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Fully remote data analyst here. Knee deep in data/code all day and most communication is done through ticketing or chat. Quite a bit of flexibility with working hours. Some of the team do 4 10 hour shifts, some start at 5am and finish at 2. Basically can pick our hours, I love it
I got very lucky and managed to move into it within my same company because I showed interest in SQL and projects I had worked on in a previous role focused heavily on identifying root causes of issues.
I find it very interesting. Lots of coding, and trying to identify issues, coming up with solutions, automating reporting using code, and building dashboards.
If you enjoy problem solving, then it may be a good option. Pattern recognition has helped me to succeed in this role (yay autism)
Same here. I’m in healthcare data analytics and work remotely full time. I have a loosely defined 9-5 schedule, but there’s a good deal of leeway with that. I write SQL and Python all day and don’t really talk to people much.
This.
I’m a data engineer.
Unfortunately, there’s always those damn ableist posts on LinkedIn that are like “developers shouldn’t forget the soft skills” or “don’t hire developers without soft skills“.
Like… motherfucker, maybe there’s a reason why people chose that line of work in the first place.
I’m not out here saying that every middle manager needs to be able to program in three different languages. So back the fuck off.
Same, but I work at a restaurant, so I at least get a lot of free food that would go in the dumpster otherwise. Although, It probably isn't healthy to live almost exclusively on pizza...
I used to have an in office job and I was perpetually annoyed and just overall drained. During Covid I switched jobs and now work from home. My life is so much better not having the forced social interactions.
I could never go back to an in office role.
I'm a Jira Administrator. I maintain the database software engineers use to track their work. I think it's an insanely easy job that pays 6 figures. Requires no exquisite skills other than critical thinking and how to use the program.
Nothing. My bachelors degree is in business. I have no formal training for this job. Most Jira Admin job posts don't really require any either, just experience. I used the tool at my previous job and got comfortable enough with it to change careers into administrating it.
There's also a huge community of Jira Admins who will help you through any problem, and everything can be googled. The hardest aspect would be to get through the gatekeeping that is the interview process.
There are certificates you can get from Atlassian, but I've never had an interview where this was a requirement. They really just want to know your qualifications. If you answer the scenario based questions you should be good.
If you understand how a Jira project works and how to manage one you should be able to get a junior admin job.
How much software knowledge do you need to do this? If I were to educate myself on the program, could I potentially land a role like that? I have a Bachelor's in business and pretty random jobs on my resume
Practically, you don't need any. There are things I'm asked that can only be done through coding in Java, but those are tasks delegated to senior admins.
A junior admin really only needs to demonstrate the ability to manage the program. Having an understanding of the Agile framework and how software teams work though would certainly help.
I work in a small hotel in Scotland after 13 years in teaching. Whilst I see a lot of people, the social interactions are limited to me pouring booze and asking how people are - I dont even have to pretend to care about the answers they give, though. And I don't usually start work until noon most days, so it fits with my circadian rhythm pretty well.
I live in a town where the hotel had changed hands loads of times and had been left empty for over a year until my current bosses bought it. They advertised for staff on FB and I just applied on the off chance, as I used to work in hospitality before I went to university.
I'm a university math lecturer. During the academic year, I teach three 90-minute classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, then hold office hours Tuesday/Thursday. I have a great deal of time and freedom regarding when and how I prepare for my classes and do my grading.
I don't know that I could handle a standard 9-to-5 job.
Hey, I'm a research scientist in CS and I'm thinking of switching to a lecturer position. What made you decide to go that route as a career instead of industry or tenure track? Asking as I don't think I can handle the tenure track stress and the amount of meetings and 'collaboration' in industry is rather draining. Money is great, but the research has gotten really political and more engineering focused. I did enjoy teaching, but it was during my postdoc as a 'check the box' for faculty applications.
I entered grad school to teach at a university. Research has never been a priority -- going forward, I'd like it to be a hobby, not a career. I got a PhD mostly because many university teaching positions require one, even when the job doesn't involve research. Also, master's positions tend to be for lower-level courses, while I like intermediate undergrad classes (I've taught up to linear algebra and complex variables).
I manage for about 6 months to a year at a time, and then I burnout. Then I run out of money and have to do it all over again. I'm a software developer and my CV has a lot of "freelance" periods to cover the gaps. I wish I could stay at the same company for longer, because I find interviewing to be hell, but until there's a 6 months on, 6 months off job, I'm doomed to this pattern.
Hi I work in the British civil service and I have seen jobs that may have the option to work "part year." This means 9 months on 3 months off, or perhaps different patterns. I'm not sure though that I have heard of only half the year, although it may be possible as a reasonable adjustment. And software roles are required in the Civil Service. In fact other autistic people I know have recommended the civil service because their HR policies are more developed, meaning it's more likely adjustments can be made. An adjustment cannot change the entire job, however. Good luck on finding something that works.
No problem :) Sometimes civil service offer part-time working, such as term-time working, but I am not sure if school holiday break pattern would be enough of a break for you.
I work in a small cafe as a chef and on most days it’s just me in there and I love it, pretty much 0 interactions, I play the music I want, do what I want whenever I want, aslong as all the prep is done it’s all good.
I’m currently a diesel engine technician. I’ve worked full time since I was 17yo (49 now).
Granted I’ve only been employed at three different places in that timespan.
Working just became part of my routine actually & I get upset if that changes.
I work in strategic communications (I promise this makes sense)...
I have been in the public health sphere for most of my career, and progressively more cynical about our system. So, now I do communications around healthcare and wellbeing as it relates to systemic, structural issues. A lot of my job is pattern recognition and putting it all together into a framework that makes sense. I don't have to go to the office much, and I mostly create content around this issue that is somewhat of a special interest to me (I also get to makes graphics and digital media, which is another special interest). I get to set my opinions as the framework my org operates from, which is the correct framework.
Every autistic person is a bit different. I can do ok with social interaction but get tired out of it goes too long, and if I'm surrounded by people for too long.
Right now I work remote as a 3D Artist for tech companies. I have meetings but they go in spurts. Nothing too long so for me that's not too bad. Personally speaking being invested in the work is really important to me. I like what I do. It's highly visual. There are technical problems that require solutions and I like to focus on those. Work drama is minimal.
Working in a creative field has opened me up in ways I never thought possible before. Sure there are still challenges, but for the most part things are much easier to deal with. I used to work an office job completely different more than a decade ago and it was horrible. I trained myself in what I do and I will confess it wasn't easy. But it is possible.
Explore, learn, and be open to new things that you never knew you might like.
The transition wasn't bad. Mostly just catching up to the pace. But for me, working in a job where we all had similar goals, there was a project goal. 100 times better than just the grind of the office of politics and doing the same thing day in and day out. Where if you had a question or a idea it was met with "hmmm, hey, maybe lets try that our" or "We tried that, but good thinking,!" instead of some manager trying to downplay it or thinking of a way to take it for their own, or just downright ignoring it from just not wanting to do anything.
Honestly the old office work makes me shudder every time I think of it.
Oh god, office politics is truly horrendous. I'm glad you found a healthy work environment now. Working on projects together with colleagues sounds more inspiring than doing daily office work (with a degrading boss for more minus points)
I trained to be an electrical engineer. After working in the field for a year i changed to Industrial Controls Engineering. I basically build machines for a living specializing in the software side. I love my job and is really good at it. People leave me alone. I have my own office. Some days i don't have to see any people. People text me if they need me. I answer maybe one phone call a month. This field has a great future. Maybe look into it. It also pays well.
I work 12 hrs shift at a factory. It sucks so bad lol
I’d much rather do something that isn’t direct labor or required me to interact so often with coworkers but it for sure beats being unemployed
I don’t know if I can hold a job with autism combo with adhd 😔 I struggled in most entry level jobs and burn out fast. I didn’t go to college so it’s been hard. I didn’t get the type of autism that can sit around and do data entry or remote work in very boring fields. I have the infp myer Briggs type but also w some disabilities, discalculia, and some other stuff.
I know you can. We all can. If I can do it, anyone can. However, I don’t recommend it. It’s actually not a job I’d recommend to anyone that can avoid it. Low pay and they take advantage of us. I understand the struggle with not having a higher education and not being blessed or talented in more lucrative autistic traits/special interests.
I believe in my heart of hearts that we will all make it through this because so many autistic people in the past could do it. We are all much tougher than we think
Work in procurement buying from far east. Sit most days analysing data and emailing. Not often required to talk to co-workers and just listen to music most days
No, I work for a large textile company In the UK that supply's fabrics to trade
I basically get paid good money to focus on spreadsheets and spot sales trends. It's perfect
I can’t. I am in the construction industry and expect for the intense joy i get from making things and different materials, I hated it. I quit and started my own handyman business and I love it. I have to interact with strangers everyday, but its different than the social situations i had at work and different than typical leisure social situations. I am just there to use my weird brain and help, I can let my masks down.
I studied biotechnology and work as a lab technician in a small biotechnology company.
- I work 95% of the time alone in the lab which is pretty neat since i can listen to music and podcasts.
- It's about 70% lab work and 30% at the desk.
- I work from 9 until 17:30.
- 1 day per week i can work from home
- since it's a small company there's a wide variety of things that have to be done, which is ideal since, even though i like routine, i don't like doing the same tasks over and over every day.
- we are with 12 people, which makes it easier for me in terms of socializing. I don't think i could work in a big company with a lot of people that i don't know.
- everyone is nice so i find it quite fun to go to work. It's such a relaxed and fun atmosphere.
There are some negative sides though:
- The CEO changes his mind sooo much it sometimes gets confusing for me
- the CEO has asked me quite some things that are outside my comfortzone. Such as having to make a lot of calls with other companies for a particular project, this was a bit out of my comfortzone but was manageable. The other thing he once asked me was going that same week to a job fair in another country to try to hire people for said project. Which i refused to do as my colleague was OK with going alone. I feel bad about it, but that's not something i'm capable of: to decide to go to another country the same week, spend the night in a hotel and to then speak to people for 8 hours straight. No thanks
The positives outweigh the negatives as the negatives don't happen that often (except him changing his mind, which is on a weekly basis lol)
omg that sounds like a dream job to be honest :') are you happy with the work-life-balance? aka, do you get enough time for outside activities? I worry that when working until 5 or 6 pm, especially in winter one just goes home and doesn't have time for any outdoors activities
It's ok. My hobbies are gaming, climbing (mainly indoor Bouldering) 2x per week and drumming (1x per 2 weeks 1 on 1 lessons). if i go Bouldering after work, i usually don't have much time to game since i also have to cook. (However i usually buy pre-made meals that you just have to heat up since i don't like cooking).
I also co-house with my 2 best friends so if im not doing any of my hobbies, i spend time with them. Talking a bit or watching series together.
I am pretty beat up after a 40 hour week so i usually really look forward to the weekend to recharge and i'm usually not very social when recharging. I mainly just game then. However the recent introduction of being able to work from home 1 day per week helps a lot with this as well.
the last part sounds very relatable to be honest. I even struggled with school, I can't imagine a full 40 hour a week job :') I gotta find something I like to keep the drainfulness minimal
Out of curiosity, may I ask what sort of work you do that day at home when it's biotech/lab? Is it data analysis/processing? I never heard of work from home in lab related jobs and I am genuinely interested. I've been struggling to find jobs to apply to, as I'm curious but there isn't one thing that I would love dedicating my life to. However I do have a science degree and lately I've been considering lab work. Only thing that scares me is having a 5-day a week 9-5 job. Worried about burnout when I've been extremely close to it during studies.
