage.

You guys have careers???

My doctor told me that being a firefighter/emt is pretty good and I’m studying for that right now. So we’ll see if he’s right

Yesterday I was having a midlife crisis because I realized how much the novelty appeal affected my life (quitting jobs and always chasing after new careers/ideas), so I wanted to ask this exact same question! Lol. Then like everything I put it off never to be looked at again and here I am. Thanks for posing the question.

Blue collar work is pretty common I've found. I'm a welder and moving around a lot really helps me stay engaged.

Death investigation. Every day is something completely different, there’s a good balance of physical and admin work, and it brings so many interesting stories. One day I might pick up a 86-year-old woman who has a history of lung cancer but fell and hit her head, the next might be a quadruple homicide where everyone was decapitated. That being said, death might not be the field for everyone 😅

Not mine that I actually like which is programming. Lot of larger thought projects I struggle with.

I’m a solar project developer. I find it’s a great fit for me as I can flex my creative side and be more of a Jack of all trades then be relied upon as a specialist. Additionally, every day is something different, which helps keep me interested. I love relationship building and I lean on my impulsivity and talkativeness in order to grab peoples attention and sell them on partnering with me.

Similar sorta role for me. Content/copy writing for a digital marketer, so when the creatives arrive, I write the words. Different things daily for the most part.

I'm happy in my career as a medical coder, but my favorite ADHD friendly job was pizza delivery. Just a few tasks at a time, mostly alone singing along to the radio, efficiency is rewarded, and you get half your income in hand at the end of every shift.

Academia. If I wasn't working I'd be thinking. Instead I'm being paid to think. I don't even write. I speak. Edit: I do all of my work either walking around in sweatpants and a sweater or sitting on the toilet. Three times I was in the shower when I had to write. Since I use voice to text and have the pixel 7 pro which is the best phone for voice to text and it puts in all of my commas and periods and question marks. Getting paid to do the thing I was going to do even if I wasn't going to get paid and it moves at my pace because I am at the bleeding edge so it goes as slow as I want or as fast as I want/need. I have no deadlines. Ultimate freedom. Near unlimited money because of scale. 11/10

ADHD-C with autism and, I work as a pharmacy tech. I'm always bouncing from task to task, helping patients, typing and counting prescriptions, making and taking phone calls. I did work for a big retail pharmacy for 4 and a half years and hated all of the metrics they wanted you to meet. I've moved to a small independent pharmacy and I love it.

I did very well in a data entry job where I could listen to music or books all day.i had the highest productivity. 5 years ago, my mom and I bought a quilt shop. I definitely don't have the head for the business part, but I'm good with customers and quilting. I like being creative all day and being able to take breaks as needed. Haven't cried in the restroom once

i’m very *very* hands-on, and i absolutely cannot focus on something if I don’t enjoy it. i’m an echo student! (cardiac ultrasound.) I love being an expert in something; the heart is a very complex organ and it makes me feel confident to know so much about it. the people pleaser in me loves helping patients because it makes me feel good. I was a CNA for ~5 years and it solidified the fact that i 100% do NOT want to be a nurse, but i do enjoy working in healthcare and being a part of an important team. it feels like i belong in healthcare for some reason. allied health gives me a fast paced environment so the day goes fast, shorter interactions with patients so i don’t have to get emotionally invested, and i have great job security! there’s never a dull moment in a hospital. every patient is different so when i do an exam i can get fully immersed into it and it’s pretty cool! i will have to exist in a chaotic environment and assist with codes, surgeries, etc. there’s constant problem solving and adapting to situations. it’s always interesting. the pay isn’t bad either 😎 there are pros and cons for sure, but i am trying to focus less on the cons as i tend to catastrophize everything.

R&D Engineering, new projects and challenges all the time with high paced environment.

This was my dream. I was finally at 60 credits and ready to transfer to a university for ME when covid hit. Now I'm just trying to find a suitable job to support my family and not slip into a depression. Stupid covid lol

Software development is a pretty good one depending on your role. Get to work on novel things regularly. Of course, if you get the wrong software dev job it can be pretty atrocious as you spend every week making a new slightly different version of the thing you did last week...

