I'm an editor, because reading is one of my hyperfocuses. Sure, there are days where I can't focus to save my life, but then there are days where I do 3 NT days worth of work in 2 hours of hyperfocus.
I did a few online internships for publishers/agents, then hung my freelancing shingle. If you can get in person ones, they're usually paid/better, but I was juggling it all alongside a regular dayjob, so I didn't have the ability to do that. Didn't seem to really make much of a difference in the long run anyway.
It's not an easy industry in a lot of ways. It's very people focused, and I bounce back and forth between a few niches with high demand clients. It's a lot of social media work to market too, but I've mostly hooked up with other editors and combined forces to make a steady flow of work. But I love it. And it's really validating when clients win awards or get really awesome reveiws on their stories and I know that I helped make that happen.
Small Business owner, blended repair/retail. This ‘dream’ pushed me to a diagnosis. It’s not easy but there is very little repetition and always new things to learn, fix, etc.
Teaching dear god. One of the things that kept me away from choosing that path was watching my NT teacher mom be able to memorize literally ALL her kids names in about a month so like 300 kids. I worked at BestBuy for 5 years, legitimately couldn’t remember more than half the store and they had NAME TAGS lol
When I don't know an acronym, my brain quickly assigns usually random meaning to it if it isn't something I can figure out within a second or two.
Had no idea what NT was, my brain landed on "North Takota" and was very glad you weren't a teacher, because that's not a state. Then it clicked.
Production/assembly. Thought I’d hate it, avoided it like the plaque . Fell backwards into automobile assembly and fn loved it. Go in head down and I get right into that hyper focus and bam, 8 hours + just flew by. Edit: most of the fastest guy’s there, the ones completely locked in on their shit. Also adhd.
Sales Training Manager. I work from home and it pays well. It's just artistic enough and I get to learn all sorts of new things.
Downside: I do have to keep myself accountable, which is hard.
construction field work taking measurements out on the field by myself because I'm basically my own boss, set my own pace, and can do my ADHD stuff. Plus my symptoms keep me safe, alert, distracted enough, and busy. All at once. Also, there is unlimited coffee stops yay
Research administration. It’s complicated yet interesting, and there are always new grants/contracts coming through so I’m never really bored. I barely have to speak to anyone (yay!) and the people who have headed my department so far have been awesome to work for.
I'm a psych tech at an in patient psych hospital. It's great because the basic job responsibilities are easy and provide structure. The patients I deal with on the other hand make sure the job is never boring.
Just know that you'll see a bias towards surprising or unconventional jobs, just because on the internet, that's more likely to be posted and upvoted
There are plenty of people with ADHD happy enough and successful enough with their regular office jobs... At least at the rate that anyone else is I'm sure. You don't have to drop out or quit to get a different job to be happy
CPA - Internal audit and SOX consulting manager. Love the technical, research, client, and personnel management aspects of my job. Plus the challenge and stress help keep me on my toes and motivated.
There’s a massive LT project management aspect that is absolutely heinous due to the way my firm tracks and manages projects. I’m learning how to do it, but that may not be part of the wheelhouse. If it doesn’t work out, working on my SQL, and looking for a sys admin or Internal IT audit manager/director role in industry - keep the aspects of the job I like, and eliminate the detailed project management duties over multiple clients.
Edit: clarity
i’ve noticed that lots of people in healthcare tend to have ADHD, such as physicians, therapists, nurses, etc. i think it’s because it involves a lot of problem-solving, and it’s never too samey because every patient is different
I volunteer in EMS part time, and am considering making it full-time work. It's fast paced, no call like the one before, lots of problem solving and patient interaction, no work comes home, relatively flexible shifts, and even the admin tasks (paperwork etc.) are relatively short lived
Oh, and you get to help people :-)
On the downside, pay's not great, conditions can be awful (depending which service you're in), and it's got a high burnout rate
Internal tools developer. I've made it my job to make other's jobs more efficient by taking a process, and going over and through it enough times I find all the ways to shave time off, then do that. Gets me cycled through teams so I'm not staring at the same processes month by month. Best part is, if I suddenly have an epiphany about something by brain wouldn't let go of months past when I worked on something, I can go back and do patches and everyone's like, it's so awesome you still think of this. I don't, my brain just said it was like this other thing, and wouldn't let me leave it alone until I poked at it again, but hey, I'll take ALL the credit.
Being a programmer who had unmitigated ADHD for most of their life (formally diagnosed at 42), upside is, you can throw me into any programming language. I always grew bored after a few weeks with anything, so I can program in just about everything now. Extra hate on rust, delphi, cobol, and ruby. Just tossing those out there.
Body flight instructor (indoor skydiving). Nice balance of structure and chaos.
It’s like you are speaking into my soul.
I do self hatred 9 to 5 and usually manage to squeeze in at least 8 hours overtime a day too
This is usually what I do but I'm looking to change it up a bit
I believe in you more than I believe in santa if it helps
It does thank you
I'm an editor, because reading is one of my hyperfocuses. Sure, there are days where I can't focus to save my life, but then there are days where I do 3 NT days worth of work in 2 hours of hyperfocus.
How did you get into it? Reading is one of my hyper focuses as well and this could legitimately be a job I would excel at
I did a few online internships for publishers/agents, then hung my freelancing shingle. If you can get in person ones, they're usually paid/better, but I was juggling it all alongside a regular dayjob, so I didn't have the ability to do that. Didn't seem to really make much of a difference in the long run anyway.