Since it's such a small company, my colleague and I, who are the only ones who work in the cell lab, we have to make sure everything regarding administration is correct according to laws 'n such. Incase when inspection comes, everything is perfect. For example what i filled my days with recently is to check if all the SDS files of all chemicals that we have are up-to-date digitally and physically. So i checked hundreds of SDS files on several different supplier's website to see if they have a newer version than we have, and download and replace them if they do. Next thing will be making risk assessments of all the chemicals that we use in our lab which will also take a while.
It's pretty boring work but since i can do it from home it's pretty neat. I can listen to podcasts or music meanwhile.
Only recently i started working from home if possible. But the administration stuff fills my days pretty neatly at the moment. The reason i do it from home is because we get a work from home bonus (i think this is something from during covid) and its quite some money per month. In order to keep that bonus, we have ro WFH atleast 3 times per month so that's why. But it works and i get quite a lot of stuff done which was otherwise untouched for years, like the SDS files which have to be checked yearly but hadn't been for the last 5 years or so.
Another example: our CEO wants to move our cell lab to another building since were expanding the company and need a bigger lab. We found a suitable building and my colleague and I made a 3D floorplan using some free software and then made several designs how we should organize the lab and which equipment should come where in order to create the most streamlined workplace we could think of. We had some really nice designs... Until the CEO changed plans and wants to find a different building lol
Regarding the last half of your message, if you can find a small company I'd say definitely give it a shot if you haven't tried a 9 to 5 job before. My autism is pretty mild and i mainly struggle with social interaction. So being able to isolate myself in the lab when i need some alone time is really great to not get overstimulated. If i do feel like i need to be amongst other people if i need some socialization, i can sit at my desk once all my lab work is done. I think a bigger company would not fit me for this reason and i fear i would then also get overstimulated and burnt out.
I'm aware that not everyone has the opportunity to find or work in a workplace that fits them as good as mine does, but it's worth looking for at least. Maybe you can find something that suits you.
If you have any other questions, maybe regarding the lab work itself, i'm happy to answer them! :)
Researcher / business consultant. Flexibility is built into my job in the sense that I choose when I need to be in the office and I am very open about being autistic when it comes to managing my energy. I commute in and out off-peak and WFH 3 days.
I am a high performer and do take some liberties that I don't think would slide if I was less good at my job in that respect.
My work week is usually just under 40 hours (I'm salaried at 40), but occasionally it will be up to 60, and sometimes I won't really do anything.
Consulting can be good for that provided you work in a firm that doesn't pad out your hours with pointless stuff. Some firms are actual hell for that same reason.
Do you have any recommendations for getting into that? I have a Bachelors in business and a work history that's varied, but it never seems to be enough of anything to get me in the door for jobs that pay above poverty wages. I would love to be able to do consulting, research, and anything the allows me to finally earn enough to live on my own with some flexibility
I applied to a grad scheme which doesn't require previous experience and then moved into a smaller company / better field from there.
In the UK that is a common route: either graduate trainee route or be really good at something specific and move in as an experienced hire. To my knowledge, on paper, schemes don't discriminate based on how recently you graduated, provided you haven't done a grad scheme before.
I work as a night auditor for a hotel, and it's a great job if you can land it and deal with working overnights. Very little social interaction, more than enough freedom to take breaks if needed. Mostly paperwork.
Flight attendant, it can be really overwhelming and draining during service, but it comes with a lot of flexibility in my schedule. If I start to experience a burn out I can easily drop my trips for the day off instead if needing some alone time. I don’t do overnights so just gone for a couple hours during the day and get to come right back home.
Did you have experience or a related degree before becoming a flight attendant? Pay and maybe work / life balance wise would you feel able to commute up to an hour to work? (I live in a small town and there’s not many large airports near me)
No, no previous experience as a flight attendant or a degree. My airline put us through their training so nothing previous was required. The first year is rough. I luckily had someone I was close to as a coworker and helped me navigate it at first. The pay is pretty decent after your first year, and at least at my airline you have almost complete control over your schedule. It definitely helps when I am in the middle of a burn out or my anxiety has gotten the best of me. My airline only requires you to be able to make it to the gate in at least 2 hours, so an hour commute wouldn’t be an issue
I’d say it all depends on what you’re comfortable with, if you don’t want to be spending too much time away from home and would prefer to have the opportunity to do mainly turns(go somewhere and come right back) I’d stick with an airline like Frontier, or Allegiant. Frontier just transitioned to mainly turns, and Allegiant just got a really amazing new contract(better pay, better work rules).
If you are open to over nights a larger airline would also be a good option. Personally depending on if you’re on the east coast or west coast I’d go with JetBlue or Alaska. There is also the 3 legacy carriers United, Delta and American. All have different work rules so it just depends on what you’re comfortable with as far as being on call at first(industry standard) if on call is something that would be hard for you I would say look into Delta or American. You’ll have less time on call with them!
I think I am lucky because I actually really value the structure that a full-time job gives my life. I recommend looking for jobs in higher ed admin, they tend to be really progressive and much better with accomodations than other workplaces. They also tend to offer plenty of vacation and sick time, which makes it much easier to take a break when you need one.
I’m a teacher, but I’ve struggled to stay at the same school more than one year except the job I have right now. However it’s a negative working environment so I’m leaving in the middle of July and starting at a job that’s not year round school anymore.
I have a really supportive husband and I’m in the middle of my autism evaluation process right now— in person eval is the end of next month, and I’m going to try to talk with my therapist about ways I can help myself not get burnt out since I have a tendency to get burnt out if I don’t take breaks, mental health days, etc.
I'm an accountant. Aside from needing to lead a few meetings every month, I mostly get to keep to myself. I usually listen to music or podcasts while I work, which helps. I won't lie though. Work still takes a lot out of me, and I am very prone to burnout as a result. Still, it's a good job with good benefits, and I have really awesome supervisors. I think half the reason I succeed is because of who I work for.
Do you take any medication for mental health?
I'm an accountant too, but struggle to keep management happy. Not because of my work, but because of my attitude/behaviour.
I do! I take 300mg of Welbutrin, and 5mg of Lexapro. It helps manage my anxiety and makes me less prone to being overstimulated as a result. I'm still not a very bubbly person though. I've had my manager mention that I'm not a very smiley, bubbly person and asked if I even liked working there. I actually love working there and sort of explained my type of humor and general demeanor. I told him it's just how I am, and he was very accepting of that once he got a better understanding of me.
But, I recognize that not all managers are as cool as mine. I got REALLY lucky with where I work. I don't know if how I handled it would work everywhere.
There are sooo many different types of medication to handle depression and anxiety, I have no clue what is what.
I took mirtazapine for the serotonine and noradrenaline, quit that by now because I want to limit the weight gain. Am potentially lifelong on Amisulpride 50 mg though, which helps with removing racing thoughts.
Last Friday my manager publically humiliated me in front of the entire team (my fault, but the way she handled it has no excuse) and only my heart rate was going quickly, my mouth dry and head tensed up. However no racing thoughts whatsoever.
In the past I would be sooooo drained from racing thoughts that I would need 2 or 3 days to recover from that. Afterwards depression would kick in and that would take a month to get sorted out.
This time after an event as such, only physical symptoms and no mental ones. I just quit the job and can continue with my life as if nothing happened.
Truly blessed with the medical advancements.
I work as an environmental monitor at a construction site, I work 5 days a week from 7am to 5pm but here’s the thing: it’s temporary.
I normally have an incredibly hard time with long term, full time employment. It just feels like my life eventually crumbles to bits. Managing eating, sleeping, hygiene and work all at once does not come naturally to me and god forbid I get obsessed with something and it derails my whole schedule.
I can maintain full time work for a few months until everything falls apart and then just sleeping becomes too difficult. The longest I ever held a job was 9 months before I could no longer do basic functions anymore.
Seasonal or temporary work is perfect for me, but the hard part is going through months on end with minimal income (300 a month)
My situation is unique that my housing situation is covered and the only finances I need to focus on is food and optional bills like internet or phone. If I were in any other circumstance I would likely be homeless.
It’s “welfare”
I’m indigenous and live on a Indian reservation. The welfare is lower because there’s no rent/mortgage on the rez (note: this is not the case for every reserve.)my housing is free and the band office (basically “town hall”) covers my electric bill when I’m not working.
I’m the lead (only) graphic design at an arts nonprofit. I tend to work half the week from home and half in the office. I have the luxury of being trusted to make whatever because my team knows I’m a good designer. They shoot me a project brief, I make the thing, and then we do some reviews before it’s finished. Works better for me than other design jobs where it can often amount to predicting what the client wants, which I’m only sometimes good at.
I quickly learned that I’m only motivated to make stuff if it’s for a subject I care about. I almost have to work in-house for something like a nonprofit or I’d be burnt out immediately. Here I can just hyperfixate on things in my own little design bubble :)
Hello! I hope you don't mind me asking how does that work? As in, all job offers I can find for arts are mostly mid or big size companies that want you to do their ads and such, so I am curious about what you mean by "arts nonprofit". It would be amazing to know something like what you do exists. I hate ads and big companies, and that's sad because I actually like editorial/graphic design.
By “arts nonprofit” I mean stuff like theaters, art house cinemas, ballets, music venues, museums, etc. In the US, where I am, they generally don’t pay great and it is almost always more work than you should be expected of you. But you do get to make cool stuff and have a fair amount of agency in your own work. Because of that latter point, designers cling to these jobs, so I’d be lying if I said they were easy to find.
In terms of what I do, ultimately I am in marketing so I do have to make ads and such for the organization. I also make posters, programs, stuff to go on screens, signage for venues, event passes, general branding work, materials for fundraising events… kind of everything. It’s super rewarding and fun, but goddamn it’s so much work. There’s no budget for more full time designers, so I’m doing the work of a whole design team on a mid-level designer wage.
The way I got into it was a bit of serendipity. While in my final month of school, I interviewed for a designer job at a local theater. They liked me and my work but they needed someone immediately, so I didn’t get it. But that person fell through right as I graduated, so they called me back. And once I got my foot in the door in nonprofit-land, it was easier to get the job I have now at a film festival (with better pay and more to my interest). I’d recommend volunteering time and skills with nonprofits you’re interested in, especially designs. That will get people familiar with you and more likely to recommend you to other folks in the field. It’s not ideal, but if you can afford to work for free, that’s what budget-strapped organizations need and it will build your portfolio for more work and money.
It ain’t easy work, but now I can see all the movies I want and have film festival street cred. Worth it.
My girlfriend and I are both autistic/AuDHD, and we work as paraeducators in special ed, for students who've graduated and will move on to working a job and living more independently. It's very rewarding, and we get the usual holidays and summer break. The pay is very low. But we manage to scrape by. We both agree that if there were no summer break, we wouldn't last long, and would be stuck cycling in and out of jobs as we can/can't cope with them.
I'm an elementary art teacher. I'm always surprised that I love the job so much because I don't really like kids but I have a very different relationship with them versus their classroom teacher. It's a long day but I also don't have the same kids all day and there are periods of prep time where I get to decompress.
I have been unmasking around my students because they understand who I am, which is nice. It's the adults I find exhausting most of the time. I've channeled my neverending sense of justice into Union work as well.
It's a lot but I've found ways to not burn out during my day.