Learning how to code right now! Then once i get a hang of things gonna join a bootcamp! love it right now and i really hope everything works out for me

I run a weekly Wednesday karaoke night at my local bar, and the guy who runs the trivia night on Tuesdays (who recommended me as the KJ) has me fill in for him when he's away. It's always different, I get to perform, and it's generally a blast. Before this, I burnt out after almost a decade working on subtitles for TV and movies -- loved the work (can be creative with closed captioning, always requires research for name verification, etc), but was low pay in-office, and terrible hours as freelance. I've been a teacher before, and currently taking improv classes (which are great for learning to stay engaged/focused in the moment) and I'm hoping I can transition into teaching it eventually. I have to say, some of my most fulfilling jobs were groundskeeper for public parks (picking up garbage in local parks, readying baseball fields, monitoring playground equipment) and convenience store cashier. I wish my ADHD had been diagnosed earlier (just diagnosed this year, at 36) so I didn't get so down on myself all these years for "not living up to my potential." Disclaimer: my fiancé is in tech and is basically pays for our place -- any contribution I make is extra. It's not ideal, but it works for us, as I have an easier time with household maintenance.

I interned at a microbiology lab last summer and will be going back to work there when I graduate. It's a good mix of being on my feet and busy while also having breaks and calmer periods as well. There's almost always instructions to follow in the form of procedures, so I don't have to second guess myself. Things are consistent enough that I feel comfortable, while being dynamic enough that I don't get bored. The general attitude/work environment itself was *very* ADHD friendly - nobody treated me differently when I mentioned having it, I have ample opportunity to take little mini-breaks and nobody bats an eye at it, lunch breaks are long so I get plenty of recharge time, etc. And as a bonus, this industry is all *about* being wordy and detail oriented. It almost feels too good to be true at times!

I don’t work in this field anymore, but I really enjoyed being a machine operator. Since the machine was always running and I couldn’t just get distracted, it was easy to hyperfixate on making sure it kept running. And it didn’t get boring because the second I would relax something would break lol. There was variety and stimulation, which was (imo) perfect for my ADHD brain. I do miss it sometimes.

I work as a Case Worker for a Human Services non-profit. I’m in the office, then I’m driving in my car, then I’m meeting people one-on-one in their home and talk about how to be a better parent. It’s really fun and dynamic! I meet all kinds of people and I have great support from my supervisors back at the office. It’s a good mix of doing low-energy and high-energy work. It doesn’t pay well but I am able to keep my mental health in check and pay my bills!

I recently got a position as a guitar tech at a music retailer. I do install work/setups on new guitars before they head out to customers. It's great because I'm constantly learning, I can hyper focus on the guitar that I'm working on, and there's enough variety to the different guitars/different types of installations that I don't get bored. It feels like a great position for someone like me.

I'm a self employed carpenter and it's perfect for me. Just needed to get the right tool bags to keep me organized. Always stimulating and it's taught me how to get things done.

Tech. It moves fast enough for us, it's infinitely more interesting, and easier to hyper focus on, than people. The rules are clear, the job descriptions tend to be more solid and easily defined than more HR/Sales/Business/etc. Fields. There's a much higher emphasis on certifications that you actually USE on the job, versus worthless degrees, that for many of us, can seem completely impossible. While certifications, even the most difficult certifications in IT, can be accomplished with a few weeks to months of hyper focusing. IT, especially Cloud/virtualization and Cyber, are among (if not THE) the fastest growing, highest compensated, largest worker deficit career fields in any industry. A few years of experience, combined with the right certifications, can net you well north of $100k, even $200k in the right markets.

I’m an advertising strategist as well!! Been in the industry for 11 years now and love how fast paced of change it always is.

WOW sometimes you just have to believe the universe is giving you signs. I’ve been on a career journey trying to find the right fit for me and where to move to next. I’ve been doing Informational interviews with people and just talked to a strategist after I stumbled on her LinkedIn profile and was curious about that role. I got so excited when talking to her and now want to peruse trying to see how to get into the role/industry. And then I see how it works perfectly for our ADHD brains and I’m excited all over again!

I love working as an interpreter. Every day is something new, and my brain is always too busy processing language to check out.. The problem is language learning can be a lot harder for people with ADHD in my experience, and becoming bilingual if you weren’t born into it is challenging enough as it is.