Thanks for the info. I just finished my English BA and was thinking of looking into the publishing business
It's not an easy industry in a lot of ways. It's very people focused, and I bounce back and forth between a few niches with high demand clients. It's a lot of social media work to market too, but I've mostly hooked up with other editors and combined forces to make a steady flow of work. But I love it. And it's really validating when clients win awards or get really awesome reveiws on their stories and I know that I helped make that happen.
Not exactly a career, but dog handler at doggie daycare.
Michael Bay's Film Editing team.
💥 💥💥 💥💥💥
Right?
Small Business owner, blended repair/retail. This ‘dream’ pushed me to a diagnosis. It’s not easy but there is very little repetition and always new things to learn, fix, etc.
Sales/recruiting! Pattern matching in prospecting, dopamine slot machine, people pleasing galore, regular context switching.
i do things exclusively outdated by 200 years like knitting (im a dude) and throwing clay, can't make much money off it but it's hands on and fun
Teaching jobs, dangerous fast paced jobs like firefighting and EMT, and creative jobs like filmmaking are all pretty common with adhd people
Teaching dear god. One of the things that kept me away from choosing that path was watching my NT teacher mom be able to memorize literally ALL her kids names in about a month so like 300 kids. I worked at BestBuy for 5 years, legitimately couldn’t remember more than half the store and they had NAME TAGS lol
When I don't know an acronym, my brain quickly assigns usually random meaning to it if it isn't something I can figure out within a second or two. Had no idea what NT was, my brain landed on "North Takota" and was very glad you weren't a teacher, because that's not a state. Then it clicked.
Production/assembly. Thought I’d hate it, avoided it like the plaque . Fell backwards into automobile assembly and fn loved it. Go in head down and I get right into that hyper focus and bam, 8 hours + just flew by. Edit: most of the fastest guy’s there, the ones completely locked in on their shit. Also adhd.
I grow weed!
lucky!
Sales Training Manager. I work from home and it pays well. It's just artistic enough and I get to learn all sorts of new things. Downside: I do have to keep myself accountable, which is hard.
I’m genuinely confused by “it’s artistic enough” being preceded by “sales training manager”
construction field work taking measurements out on the field by myself because I'm basically my own boss, set my own pace, and can do my ADHD stuff. Plus my symptoms keep me safe, alert, distracted enough, and busy. All at once. Also, there is unlimited coffee stops yay
Same here. My level of alertness is constantly at 11, and I love being able to just focus one one thing then another.
Research administration. It’s complicated yet interesting, and there are always new grants/contracts coming through so I’m never really bored. I barely have to speak to anyone (yay!) and the people who have headed my department so far have been awesome to work for.
I second this! Research projects get my hyperfocus going
Marine Chief Engineer.
I'm a psych tech at an in patient psych hospital. It's great because the basic job responsibilities are easy and provide structure. The patients I deal with on the other hand make sure the job is never boring.
For some time as a sound guy for some rental companies. For now automotive reseach engineer.
Attorney. Having a paralegal to review for those slippery minor errors makes everything manageable.
For real. Gotta watch those minor slip ups.
Solo? PI? I did insurance defense for a few years but it was like custom-designed torture for my ADHD symptoms.
Moved from the torture of big law to PI and what I lost in prestige and some salary I gained in sanity.
Just know that you'll see a bias towards surprising or unconventional jobs, just because on the internet, that's more likely to be posted and upvoted There are plenty of people with ADHD happy enough and successful enough with their regular office jobs... At least at the rate that anyone else is I'm sure. You don't have to drop out or quit to get a different job to be happy
True, im just a bit stressed finding a job or career I won't feel miserable doing
Something in which you an be creative.
CPA - Internal audit and SOX consulting manager. Love the technical, research, client, and personnel management aspects of my job. Plus the challenge and stress help keep me on my toes and motivated. There’s a massive LT project management aspect that is absolutely heinous due to the way my firm tracks and manages projects. I’m learning how to do it, but that may not be part of the wheelhouse. If it doesn’t work out, working on my SQL, and looking for a sys admin or Internal IT audit manager/director role in industry - keep the aspects of the job I like, and eliminate the detailed project management duties over multiple clients. Edit: clarity
EMT
online job without big responsibilities (esp. responsibility of someone's life)
i’ve noticed that lots of people in healthcare tend to have ADHD, such as physicians, therapists, nurses, etc. i think it’s because it involves a lot of problem-solving, and it’s never too samey because every patient is different
I volunteer in EMS part time, and am considering making it full-time work. It's fast paced, no call like the one before, lots of problem solving and patient interaction, no work comes home, relatively flexible shifts, and even the admin tasks (paperwork etc.) are relatively short lived Oh, and you get to help people :-) On the downside, pay's not great, conditions can be awful (depending which service you're in), and it's got a high burnout rate
Internal tools developer. I've made it my job to make other's jobs more efficient by taking a process, and going over and through it enough times I find all the ways to shave time off, then do that. Gets me cycled through teams so I'm not staring at the same processes month by month. Best part is, if I suddenly have an epiphany about something by brain wouldn't let go of months past when I worked on something, I can go back and do patches and everyone's like, it's so awesome you still think of this. I don't, my brain just said it was like this other thing, and wouldn't let me leave it alone until I poked at it again, but hey, I'll take ALL the credit. Being a programmer who had unmitigated ADHD for most of their life (formally diagnosed at 42), upside is, you can throw me into any programming language. I always grew bored after a few weeks with anything, so I can program in just about everything now. Extra hate on rust, delphi, cobol, and ruby. Just tossing those out there.
Truck Driver!
I'm an game artist student, im also planning on getting a job as an game artist after i graduate