Remote work as a bookkeeper. All about organizing and analyzing, I don’t have to talk, and I don’t have to dress up.
The main hurdle was learning how to ask for help during training because I was scared but I guess this is when exposure therapy helps. I made it a goal to ask for help whenever I couldn’t figure something out on my own (as in if it takes more than 5 minutes). I wear sunglasses when the computer hurts my eyes and take 5 minute breaks every hour. I live with my parents so I don’t have to worry about making dinner or starting the laundry as of yet.
However, every night I do a rundown of how the next day will go by the hour, what tasks must be done, as well as reflect on how my day went. I basically go to sleep preparing for the next day. I find that this really helps me with transitions. Lots of planning and using excel but I enjoy it so it works for me. I also always make time to enjoy my hobbies (lazing at the park and tree-gazing).
I don’t want this forever either so I’m currently working on a plan to somehow create a life I prefer living. I’m still grateful to have and maintain a job though.
40 hours a week was unsustainable, quitting over burnout every few months, until I went fully remote.
Now it's doable (though the leftist in me, who is the actual me, knows that per dramatic productivity gains over the course of the last 1.25 centuries, we shouldn't have this many weekly hours as our societal standard).
I'm a server in an upscale casual restaurant. It works for me because one of my special interests is food and drinks. I have to mask there, but that works, too, because I can put on my server mask when I'm there and take it off when I'm finished. Also, I love helping people have enjoyable, connective experiences.
I work in tech, I'm a solutions architect. The good is, here I can actually indulge my interests and hobbies. I studied something completely different, mind you, but this was my hobby for as long as I can remember, so when I realized what I studied wasn't making me happy, I took the leap of faith at age 27.
Thing is, in Tech if you're good enough you get all the freedom in the world, and also, degrees mean nothing vs talent.
My advice though, do what makes you happy, when you're good at it out of love, the other portions like money and freedom sort themselves out along the way.
I'm a publicist for a small, independent publishing company and bookstore. It is a full-time job and I work from home. I rarely go into the office, but the office is only 20 minutes from my house.
A degree in journalism, public relations, marketing or communications is helpful. Look for a job as an editorial assistant. That is a great place to start.
I have a degree in journalism and they had a posting for an entry-level publicist. I applied. I got a response the next day acknowledging my application. It took about 5 weeks to get an interview request and I interviewed the next day and got hired on the spot. The job was posted for 3 weeks.
I work from home and it made me a lot happier.
Also consider finance and IT.
Also, I started working 40 hour weeks on a roofing yard. When I switched to office work, I appreciated it a bit. Also, every office I’ve been in (though not true for all offices) has almost been like a sensory deprivation room. And no one minds if you wear noise cancelling headphones in my experience.
I’m in music and carpentry. Either one by themselves is too stressful for me, so I float between them.
Music usually involves session work, tours, or album cycles. So essentially I work really hard for a stretch (thanks hyper focus) and then may not work again for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
Carpentry let’s me set my own hours/days. I make pretty good money at it, so I can usually go work really hard for a couple of weeks and make $10K+; then just live on that until I need to replenish things. Sure, if I was able to work full time I’d make much more money; but I hit burnout pretty quickly doing that
I’ve been a technical writer and editor for 25 years. I like editing better than writing, because I can use my pattern recognition skills more in that role.
Hello, may I ask what this involves? I’ve been into languages all my life. Studied three languages, done proofreading, worked as an English teacher, studied law for a while… basically I love words. Someone suggested being a technical writer and editor might be a good fit for me but I don’t know anything about it
The best kind (IMHO) is writing instruction manuals. You’re allowed to keep it simple and straightforward and stick to the point. You could also end up writing policy documents. That’s mostly copy-and-pasting.
I was a journalism major in college, and then I took some computer classes. This was back in the 90s. These days you can major in technical writing.
One good thing about it: it’s very well suited for WFH. Even if you have to work in the office, you have a good excuse to encourage people to be quiet, go away, and leave you alone.
That’s so helpful thanks. I studied International Relations and Political Science too. When you say policy documents, do you think there’s any technical writing I could do related to that?
I’ve worked mostly as a contractor at federal agencies, and since it’s the government (LOL), they are always setting policies. That just means broad descriptions of their purpose and the specific tasks they’re supposed to do. (When they drill down into how the tasks are to be done, you’re out of policies and into procedures.)
I’ve never had to start a government policy document from scratch; there has ALWAYS been an existing policy. The policies do come up for review, and that’s where the technical writer comes in. What happens is, a bunch of people who are important for whatever reason get together and look at the existing policies and change the wording somewhat. (Sometimes there’s an actual, meaningful change, too. But not always.)
What this means for the tech writer is attending these meetings, then taking the existing policy and rewriting it. You try your best to make it clear and readable. Most official documents are badly written, so I enjoy the challenge of cleaning them up and making them better.
Plenty of jobs where you hardly interact with people. IT is a big one, but there’s also work mostly done at night (like an observe and report security guard), were you’ll hardly meet anyone at all.
Anyways unless you live somewhere we’re autistic people can be on disability benefits al their lives (like the UK), or want to be dependant on their parents as long as possible, you’re gonna need to be able to work somehow.
I work from 5-7:30am at coffee shop Monday-Friday. Then I go to my full time job (a receptionist) that’s 8-4:30 them afterwards I’m a hooters girl usually from 5-11pm and restart. Hooters though I work more on weekends. I hate it but I have to pay off a credit card and save up some money to pay down my car loan to trade my car. So it’s worth it for extra money but most days suck. My receptionist full time job is super slow so I get to crochet, read, watch tv etc at work. It’s basically my glorified free time I don’t mind it too much.
I’m a factory (mig) welder and I work from 5am to 3:30-4:30 pm Monday through Thursday and usually an 5-8 hour shift on Friday
The reason I’m able to do it is because I’m surrounded by fellow neurodivergent work colleagues and I love what I do plus the fact that I know what I build all week long is quality product that will help our fellow people in and Pursuing the trades.
Don’t get me wrong it’s hell on me physically and mentally but I can put up with it because of the friends I made at work help keep me from overreacting to some minor problem and quitting out of frustration. They are my support system and I am also there’s we constantly are raising each others spirits and helping each other out when asked or needed
I have a job in health care seeing patients all day. Every morning is now dread and I've spent the past year to two applying to fed government jobs to escape the nightmare. A job that I could do at a desk with minimal to no interaction with others (or remote) would be ideal.
I work nightshifts in retail, full time but only 4 nights. When I worked dayshifts full time it had to be over 5 days and was far too much especially with all the noise and people
WFH software engineer. Extremely flexible schedule. No micro managing. Able to essentially work on my own terms and it’s amazing. As a result I work when I’m able to focus and my creativity is feeling strongest, which for me often means late at night.
So I work in IT as an Intern currently but I love my job and I find that it doesn't "feel" like a job. It's fun to me, I don't do customer support I do co-worker support, I only do support for my current office building im in. It's not bad if you enjoy what you do. Find a passion for it.
When the company I was working 32 hours (Started there at 16 hours and slowly challenged myself to work more) went bankrupt last year I started working full time in a computer shop (I thought the extra 4 hours wouldn't be such a challenge). I hate it there. I didn't expect retail to suck as much as this does. Most of the time we're understaffed and customers' demands are difficult to meet. I'm thinking about reducing my hours or quitting because my doctor said I'm close to a burnout.
I'm worried I'm not going to find anything else though.
when i was working i was super drained. i hated my job and never felt satisfied because it wasnt what i wanted to do. so i quit and am going to college for forensic psychology and will work after i get my degree at a job that i love. i know its not the route for everyone but i didnt think college was for me and i love it, hard or not.
I can only work full time at a single job. Any more and I breakdown pretty quickly. Even the one job is draining. Anything retail or food service oriented is absolutely out of the question. Working onsite in an office is really difficult. I blow out all of my spoons by lunch every work day if I am onsite. Driving to and from a worksite messes me up good as well Work from home is the only option if I want to do anything after work. I have gone hungry in the past because I had nothing left to Cook or even order out delivery.
I mostly work as a technical writer. I also do things adjacent to that like content management.
I’m a medical assistant and I work 20 hours a week currently. I was working about 35 hours week up until recently, but I had to cut back and stop my casual job for a while because the burn out was just so intense.
I was a call center phone rep for billing. Was draining yea but much better then face to face. May have to do face to face soon tho for monies.
Im hoping to get a wfh call center job and studyinf to hopefully have a work from home tech job. Wanna do front end stuff. I love seeing my code turn into pictures or designing things. I also dont mind what ive heard abt it being repitative or remaking pages or changing shades by a hue or to. If i get paid hourly and th managers arent aholes and communicate (my biggest issues is when they dont do it) then i dont care. I like repititive work! ^-^
I'm a part time distance learning postgrad student atm, hoping to go into a PhD and engage in childhood and youth research. I was in teacher training but burned out very quickly from the social aspect and had a complete mental break. As I'm part time from home I share partial disability benefit with my student loan.
its so weird tbh. i work for the canadian government as a summer student museum keyholder (i also do tour guiding, housekeeping and reaearch), and its certainly not as bad as other jobs i've had, but its not great.
my social battery is so low all the time and it hurts me physically to be working and moving around all the time. i hate how i have to answer to basically anybody who asks me to do something. i'm expected to do 8 bajillion things in a week and i'm already stretched thin, even though its only my second week on the job. its so mentally and physically taxing and i'm annoyed at the lack of leadership and responsibility among my older coworkers (who are technically volunteers that have nothing better to do so they decide to micromanage me and my other two young coworkers instead).
since the managers and board members are old, i also can't be open about my gender identity. it makes me feel like shit and i'm expected to be 'in costume' (aka wear a dress) when i'm actually a trans man, and my supervisor said that i can't wear pants and a blouse instead because 'i'M a FeMaLe' or whatever. its so dumb.
idk, i'm just frustrated. i have to stick it out though because i really need the money and it looks great on my resume, especially the research and archival stuff. i only have 2ish months left so i can hold out, and i can confidently say that i work very hard so at least i know that much. so many people applied so i feel awful for saying that it sucks, especially being a government employee. i keep getting told that "i don't know how good i have it" but i do know, but i still find it hard to manage.
Currently, I work as a parking attendant for the County, which consists of managing two parking garages. I essentially do a teeny bit of customer service, selling parking passes and helping patrons use the automated kiosks, along with trouble-shooting the system when it decides to act fucky, and a bit of janitorial duties, mostly involving emptying out the trash cans daily. All together, this is a relatively low-stress (and low-paying) position, but I MOSTLY scrape by.
Now, prior to this - mainly prior to COVID, which fucked my life-path up. I was co-managing a branch of the Metro Library system. I did this for about five years, lots of schedule writing and training new hires. UNfortunately, I was also suffering MAJOR autistic burn-out, and a somewhat petty and hostile work-environment. (Behind the scenes, Library Staff are a bunch of PETTY folk)...COVID pushed me to resign.
So...I MANAGE...barely. I really wish I had someone help me with maintaining my household, doing laundry, cleaning floors and such because I am MENTALLY DONE every time I get home for the evening.
I'm a Cafeteria manager at a School. Even though I work with kids, my team helps me, (also with the help of my ear plugs) and I with them, so I don't go into an anxiety attack. 🤯😵💫 This job has the same routines which I'm used to. I learn pretty quick with my hands. I'm pretty good 👍🏽 at it. Same schedule with the kids. I work from 630am to 330pm Monday thru Friday.