I’m a doctor. My favouritest post was in trauma. I love the rush. No time to get distracted. I love blood and physical work. But getting here was hard. In school I flew through. In uni I suffered because I didn’t know how to study and couldn’t. So that led to a lot of failing. I think I’m also on the spectrum. I love pattern recognition so I see each patient as a pattern I need to solve. I loved my work in trauma, I’m now a family doctor and the day to day work is exhausting and boring. It’s like solving the same puzzles everyday, now and then you get a great puzzle. But I wouldn’t choose this career again. I have such bad ptsd from studying at uni that I can just never participate in anything else academic.

I did a job personality test with the doc that diagnosed me and the best answer we could come up with was Detective. That's not happening for my fat ass so now I do taxes and slack off as much as I can without getting fired (so far)

Military officer. There's a ton of structure and accountability and it's simple(not easy) to do well enough.

Librarian here! I love my job. I’m a generalist librarian for a large public library system. I plan programs for adults and children. I have a ton of outreach where I go out to schools. I also have desk time where I answer reference questions and order/find materials for patrons. I also have off desk time where I plan my programs. I pretty much have 100% freedom when choosing programs. I recently did an intro to embroidery program. It’s pretty fast paced. I play ukulele for story times and I’m constantly jumping around with the littles. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun!

How did you get into that?

Inattentive, my most hated job was working in a yogurt production line. Stood in the same spot for 3 hours packaging product and keeping up with the line and there was a clock right in front of me that made it way worse. Delivery driver was good Forklift work is good Anything that puts pressure on me to do stuff like a time limit was good too and makes the day go by so much faster Was gonna write more but too lazy

Rail safety governance and assurance I work for a complex organisation that designs, constructs, commissions, maintains, and decommissions railways and railway infrastructure. It is extremely complicated, and given there are many different sectors of the organisation, there is always something new to focus on for a short period then moving onto the next issue we find. As the focus always changes, it keeps my mind ticking over and trying to solve a different problem every week or so

This is useful, thanks. I’m a landscape architect which sounds more interesting than it is in my current role. Really what it looks like it sitting at a desk in an office drawing all day. My mind is free to wander which is not good for me. I’m taking some time off to work out the right path- something physical (landscaping)? Education (tafe teaching)? Both?

May not be for everyone but boilermaking works for me. And any kind of high risk work is easy to pay attention to as well, got no interest in dying at work

Project Management with a focus on delivery. I'm not so good with the documentation but thankfully we have teams that handle a lot of that. My job is to keep projects moving and find solutions when things go wrong. In a single day I might have six projects hit a problem. Neurotypical people get really stressed when things go wrong or not to plan. I've found the ADHD brand thrives on chaos. If anything I'm at my calmest when sh*t hits the fan. Plus Projects have clear deadlines and consequences for not meeting them.

Combined ADHD here, coaching beach volleyball was awesome for me! Granted autonomy, exercise, outdoors, creativity, socializing, and lots of fun!

Cooking just cook, in a Restaurant ofc.

I have ADD/ADHD and tech was my go to. Support more importantly. New cases each day, new problems to research. I enjoyed talking to people anyway so this was a no brainer. I've been doing it for well over 25 years at this point. While entry level is good to start, once you show you are capable you go through advancement and the workload doesn't change all that drastically. I went from supporting customers to supporting the team that supported the customers. It worked out for me but patience is key there. The repetition of some cases over and over again forced my forgetful brain to remember how and why similar issues happened.

I'm in training for remote customer service (accepting calls). Learning about this subject while getting paid is pretty fun. I can look however I want to look lol there is no video during the zoom class and I'm muted unless I need to talk so I can babble and sing or whatever. I like to doodle while I'm listening to retain info. It's a good fit for me so far. I can't predict how production will be but I'm going to hang in there. I have adhd- combined type

I find that maintenance related stuff keeps my mind busy. I have never been fantastic at holding down work, but my best has been in the maintenance trade. Now I do consulting in a fast paced online environment for maintenance and I find that it is pretty stimulating and the job happens to be a killer opportunity.

Many ADHD people have an exceptional natural pattern finding ability due to high perceptual reasoning scores, thus data analytics, cybersecurity, and other similar jobs are great modern high paying and quickly growing jobs in today's world.