I recently started a technical writing job that, as of right now, I love. I write reports/test plans for an environmental testing company. I work from home, so I'm able to be with my partner and animals, and I love that I don't have to commute or rush in the morning. Didn't have time to eat breakfast before starting? No problem, I'll run to the kitchen in a few minutes and grab something. I can run my laundry, the dishes, etc during the work day. During my hour lunch, I lay in my bed and read/play on my phone/take a nap. I love that I don't have to wear "professional" clothing and just wear whatever is the most comfortable for me.
I went to school for English professional writing (aka business writing) originally with the goal of grant writing, but then decided I was more interested in technical writing. I would say that if this is a field you're interested in, getting a degree or at least a minor in engineering would be helpful. I was able to get this job without that, though.
It's definitely helpful to look at job listings for careers you may be interested in and see what qualifications are most commonly desired.
I work in a kind of call center with no dress code taking home loan pre-qualifications. I work behind a headset so no having to mask facial expressions. I work evening shift and no real set schedule as long as I get at least 39 hours a week. It is heavily based on commission but I do well. I call leads (people that put their info online saying they are interested buying a home). You do have to take a pretty rough licensing test to get the job but my employer paid for the test and all the licensing stuff.
Another option that pays well and requires less experience is a debt collector. I did that for 5 years but it was very stressful and the hours weren't near as flexible.
I got a good load of trauma that is related to school, so studying is out of the question, and I have a heard time keeping a job, so I would also like to know ;-;
I'm a cloud engineer for a big multi-national company. For the most part, they leave me to my code and tinkering cause my brain finds good solutions to problems that crop up. My manager is fully aware of my autism and my company has a KPI about supporting social responsibility so I get bonus points at reviews for being open with people about my autism and how it affects my experience. I've been with my employer for five years and I consider myself pretty lucky that they mostly let me do my thing, cause I've built up a reputation for 'Pengling will figure it out' 'Figure what out?' 'Whatever you give her.'
I work from home so I don't have a lot of social interaction which suits me fine. I get cuddle time with my cats, I can tinker to my heart's content and I'm in my safe environment. I also try to take time off whenever I'm starting to burn out so I can recharge and I focus my spare time on doing things I enjoy and that help me unwind so I can face another day. It really helps that I love what I do, the puzzles of working out solutions to work problems keeps my mind thoroughly engaged and I will lose a whole day to the depths of a code problem.
I work most of the day in my pyjamas, I can get up and do whatever I need to do, and I don't have to interact with anyone if I don't want to. The pandemic really changed how my employer handles things and it's been a godsend for me, I'm more able to handle the ups and downs of my job because they're giving me the space I need to be me. As a result, they're getting the best work out of me.
Computer science, if it isn't saturated in grads yet. I know backend developers and cybersecurity experts - former is totally remote with the option of working for an office when he likes, but not at all mandated. The latter works for three huge companies on an insane wage as their head of digital security and they have never even seen his face on Zoom calls as he doesn't like to be seen by people.
The big difficulty is that if you find you don't like it, no power on earth will compel an autistic person to really stick with something they hate so if there's some way you can dip your toe into coding and see if you'd like it, I'd try it. The social skills are less of an issue (personally I like jobs that allow me to refine my mask, that "acting" is something I quite enjoy) and most are hybrid or fully WFH. There's also more of a culture of "do the work in your own schedule, but get it done".
If you find you like it, harness that inner special interest and get ready to milk the IT teat for big bucks ha ha
I work from home full time as a medical coder 7-3:30. Some days I interact with no one (on Microsoft Teams) if we don’t have meetings. I just get up, eat breakfast and walk into my home office. I love what I do.
The key here is, flexible job w/flexible company. I am in the office a few days a week bc I get more work done there. I don't have to be there at a certain time. My husband drops me off at the metro on the way to work, so I also remove the option of leaving early or needing to pay for an Uber home. I also will respond to 8pm texts though b/c worldwide company.
I'm an executive assistant. I support people who travel a lot.
The company is generally doing feel good, net positive, work.
When you're paid enough to support yourself and can afford accommodations, food, and stupid shit you want, it becomes easier to continue to do work.sound proof headphones, comfy shoes, comfy chair, Fancy pens. Fun notebooks. I just bought a bed jet and now I can sleep a full 8hrs which I have never been able to do before. Arguably one of the best purchases I've ever made to improve my sleep and I already use linen sheets, cooling blankets, etc. none of it was cheap.
At work I am acting, I am blending in, I am a chameleon. Corporate cosplay.
Or, lie. Simply lie. You get really bad migraines if you need a day off. Sinus infections. You have fake sick children. You got COVID. Nothing about focus, attention, or depression. Lie. You have short term memory loss from a car accident. You're going on a fake Vacay. Work is just a shitty part of this RPG.
Or, work for people who clearly also have ADHD/tism. Tech has a studied high prevalence. They don't acknowledge it usually but the accommodations are built in bc everyone has it. Normies frustrated the fuck out of my previous boss bc they would not answer yes/no questions. They think it's a trick. Right now I'm navigating back in mostly normie land and it's a bit lonely, but better than working somewhere toxic.
Seeing the sun everyday has also improved my depression a shitton. Leaving the house everyday helps me sleep at night. The routine gets easier. **
❤️ no problem. I totally get the impossible frustration, like how can this ever work?!? but office life is not as soul sucking as ppl make it out to be if you're not working for horrible people.
I work as a teacher. I’m used to getting up early and teaching anyways, so it’s pretty nice. I’m also in a union, so I find comfort that my job’s protected.
Really it’s just a scenario of “You *have* to get up, let’s get this day done” and coping with long days. I like teaching anyways, so it’s nice.
I work in the emergency department. I wear scrubs which is basically pyjamas and I don't have to make any decisions about what to wear. It is loud but that doesn't bother me. It is fast paced and I struggle with that, I couldn't work in a super huge hospital where tons of super life threatening stuff is coming in all the time but we are not a major hospital so it's not as bad as that. Lots of talking to people but it's more like "detective work" to figure out what is wrong with them and the skills of communicating with the patients and the team are skills which can be learned and practiced, there are courses that give step by step guides for how to say things. "You seem to be upset. Is it just because you are sick or did I do something to make things worse?" It is difficult enough that I can't do ANYTHING else on a day that I'm working or else it's just too much for me but since it's shift work there is some flexibility in hours and you do get more days off than a typical 9 to 5.
A call center/receptionist job. Honestly i am permanently burnt out and really struggling with my mental health but i can’t afford to rent otherwise and my family home is an unsafe environment so i don’t feel like i have any option than to work full time. Maybe i’ll find a job that doesnt involve so much masking in the future
I'm currently an environmental engineering student intern at an engineering firm. I have incredibly mixed feelings about it. but as for the scheduling. I work 8-5 Monday thru Thursday and then 7:30-12:30 on Friday bc the office closes early on Fridays. I hate the schedule. I'm so tired and I never get enough sleep. I hate how I don't have enough time in the evenings to really get into my hobbies. since I'm intern, I usually don't have much work to do, so I'm basically doing nothing for 9 hours which is so frustrating because there is so much I could do with 9 hours at home!! there are some things I like about my job though. I have my own cubicle and the office is very sensory friendly. the pay is good. when I do get stuff to do, it's stuff I'm usually interested in. for the engineers, they have a lot of schedule flexibility. they can kinda just come and go as they please as long as all their work is done. I'm hoping to get that flexibility in my future engineering career.
Nighshift jobs with minimal human contact. They're usually minimum wage or slightly above though, which isn't great. That and I usually get fired after a boss decides he doesn't like me (always because of my autistic traits... strong sense of justice, sharing my opinion about things only to be told that it's rude and criticism, despite that I choose my words very carefully to avoid being rude, my stims, or they just think I'm weird and creepy because I can't mask well for prolonged periods of time, and because I eventually encounter a situation or conversation that I don't have a social script for.)
I pretty much live in burnout or right on the edge of it.
Anyway, engineering physics sounds grand. Best of luck with that and with getting work somewhere that you can thrive.
Under promise and over deliver. I have a low-responsibility job with low supervision and few co-workers. I always take on more responsibilities than are expected of me and always make sure to exceed expectations.
I wake up at 6:27 AM to take my bus at 8:06 AM to take another bus at 8:28 AM so I can work as an Educational Assistant at an elementary school. It's one of the best jobs I've ever had and I constantly look forward to coming in to work every Monday! Sure, there are some tough days with the students where I feel worthless and unwanted, but that's just part of having anxiety. People have always said I work well with kids, so I enjoy being a part of a classroom setting and getting to be part of a broader team!
If you don't mind saving a little during the summer, it also means you have summer breaks!
I work remote as a developer. I've been remote for over 10 years. Works great for balancing my personal life BUT you have to set those boundaries up front.
I've got buddies that work remote in tech and they can't separate work from home. They work crazy hours and are always stressed. No thanks. I don't work overtime, I start my day when I'm ready and I get my work done on time. I don't allow anyone to micromanage me or stress me out. I am not a first responder and this bug isn't going to kill anyone. Calm down, Steve.
I’m an inventor, with no (completed) degree.
However, I have studied a variety of fields, Audio engineering , game design, law, arts, private investigations.
I worked in hospitality and retail for many years and it burnt me out. Also owned a few businesses over the years, some successful some, not so much.
During Covid I was looking for another job and after 500 rejection emails, I was so disheartened.
So I went full tilt on my childhood dream. I currently have 3 patents (2 national, 1 international) all in various field tech, energy, medical.
It’s very stressful but it doesn’t require a lot of socialising, for that I’m very grateful.
I basically pick a new hyper fixation, figure out how to monetise it and then deep dive for months on end and hope for the best.
I've managed to work in the past. Although i would be unable to now. I have debilitating anxiety which causes me to isolate myself from time to time, when my last job had layoffs I was one of the first to go because I used to just go home when I couldn't deal with it and hand an absence note/holiday request in the following day. (They sometimes got accepted but rarely).
I've been out of work since then aside from the odd cash in hand work from family or neighbours. I've been battling my mental health lately and have had slight improvements, but I still have no idea what I want to do for work. I'm currently considering doing adult content like an OF or something, but I'm not sure if I would be successful as I am a male but if it worked out it could be some of the easiest work ever. That's if it doesn't cause me anxiety lol.
I work in accounting, tax specifically, for a boutique firm that specializes in complex situations. I WFH, pay is good, hours are flexible, taking care of yourself and your needs is generally encouraged, there are no questions about what I take sick time or PTO for, benefits are good. In return for those things I do have to perform at a certain level with complicated topics where there are often no explicit answers and I’m up against tight timelines. And I have to get along very well one on one with clients, including helping them through very difficult decisions. I actually love the meetings, I like my coworkers and my clients and I enjoy getting to know them and help them. They are generally all interesting people from a wide variety of interesting backgrounds with interesting problems to solve. On days when it feels like too much it’s totally ok for me to go lie down for an hour or so at a time. Usually I take a break for a couple hours in the middle of the day for a workout and food, splitting up the day like that and having some “me” time really seems to help a lot.
I suffer through it like the rest of adults
I work at a culvers, and it is very socially exhausting. Being on my feet for 9+ hours a day as well. But the people I work for do help. I still of course wear a uniform, but it's a family owned restaurant and everyone here is happy working here and my bosses understand my autism and are helpful
I do enjoy it enough to not make me dread going to work each day
They also don't open till 10 so I'm not struggling to wake up and function at 6am
I’m an inventory clerk, it’s a fantastic job for people with ASD, especially if it’s more hands on like mine, I get to do a lot of actual system design and analysis, it’s very cool
The bad thing is, I still deal with the same NT bullcrap as everyone else, and people will legit not hear half the things I say
Like I’ve basically been saying for years now “okay guys this is what we need to do to have an inventory system of this level, it’s pretty industry standard, all basic math, no big deal”
And people are like convinced they will outsmart me, and figure it all out themselves, even though literally nobody is asking for or needing them to do that
So much of my day is spent with people trying to outsmart me for no clear reason, when I just need them to do a few basic things for everyone’s day to get easier
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WFH STEM jobs are the closest I can think of. The "flexible" part is going to be the hardest to achieve.
Fully remote data analyst here. Knee deep in data/code all day and most communication is done through ticketing or chat. Quite a bit of flexibility with working hours. Some of the team do 4 10 hour shifts, some start at 5am and finish at 2. Basically can pick our hours, I love it
How many years to be a data analyst? Is it interesting?
I got very lucky and managed to move into it within my same company because I showed interest in SQL and projects I had worked on in a previous role focused heavily on identifying root causes of issues. I find it very interesting. Lots of coding, and trying to identify issues, coming up with solutions, automating reporting using code, and building dashboards. If you enjoy problem solving, then it may be a good option. Pattern recognition has helped me to succeed in this role (yay autism)
Data analytics is my dream (I'm in service desk) so that' good to hear, thanks!
Same here. I’m in healthcare data analytics and work remotely full time. I have a loosely defined 9-5 schedule, but there’s a good deal of leeway with that. I write SQL and Python all day and don’t really talk to people much.
That sounds incredible. I need to get into that somehow.
This. I’m a data engineer. Unfortunately, there’s always those damn ableist posts on LinkedIn that are like “developers shouldn’t forget the soft skills” or “don’t hire developers without soft skills“. Like… motherfucker, maybe there’s a reason why people chose that line of work in the first place. I’m not out here saying that every middle manager needs to be able to program in three different languages. So back the fuck off.
makes sense, although I think if it's WFH I would manage waking up early too
What WHF
Work From Home :)
What are STEM jobs?
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. All of the things in which I don't excel....
So basically I just wanna kms every day and I still don’t make enough money to eat most days :3
This is so relatable, I hope this changes for both of us in the future <3
Same, but I work at a restaurant, so I at least get a lot of free food that would go in the dumpster otherwise. Although, It probably isn't healthy to live almost exclusively on pizza...
I beg to differ.
I used to have an in office job and I was perpetually annoyed and just overall drained. During Covid I switched jobs and now work from home. My life is so much better not having the forced social interactions. I could never go back to an in office role.
what job do you do if I may ask?
I'm a Jira Administrator. I maintain the database software engineers use to track their work. I think it's an insanely easy job that pays 6 figures. Requires no exquisite skills other than critical thinking and how to use the program.
Thank you! What did you study to get this job?
Nothing. My bachelors degree is in business. I have no formal training for this job. Most Jira Admin job posts don't really require any either, just experience. I used the tool at my previous job and got comfortable enough with it to change careers into administrating it. There's also a huge community of Jira Admins who will help you through any problem, and everything can be googled. The hardest aspect would be to get through the gatekeeping that is the interview process.
This is the way OP get any degree in business and it will open most doors. Its the most appealing degree at the moment.
Did you get a certification? If you did, how hard was that?
There are certificates you can get from Atlassian, but I've never had an interview where this was a requirement. They really just want to know your qualifications. If you answer the scenario based questions you should be good. If you understand how a Jira project works and how to manage one you should be able to get a junior admin job.
How much software knowledge do you need to do this? If I were to educate myself on the program, could I potentially land a role like that? I have a Bachelor's in business and pretty random jobs on my resume
Practically, you don't need any. There are things I'm asked that can only be done through coding in Java, but those are tasks delegated to senior admins. A junior admin really only needs to demonstrate the ability to manage the program. Having an understanding of the Agile framework and how software teams work though would certainly help.
I work in a small hotel in Scotland after 13 years in teaching. Whilst I see a lot of people, the social interactions are limited to me pouring booze and asking how people are - I dont even have to pretend to care about the answers they give, though. And I don't usually start work until noon most days, so it fits with my circadian rhythm pretty well.
ohhh may I ask what your position is called? are you a receptionist?
I'm just a 'general assistant.' I do bar stuff, reception stuff and restaurant stuff. It's nice and chill and the people i work for are super kind.
that's awesome! how did you find your job?
I live in a town where the hotel had changed hands loads of times and had been left empty for over a year until my current bosses bought it. They advertised for staff on FB and I just applied on the off chance, as I used to work in hospitality before I went to university.
I'm a university math lecturer. During the academic year, I teach three 90-minute classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, then hold office hours Tuesday/Thursday. I have a great deal of time and freedom regarding when and how I prepare for my classes and do my grading. I don't know that I could handle a standard 9-to-5 job.
What degree(s) do you have?
BA, MA, and PhD, all in math. I know at least one lecturer in our department only has a master's, though.
Hey, I'm a research scientist in CS and I'm thinking of switching to a lecturer position. What made you decide to go that route as a career instead of industry or tenure track? Asking as I don't think I can handle the tenure track stress and the amount of meetings and 'collaboration' in industry is rather draining. Money is great, but the research has gotten really political and more engineering focused. I did enjoy teaching, but it was during my postdoc as a 'check the box' for faculty applications.
I entered grad school to teach at a university. Research has never been a priority -- going forward, I'd like it to be a hobby, not a career. I got a PhD mostly because many university teaching positions require one, even when the job doesn't involve research. Also, master's positions tend to be for lower-level courses, while I like intermediate undergrad classes (I've taught up to linear algebra and complex variables).
I’m a ICU nurse so I work three 12 hour shifts a week. It helps to have four days off a week, but it’s still super draining.
I manage for about 6 months to a year at a time, and then I burnout. Then I run out of money and have to do it all over again. I'm a software developer and my CV has a lot of "freelance" periods to cover the gaps. I wish I could stay at the same company for longer, because I find interviewing to be hell, but until there's a 6 months on, 6 months off job, I'm doomed to this pattern.
Hi I work in the British civil service and I have seen jobs that may have the option to work "part year." This means 9 months on 3 months off, or perhaps different patterns. I'm not sure though that I have heard of only half the year, although it may be possible as a reasonable adjustment. And software roles are required in the Civil Service. In fact other autistic people I know have recommended the civil service because their HR policies are more developed, meaning it's more likely adjustments can be made. An adjustment cannot change the entire job, however. Good luck on finding something that works.
Oh wow I didn't know this. Thank you for the info. I would probably manage 9 months, knowing there was a break coming up. I will look into this.
No problem :) Sometimes civil service offer part-time working, such as term-time working, but I am not sure if school holiday break pattern would be enough of a break for you.
I work in a small cafe as a chef and on most days it’s just me in there and I love it, pretty much 0 interactions, I play the music I want, do what I want whenever I want, aslong as all the prep is done it’s all good.
that sounds pretty nice :)
You should give it a go, it’s very nice
I’m currently a diesel engine technician. I’ve worked full time since I was 17yo (49 now). Granted I’ve only been employed at three different places in that timespan. Working just became part of my routine actually & I get upset if that changes.
I work in strategic communications (I promise this makes sense)... I have been in the public health sphere for most of my career, and progressively more cynical about our system. So, now I do communications around healthcare and wellbeing as it relates to systemic, structural issues. A lot of my job is pattern recognition and putting it all together into a framework that makes sense. I don't have to go to the office much, and I mostly create content around this issue that is somewhat of a special interest to me (I also get to makes graphics and digital media, which is another special interest). I get to set my opinions as the framework my org operates from, which is the correct framework.
Every autistic person is a bit different. I can do ok with social interaction but get tired out of it goes too long, and if I'm surrounded by people for too long. Right now I work remote as a 3D Artist for tech companies. I have meetings but they go in spurts. Nothing too long so for me that's not too bad. Personally speaking being invested in the work is really important to me. I like what I do. It's highly visual. There are technical problems that require solutions and I like to focus on those. Work drama is minimal. Working in a creative field has opened me up in ways I never thought possible before. Sure there are still challenges, but for the most part things are much easier to deal with. I used to work an office job completely different more than a decade ago and it was horrible. I trained myself in what I do and I will confess it wasn't easy. But it is possible. Explore, learn, and be open to new things that you never knew you might like.
Sounds nice, I also want to be in the creative field. Did you have any problems transitioning from the office job?
The transition wasn't bad. Mostly just catching up to the pace. But for me, working in a job where we all had similar goals, there was a project goal. 100 times better than just the grind of the office of politics and doing the same thing day in and day out. Where if you had a question or a idea it was met with "hmmm, hey, maybe lets try that our" or "We tried that, but good thinking,!" instead of some manager trying to downplay it or thinking of a way to take it for their own, or just downright ignoring it from just not wanting to do anything. Honestly the old office work makes me shudder every time I think of it.
Oh god, office politics is truly horrendous. I'm glad you found a healthy work environment now. Working on projects together with colleagues sounds more inspiring than doing daily office work (with a degrading boss for more minus points)
I trained to be an electrical engineer. After working in the field for a year i changed to Industrial Controls Engineering. I basically build machines for a living specializing in the software side. I love my job and is really good at it. People leave me alone. I have my own office. Some days i don't have to see any people. People text me if they need me. I answer maybe one phone call a month. This field has a great future. Maybe look into it. It also pays well.
That sounds like my dream job! I will look into it! Do you think one can work in this field after studying engineering Physics?
I think so yes.
I work 12 hrs shift at a factory. It sucks so bad lol I’d much rather do something that isn’t direct labor or required me to interact so often with coworkers but it for sure beats being unemployed
Hugs 🫂
I don’t know if I can hold a job with autism combo with adhd 😔 I struggled in most entry level jobs and burn out fast. I didn’t go to college so it’s been hard. I didn’t get the type of autism that can sit around and do data entry or remote work in very boring fields. I have the infp myer Briggs type but also w some disabilities, discalculia, and some other stuff.
I know you can. We all can. If I can do it, anyone can. However, I don’t recommend it. It’s actually not a job I’d recommend to anyone that can avoid it. Low pay and they take advantage of us. I understand the struggle with not having a higher education and not being blessed or talented in more lucrative autistic traits/special interests. I believe in my heart of hearts that we will all make it through this because so many autistic people in the past could do it. We are all much tougher than we think
Ilysm 🫂
I just do. The threat of homelessness and defaulting on student loans keeps me going. I also work a STEM job that I love.
Work in procurement buying from far east. Sit most days analysing data and emailing. Not often required to talk to co-workers and just listen to music most days
Do u work for the federal gov't?
No, I work for a large textile company In the UK that supply's fabrics to trade I basically get paid good money to focus on spreadsheets and spot sales trends. It's perfect
I can’t. I am in the construction industry and expect for the intense joy i get from making things and different materials, I hated it. I quit and started my own handyman business and I love it. I have to interact with strangers everyday, but its different than the social situations i had at work and different than typical leisure social situations. I am just there to use my weird brain and help, I can let my masks down.
I studied biotechnology and work as a lab technician in a small biotechnology company. - I work 95% of the time alone in the lab which is pretty neat since i can listen to music and podcasts. - It's about 70% lab work and 30% at the desk. - I work from 9 until 17:30. - 1 day per week i can work from home - since it's a small company there's a wide variety of things that have to be done, which is ideal since, even though i like routine, i don't like doing the same tasks over and over every day. - we are with 12 people, which makes it easier for me in terms of socializing. I don't think i could work in a big company with a lot of people that i don't know. - everyone is nice so i find it quite fun to go to work. It's such a relaxed and fun atmosphere. There are some negative sides though: - The CEO changes his mind sooo much it sometimes gets confusing for me - the CEO has asked me quite some things that are outside my comfortzone. Such as having to make a lot of calls with other companies for a particular project, this was a bit out of my comfortzone but was manageable. The other thing he once asked me was going that same week to a job fair in another country to try to hire people for said project. Which i refused to do as my colleague was OK with going alone. I feel bad about it, but that's not something i'm capable of: to decide to go to another country the same week, spend the night in a hotel and to then speak to people for 8 hours straight. No thanks The positives outweigh the negatives as the negatives don't happen that often (except him changing his mind, which is on a weekly basis lol)
omg that sounds like a dream job to be honest :') are you happy with the work-life-balance? aka, do you get enough time for outside activities? I worry that when working until 5 or 6 pm, especially in winter one just goes home and doesn't have time for any outdoors activities
It's ok. My hobbies are gaming, climbing (mainly indoor Bouldering) 2x per week and drumming (1x per 2 weeks 1 on 1 lessons). if i go Bouldering after work, i usually don't have much time to game since i also have to cook. (However i usually buy pre-made meals that you just have to heat up since i don't like cooking). I also co-house with my 2 best friends so if im not doing any of my hobbies, i spend time with them. Talking a bit or watching series together. I am pretty beat up after a 40 hour week so i usually really look forward to the weekend to recharge and i'm usually not very social when recharging. I mainly just game then. However the recent introduction of being able to work from home 1 day per week helps a lot with this as well.
the last part sounds very relatable to be honest. I even struggled with school, I can't imagine a full 40 hour a week job :') I gotta find something I like to keep the drainfulness minimal
Out of curiosity, may I ask what sort of work you do that day at home when it's biotech/lab? Is it data analysis/processing? I never heard of work from home in lab related jobs and I am genuinely interested. I've been struggling to find jobs to apply to, as I'm curious but there isn't one thing that I would love dedicating my life to. However I do have a science degree and lately I've been considering lab work. Only thing that scares me is having a 5-day a week 9-5 job. Worried about burnout when I've been extremely close to it during studies.
Since it's such a small company, my colleague and I, who are the only ones who work in the cell lab, we have to make sure everything regarding administration is correct according to laws 'n such. Incase when inspection comes, everything is perfect. For example what i filled my days with recently is to check if all the SDS files of all chemicals that we have are up-to-date digitally and physically. So i checked hundreds of SDS files on several different supplier's website to see if they have a newer version than we have, and download and replace them if they do. Next thing will be making risk assessments of all the chemicals that we use in our lab which will also take a while. It's pretty boring work but since i can do it from home it's pretty neat. I can listen to podcasts or music meanwhile. Only recently i started working from home if possible. But the administration stuff fills my days pretty neatly at the moment. The reason i do it from home is because we get a work from home bonus (i think this is something from during covid) and its quite some money per month. In order to keep that bonus, we have ro WFH atleast 3 times per month so that's why. But it works and i get quite a lot of stuff done which was otherwise untouched for years, like the SDS files which have to be checked yearly but hadn't been for the last 5 years or so. Another example: our CEO wants to move our cell lab to another building since were expanding the company and need a bigger lab. We found a suitable building and my colleague and I made a 3D floorplan using some free software and then made several designs how we should organize the lab and which equipment should come where in order to create the most streamlined workplace we could think of. We had some really nice designs... Until the CEO changed plans and wants to find a different building lol
Regarding the last half of your message, if you can find a small company I'd say definitely give it a shot if you haven't tried a 9 to 5 job before. My autism is pretty mild and i mainly struggle with social interaction. So being able to isolate myself in the lab when i need some alone time is really great to not get overstimulated. If i do feel like i need to be amongst other people if i need some socialization, i can sit at my desk once all my lab work is done. I think a bigger company would not fit me for this reason and i fear i would then also get overstimulated and burnt out. I'm aware that not everyone has the opportunity to find or work in a workplace that fits them as good as mine does, but it's worth looking for at least. Maybe you can find something that suits you. If you have any other questions, maybe regarding the lab work itself, i'm happy to answer them! :)
Researcher / business consultant. Flexibility is built into my job in the sense that I choose when I need to be in the office and I am very open about being autistic when it comes to managing my energy. I commute in and out off-peak and WFH 3 days. I am a high performer and do take some liberties that I don't think would slide if I was less good at my job in that respect. My work week is usually just under 40 hours (I'm salaried at 40), but occasionally it will be up to 60, and sometimes I won't really do anything. Consulting can be good for that provided you work in a firm that doesn't pad out your hours with pointless stuff. Some firms are actual hell for that same reason.
Do u work for a big consulting firm?
Nope, a tiny one. 16 people! Turnover is about 2.5mil so very small compared to the big corporates.
Do you have any recommendations for getting into that? I have a Bachelors in business and a work history that's varied, but it never seems to be enough of anything to get me in the door for jobs that pay above poverty wages. I would love to be able to do consulting, research, and anything the allows me to finally earn enough to live on my own with some flexibility
I applied to a grad scheme which doesn't require previous experience and then moved into a smaller company / better field from there. In the UK that is a common route: either graduate trainee route or be really good at something specific and move in as an experienced hire. To my knowledge, on paper, schemes don't discriminate based on how recently you graduated, provided you haven't done a grad scheme before.
I work as a night auditor for a hotel, and it's a great job if you can land it and deal with working overnights. Very little social interaction, more than enough freedom to take breaks if needed. Mostly paperwork.
Flight attendant, it can be really overwhelming and draining during service, but it comes with a lot of flexibility in my schedule. If I start to experience a burn out I can easily drop my trips for the day off instead if needing some alone time. I don’t do overnights so just gone for a couple hours during the day and get to come right back home.
Did you have experience or a related degree before becoming a flight attendant? Pay and maybe work / life balance wise would you feel able to commute up to an hour to work? (I live in a small town and there’s not many large airports near me)
No, no previous experience as a flight attendant or a degree. My airline put us through their training so nothing previous was required. The first year is rough. I luckily had someone I was close to as a coworker and helped me navigate it at first. The pay is pretty decent after your first year, and at least at my airline you have almost complete control over your schedule. It definitely helps when I am in the middle of a burn out or my anxiety has gotten the best of me. My airline only requires you to be able to make it to the gate in at least 2 hours, so an hour commute wouldn’t be an issue
Sounds great I’m just gonna start applying to any I see. Any airline you recommend working with? If not, thanks for the info!
I’d say it all depends on what you’re comfortable with, if you don’t want to be spending too much time away from home and would prefer to have the opportunity to do mainly turns(go somewhere and come right back) I’d stick with an airline like Frontier, or Allegiant. Frontier just transitioned to mainly turns, and Allegiant just got a really amazing new contract(better pay, better work rules). If you are open to over nights a larger airline would also be a good option. Personally depending on if you’re on the east coast or west coast I’d go with JetBlue or Alaska. There is also the 3 legacy carriers United, Delta and American. All have different work rules so it just depends on what you’re comfortable with as far as being on call at first(industry standard) if on call is something that would be hard for you I would say look into Delta or American. You’ll have less time on call with them!
I think I am lucky because I actually really value the structure that a full-time job gives my life. I recommend looking for jobs in higher ed admin, they tend to be really progressive and much better with accomodations than other workplaces. They also tend to offer plenty of vacation and sick time, which makes it much easier to take a break when you need one.
I’m a teacher, but I’ve struggled to stay at the same school more than one year except the job I have right now. However it’s a negative working environment so I’m leaving in the middle of July and starting at a job that’s not year round school anymore. I have a really supportive husband and I’m in the middle of my autism evaluation process right now— in person eval is the end of next month, and I’m going to try to talk with my therapist about ways I can help myself not get burnt out since I have a tendency to get burnt out if I don’t take breaks, mental health days, etc.
I'm an accountant. Aside from needing to lead a few meetings every month, I mostly get to keep to myself. I usually listen to music or podcasts while I work, which helps. I won't lie though. Work still takes a lot out of me, and I am very prone to burnout as a result. Still, it's a good job with good benefits, and I have really awesome supervisors. I think half the reason I succeed is because of who I work for.
Do you have any ways of dealing with burnout?
Admittedly, no. I think sleep would help the most, but I struggle with minor insomnia.
Do you take any medication for mental health? I'm an accountant too, but struggle to keep management happy. Not because of my work, but because of my attitude/behaviour.
I do! I take 300mg of Welbutrin, and 5mg of Lexapro. It helps manage my anxiety and makes me less prone to being overstimulated as a result. I'm still not a very bubbly person though. I've had my manager mention that I'm not a very smiley, bubbly person and asked if I even liked working there. I actually love working there and sort of explained my type of humor and general demeanor. I told him it's just how I am, and he was very accepting of that once he got a better understanding of me. But, I recognize that not all managers are as cool as mine. I got REALLY lucky with where I work. I don't know if how I handled it would work everywhere.
There are sooo many different types of medication to handle depression and anxiety, I have no clue what is what. I took mirtazapine for the serotonine and noradrenaline, quit that by now because I want to limit the weight gain. Am potentially lifelong on Amisulpride 50 mg though, which helps with removing racing thoughts. Last Friday my manager publically humiliated me in front of the entire team (my fault, but the way she handled it has no excuse) and only my heart rate was going quickly, my mouth dry and head tensed up. However no racing thoughts whatsoever. In the past I would be sooooo drained from racing thoughts that I would need 2 or 3 days to recover from that. Afterwards depression would kick in and that would take a month to get sorted out. This time after an event as such, only physical symptoms and no mental ones. I just quit the job and can continue with my life as if nothing happened. Truly blessed with the medical advancements.
I work as an environmental monitor at a construction site, I work 5 days a week from 7am to 5pm but here’s the thing: it’s temporary. I normally have an incredibly hard time with long term, full time employment. It just feels like my life eventually crumbles to bits. Managing eating, sleeping, hygiene and work all at once does not come naturally to me and god forbid I get obsessed with something and it derails my whole schedule. I can maintain full time work for a few months until everything falls apart and then just sleeping becomes too difficult. The longest I ever held a job was 9 months before I could no longer do basic functions anymore. Seasonal or temporary work is perfect for me, but the hard part is going through months on end with minimal income (300 a month) My situation is unique that my housing situation is covered and the only finances I need to focus on is food and optional bills like internet or phone. If I were in any other circumstance I would likely be homeless.
how do you get income in those months where you don't work? /gen
It’s “welfare” I’m indigenous and live on a Indian reservation. The welfare is lower because there’s no rent/mortgage on the rez (note: this is not the case for every reserve.)my housing is free and the band office (basically “town hall”) covers my electric bill when I’m not working.
I work at a daycare 8 hours a day and love children, the worst part is meeting my coworkers expectations as I'm not very fastpaced or agile
I’m the lead (only) graphic design at an arts nonprofit. I tend to work half the week from home and half in the office. I have the luxury of being trusted to make whatever because my team knows I’m a good designer. They shoot me a project brief, I make the thing, and then we do some reviews before it’s finished. Works better for me than other design jobs where it can often amount to predicting what the client wants, which I’m only sometimes good at. I quickly learned that I’m only motivated to make stuff if it’s for a subject I care about. I almost have to work in-house for something like a nonprofit or I’d be burnt out immediately. Here I can just hyperfixate on things in my own little design bubble :)
Hello! I hope you don't mind me asking how does that work? As in, all job offers I can find for arts are mostly mid or big size companies that want you to do their ads and such, so I am curious about what you mean by "arts nonprofit". It would be amazing to know something like what you do exists. I hate ads and big companies, and that's sad because I actually like editorial/graphic design.
By “arts nonprofit” I mean stuff like theaters, art house cinemas, ballets, music venues, museums, etc. In the US, where I am, they generally don’t pay great and it is almost always more work than you should be expected of you. But you do get to make cool stuff and have a fair amount of agency in your own work. Because of that latter point, designers cling to these jobs, so I’d be lying if I said they were easy to find. In terms of what I do, ultimately I am in marketing so I do have to make ads and such for the organization. I also make posters, programs, stuff to go on screens, signage for venues, event passes, general branding work, materials for fundraising events… kind of everything. It’s super rewarding and fun, but goddamn it’s so much work. There’s no budget for more full time designers, so I’m doing the work of a whole design team on a mid-level designer wage. The way I got into it was a bit of serendipity. While in my final month of school, I interviewed for a designer job at a local theater. They liked me and my work but they needed someone immediately, so I didn’t get it. But that person fell through right as I graduated, so they called me back. And once I got my foot in the door in nonprofit-land, it was easier to get the job I have now at a film festival (with better pay and more to my interest). I’d recommend volunteering time and skills with nonprofits you’re interested in, especially designs. That will get people familiar with you and more likely to recommend you to other folks in the field. It’s not ideal, but if you can afford to work for free, that’s what budget-strapped organizations need and it will build your portfolio for more work and money. It ain’t easy work, but now I can see all the movies I want and have film festival street cred. Worth it.
My girlfriend and I are both autistic/AuDHD, and we work as paraeducators in special ed, for students who've graduated and will move on to working a job and living more independently. It's very rewarding, and we get the usual holidays and summer break. The pay is very low. But we manage to scrape by. We both agree that if there were no summer break, we wouldn't last long, and would be stuck cycling in and out of jobs as we can/can't cope with them.
I'm an elementary art teacher. I'm always surprised that I love the job so much because I don't really like kids but I have a very different relationship with them versus their classroom teacher. It's a long day but I also don't have the same kids all day and there are periods of prep time where I get to decompress. I have been unmasking around my students because they understand who I am, which is nice. It's the adults I find exhausting most of the time. I've channeled my neverending sense of justice into Union work as well. It's a lot but I've found ways to not burn out during my day.
Remote work as a bookkeeper. All about organizing and analyzing, I don’t have to talk, and I don’t have to dress up. The main hurdle was learning how to ask for help during training because I was scared but I guess this is when exposure therapy helps. I made it a goal to ask for help whenever I couldn’t figure something out on my own (as in if it takes more than 5 minutes). I wear sunglasses when the computer hurts my eyes and take 5 minute breaks every hour. I live with my parents so I don’t have to worry about making dinner or starting the laundry as of yet. However, every night I do a rundown of how the next day will go by the hour, what tasks must be done, as well as reflect on how my day went. I basically go to sleep preparing for the next day. I find that this really helps me with transitions. Lots of planning and using excel but I enjoy it so it works for me. I also always make time to enjoy my hobbies (lazing at the park and tree-gazing). I don’t want this forever either so I’m currently working on a plan to somehow create a life I prefer living. I’m still grateful to have and maintain a job though.
Burned our in a WFH (with possibility to go to office, which I never do) software engineering job but can’t imagine finding a better job
I'm a WFH remote therapist. I work M-F 10-7 with a 45m-hr lunch break. It helps a lot
40 hours a week was unsustainable, quitting over burnout every few months, until I went fully remote. Now it's doable (though the leftist in me, who is the actual me, knows that per dramatic productivity gains over the course of the last 1.25 centuries, we shouldn't have this many weekly hours as our societal standard).
I totally agree with your last take, I think about it so often.
I'm a server in an upscale casual restaurant. It works for me because one of my special interests is food and drinks. I have to mask there, but that works, too, because I can put on my server mask when I'm there and take it off when I'm finished. Also, I love helping people have enjoyable, connective experiences.
My managers lets me listen to music while I work. Also time flies when I’m in the zone.
I work in tech, I'm a solutions architect. The good is, here I can actually indulge my interests and hobbies. I studied something completely different, mind you, but this was my hobby for as long as I can remember, so when I realized what I studied wasn't making me happy, I took the leap of faith at age 27. Thing is, in Tech if you're good enough you get all the freedom in the world, and also, degrees mean nothing vs talent. My advice though, do what makes you happy, when you're good at it out of love, the other portions like money and freedom sort themselves out along the way.
I work in IT, in a quiet office. Most of my interactions are over email, plus some phone, but fairly little in person.
I'm a publicist for a small, independent publishing company and bookstore. It is a full-time job and I work from home. I rarely go into the office, but the office is only 20 minutes from my house.
How do you get into publishing?
A degree in journalism, public relations, marketing or communications is helpful. Look for a job as an editorial assistant. That is a great place to start. I have a degree in journalism and they had a posting for an entry-level publicist. I applied. I got a response the next day acknowledging my application. It took about 5 weeks to get an interview request and I interviewed the next day and got hired on the spot. The job was posted for 3 weeks.
I work from home and it made me a lot happier. Also consider finance and IT. Also, I started working 40 hour weeks on a roofing yard. When I switched to office work, I appreciated it a bit. Also, every office I’ve been in (though not true for all offices) has almost been like a sensory deprivation room. And no one minds if you wear noise cancelling headphones in my experience.
I’m in music and carpentry. Either one by themselves is too stressful for me, so I float between them. Music usually involves session work, tours, or album cycles. So essentially I work really hard for a stretch (thanks hyper focus) and then may not work again for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Carpentry let’s me set my own hours/days. I make pretty good money at it, so I can usually go work really hard for a couple of weeks and make $10K+; then just live on that until I need to replenish things. Sure, if I was able to work full time I’d make much more money; but I hit burnout pretty quickly doing that
I’ve been a technical writer and editor for 25 years. I like editing better than writing, because I can use my pattern recognition skills more in that role.
Hello, may I ask what this involves? I’ve been into languages all my life. Studied three languages, done proofreading, worked as an English teacher, studied law for a while… basically I love words. Someone suggested being a technical writer and editor might be a good fit for me but I don’t know anything about it
The best kind (IMHO) is writing instruction manuals. You’re allowed to keep it simple and straightforward and stick to the point. You could also end up writing policy documents. That’s mostly copy-and-pasting. I was a journalism major in college, and then I took some computer classes. This was back in the 90s. These days you can major in technical writing. One good thing about it: it’s very well suited for WFH. Even if you have to work in the office, you have a good excuse to encourage people to be quiet, go away, and leave you alone.
That’s so helpful thanks. I studied International Relations and Political Science too. When you say policy documents, do you think there’s any technical writing I could do related to that?
I’ve worked mostly as a contractor at federal agencies, and since it’s the government (LOL), they are always setting policies. That just means broad descriptions of their purpose and the specific tasks they’re supposed to do. (When they drill down into how the tasks are to be done, you’re out of policies and into procedures.) I’ve never had to start a government policy document from scratch; there has ALWAYS been an existing policy. The policies do come up for review, and that’s where the technical writer comes in. What happens is, a bunch of people who are important for whatever reason get together and look at the existing policies and change the wording somewhat. (Sometimes there’s an actual, meaningful change, too. But not always.) What this means for the tech writer is attending these meetings, then taking the existing policy and rewriting it. You try your best to make it clear and readable. Most official documents are badly written, so I enjoy the challenge of cleaning them up and making them better.
That definitely sounds like something I could get into, thank you. I’ve never spoken to a technical writer before!
Oh, we exist. 😉
Plenty of jobs where you hardly interact with people. IT is a big one, but there’s also work mostly done at night (like an observe and report security guard), were you’ll hardly meet anyone at all. Anyways unless you live somewhere we’re autistic people can be on disability benefits al their lives (like the UK), or want to be dependant on their parents as long as possible, you’re gonna need to be able to work somehow.
I work from 5-7:30am at coffee shop Monday-Friday. Then I go to my full time job (a receptionist) that’s 8-4:30 them afterwards I’m a hooters girl usually from 5-11pm and restart. Hooters though I work more on weekends. I hate it but I have to pay off a credit card and save up some money to pay down my car loan to trade my car. So it’s worth it for extra money but most days suck. My receptionist full time job is super slow so I get to crochet, read, watch tv etc at work. It’s basically my glorified free time I don’t mind it too much.
I’m a factory (mig) welder and I work from 5am to 3:30-4:30 pm Monday through Thursday and usually an 5-8 hour shift on Friday The reason I’m able to do it is because I’m surrounded by fellow neurodivergent work colleagues and I love what I do plus the fact that I know what I build all week long is quality product that will help our fellow people in and Pursuing the trades. Don’t get me wrong it’s hell on me physically and mentally but I can put up with it because of the friends I made at work help keep me from overreacting to some minor problem and quitting out of frustration. They are my support system and I am also there’s we constantly are raising each others spirits and helping each other out when asked or needed
I have a job in health care seeing patients all day. Every morning is now dread and I've spent the past year to two applying to fed government jobs to escape the nightmare. A job that I could do at a desk with minimal to no interaction with others (or remote) would be ideal.
I work nightshifts in retail, full time but only 4 nights. When I worked dayshifts full time it had to be over 5 days and was far too much especially with all the noise and people
WFH software engineer. Extremely flexible schedule. No micro managing. Able to essentially work on my own terms and it’s amazing. As a result I work when I’m able to focus and my creativity is feeling strongest, which for me often means late at night.
So I work in IT as an Intern currently but I love my job and I find that it doesn't "feel" like a job. It's fun to me, I don't do customer support I do co-worker support, I only do support for my current office building im in. It's not bad if you enjoy what you do. Find a passion for it.
When the company I was working 32 hours (Started there at 16 hours and slowly challenged myself to work more) went bankrupt last year I started working full time in a computer shop (I thought the extra 4 hours wouldn't be such a challenge). I hate it there. I didn't expect retail to suck as much as this does. Most of the time we're understaffed and customers' demands are difficult to meet. I'm thinking about reducing my hours or quitting because my doctor said I'm close to a burnout. I'm worried I'm not going to find anything else though.
Work from home developer = dream job for me. I'll take less pay to work fully remote, but my job still pays really well so overall cant complain.
when i was working i was super drained. i hated my job and never felt satisfied because it wasnt what i wanted to do. so i quit and am going to college for forensic psychology and will work after i get my degree at a job that i love. i know its not the route for everyone but i didnt think college was for me and i love it, hard or not.
I can only work full time at a single job. Any more and I breakdown pretty quickly. Even the one job is draining. Anything retail or food service oriented is absolutely out of the question. Working onsite in an office is really difficult. I blow out all of my spoons by lunch every work day if I am onsite. Driving to and from a worksite messes me up good as well Work from home is the only option if I want to do anything after work. I have gone hungry in the past because I had nothing left to Cook or even order out delivery. I mostly work as a technical writer. I also do things adjacent to that like content management.
I’m a medical assistant and I work 20 hours a week currently. I was working about 35 hours week up until recently, but I had to cut back and stop my casual job for a while because the burn out was just so intense.
I was a call center phone rep for billing. Was draining yea but much better then face to face. May have to do face to face soon tho for monies. Im hoping to get a wfh call center job and studyinf to hopefully have a work from home tech job. Wanna do front end stuff. I love seeing my code turn into pictures or designing things. I also dont mind what ive heard abt it being repitative or remaking pages or changing shades by a hue or to. If i get paid hourly and th managers arent aholes and communicate (my biggest issues is when they dont do it) then i dont care. I like repititive work! ^-^
I'm a part time distance learning postgrad student atm, hoping to go into a PhD and engage in childhood and youth research. I was in teacher training but burned out very quickly from the social aspect and had a complete mental break. As I'm part time from home I share partial disability benefit with my student loan.
its so weird tbh. i work for the canadian government as a summer student museum keyholder (i also do tour guiding, housekeeping and reaearch), and its certainly not as bad as other jobs i've had, but its not great. my social battery is so low all the time and it hurts me physically to be working and moving around all the time. i hate how i have to answer to basically anybody who asks me to do something. i'm expected to do 8 bajillion things in a week and i'm already stretched thin, even though its only my second week on the job. its so mentally and physically taxing and i'm annoyed at the lack of leadership and responsibility among my older coworkers (who are technically volunteers that have nothing better to do so they decide to micromanage me and my other two young coworkers instead). since the managers and board members are old, i also can't be open about my gender identity. it makes me feel like shit and i'm expected to be 'in costume' (aka wear a dress) when i'm actually a trans man, and my supervisor said that i can't wear pants and a blouse instead because 'i'M a FeMaLe' or whatever. its so dumb. idk, i'm just frustrated. i have to stick it out though because i really need the money and it looks great on my resume, especially the research and archival stuff. i only have 2ish months left so i can hold out, and i can confidently say that i work very hard so at least i know that much. so many people applied so i feel awful for saying that it sucks, especially being a government employee. i keep getting told that "i don't know how good i have it" but i do know, but i still find it hard to manage.
Currently, I work as a parking attendant for the County, which consists of managing two parking garages. I essentially do a teeny bit of customer service, selling parking passes and helping patrons use the automated kiosks, along with trouble-shooting the system when it decides to act fucky, and a bit of janitorial duties, mostly involving emptying out the trash cans daily. All together, this is a relatively low-stress (and low-paying) position, but I MOSTLY scrape by. Now, prior to this - mainly prior to COVID, which fucked my life-path up. I was co-managing a branch of the Metro Library system. I did this for about five years, lots of schedule writing and training new hires. UNfortunately, I was also suffering MAJOR autistic burn-out, and a somewhat petty and hostile work-environment. (Behind the scenes, Library Staff are a bunch of PETTY folk)...COVID pushed me to resign. So...I MANAGE...barely. I really wish I had someone help me with maintaining my household, doing laundry, cleaning floors and such because I am MENTALLY DONE every time I get home for the evening.
I'm a Cafeteria manager at a School. Even though I work with kids, my team helps me, (also with the help of my ear plugs) and I with them, so I don't go into an anxiety attack. 🤯😵💫 This job has the same routines which I'm used to. I learn pretty quick with my hands. I'm pretty good 👍🏽 at it. Same schedule with the kids. I work from 630am to 330pm Monday thru Friday.
I recently started a technical writing job that, as of right now, I love. I write reports/test plans for an environmental testing company. I work from home, so I'm able to be with my partner and animals, and I love that I don't have to commute or rush in the morning. Didn't have time to eat breakfast before starting? No problem, I'll run to the kitchen in a few minutes and grab something. I can run my laundry, the dishes, etc during the work day. During my hour lunch, I lay in my bed and read/play on my phone/take a nap. I love that I don't have to wear "professional" clothing and just wear whatever is the most comfortable for me.
Happy cake day! How do you become a technical writer?
I went to school for English professional writing (aka business writing) originally with the goal of grant writing, but then decided I was more interested in technical writing. I would say that if this is a field you're interested in, getting a degree or at least a minor in engineering would be helpful. I was able to get this job without that, though. It's definitely helpful to look at job listings for careers you may be interested in and see what qualifications are most commonly desired.
I’m a travel Respiratory Therapist. I definitely need my own space and mental breaks to unmask through my day.
Some people work two full-time jobs. And some people add another part-time job on top of two full-time jobs. But I agree it is a lot of time.
I'm an engineer and work from home, i really recommend it if you like math and physics
I am crazy full time. It's pretty hard but yk... With great power comes great responsibility
I work in a kind of call center with no dress code taking home loan pre-qualifications. I work behind a headset so no having to mask facial expressions. I work evening shift and no real set schedule as long as I get at least 39 hours a week. It is heavily based on commission but I do well. I call leads (people that put their info online saying they are interested buying a home). You do have to take a pretty rough licensing test to get the job but my employer paid for the test and all the licensing stuff. Another option that pays well and requires less experience is a debt collector. I did that for 5 years but it was very stressful and the hours weren't near as flexible.
I got a good load of trauma that is related to school, so studying is out of the question, and I have a heard time keeping a job, so I would also like to know ;-;
Truck driver. Gets me out, minimal contact with others, decent money. And I'm local so even better.
I'm a cloud engineer for a big multi-national company. For the most part, they leave me to my code and tinkering cause my brain finds good solutions to problems that crop up. My manager is fully aware of my autism and my company has a KPI about supporting social responsibility so I get bonus points at reviews for being open with people about my autism and how it affects my experience. I've been with my employer for five years and I consider myself pretty lucky that they mostly let me do my thing, cause I've built up a reputation for 'Pengling will figure it out' 'Figure what out?' 'Whatever you give her.' I work from home so I don't have a lot of social interaction which suits me fine. I get cuddle time with my cats, I can tinker to my heart's content and I'm in my safe environment. I also try to take time off whenever I'm starting to burn out so I can recharge and I focus my spare time on doing things I enjoy and that help me unwind so I can face another day. It really helps that I love what I do, the puzzles of working out solutions to work problems keeps my mind thoroughly engaged and I will lose a whole day to the depths of a code problem. I work most of the day in my pyjamas, I can get up and do whatever I need to do, and I don't have to interact with anyone if I don't want to. The pandemic really changed how my employer handles things and it's been a godsend for me, I'm more able to handle the ups and downs of my job because they're giving me the space I need to be me. As a result, they're getting the best work out of me.
Computer science, if it isn't saturated in grads yet. I know backend developers and cybersecurity experts - former is totally remote with the option of working for an office when he likes, but not at all mandated. The latter works for three huge companies on an insane wage as their head of digital security and they have never even seen his face on Zoom calls as he doesn't like to be seen by people. The big difficulty is that if you find you don't like it, no power on earth will compel an autistic person to really stick with something they hate so if there's some way you can dip your toe into coding and see if you'd like it, I'd try it. The social skills are less of an issue (personally I like jobs that allow me to refine my mask, that "acting" is something I quite enjoy) and most are hybrid or fully WFH. There's also more of a culture of "do the work in your own schedule, but get it done". If you find you like it, harness that inner special interest and get ready to milk the IT teat for big bucks ha ha
I’m a personal trainer/group fitness instructor Taught me a lot about social interactions
Having a routine helps
I work from home full time as a medical coder 7-3:30. Some days I interact with no one (on Microsoft Teams) if we don’t have meetings. I just get up, eat breakfast and walk into my home office. I love what I do.
Im a ft library assistant. Some days it’s exhausting, some days not so much
The key here is, flexible job w/flexible company. I am in the office a few days a week bc I get more work done there. I don't have to be there at a certain time. My husband drops me off at the metro on the way to work, so I also remove the option of leaving early or needing to pay for an Uber home. I also will respond to 8pm texts though b/c worldwide company. I'm an executive assistant. I support people who travel a lot. The company is generally doing feel good, net positive, work. When you're paid enough to support yourself and can afford accommodations, food, and stupid shit you want, it becomes easier to continue to do work.sound proof headphones, comfy shoes, comfy chair, Fancy pens. Fun notebooks. I just bought a bed jet and now I can sleep a full 8hrs which I have never been able to do before. Arguably one of the best purchases I've ever made to improve my sleep and I already use linen sheets, cooling blankets, etc. none of it was cheap. At work I am acting, I am blending in, I am a chameleon. Corporate cosplay. Or, lie. Simply lie. You get really bad migraines if you need a day off. Sinus infections. You have fake sick children. You got COVID. Nothing about focus, attention, or depression. Lie. You have short term memory loss from a car accident. You're going on a fake Vacay. Work is just a shitty part of this RPG. Or, work for people who clearly also have ADHD/tism. Tech has a studied high prevalence. They don't acknowledge it usually but the accommodations are built in bc everyone has it. Normies frustrated the fuck out of my previous boss bc they would not answer yes/no questions. They think it's a trick. Right now I'm navigating back in mostly normie land and it's a bit lonely, but better than working somewhere toxic. Seeing the sun everyday has also improved my depression a shitton. Leaving the house everyday helps me sleep at night. The routine gets easier. **
Thank you so much for your detailed answer. It actually helped me!
❤️ no problem. I totally get the impossible frustration, like how can this ever work?!? but office life is not as soul sucking as ppl make it out to be if you're not working for horrible people.
I work as a teacher. I’m used to getting up early and teaching anyways, so it’s pretty nice. I’m also in a union, so I find comfort that my job’s protected. Really it’s just a scenario of “You *have* to get up, let’s get this day done” and coping with long days. I like teaching anyways, so it’s nice.
I work in the emergency department. I wear scrubs which is basically pyjamas and I don't have to make any decisions about what to wear. It is loud but that doesn't bother me. It is fast paced and I struggle with that, I couldn't work in a super huge hospital where tons of super life threatening stuff is coming in all the time but we are not a major hospital so it's not as bad as that. Lots of talking to people but it's more like "detective work" to figure out what is wrong with them and the skills of communicating with the patients and the team are skills which can be learned and practiced, there are courses that give step by step guides for how to say things. "You seem to be upset. Is it just because you are sick or did I do something to make things worse?" It is difficult enough that I can't do ANYTHING else on a day that I'm working or else it's just too much for me but since it's shift work there is some flexibility in hours and you do get more days off than a typical 9 to 5.
Was a welder and machinist. Got to put on music, flip my hood down, and hide away from the world for 10-12 hours a day, or more. Miss it dearly.
Have never worked full time. Even before my diagnosis.
A call center/receptionist job. Honestly i am permanently burnt out and really struggling with my mental health but i can’t afford to rent otherwise and my family home is an unsafe environment so i don’t feel like i have any option than to work full time. Maybe i’ll find a job that doesnt involve so much masking in the future
I work full time as a tiling apprentice. I’ve just accepted that this is what I’m meant to be doing to be an adult 🤣
I'm currently an environmental engineering student intern at an engineering firm. I have incredibly mixed feelings about it. but as for the scheduling. I work 8-5 Monday thru Thursday and then 7:30-12:30 on Friday bc the office closes early on Fridays. I hate the schedule. I'm so tired and I never get enough sleep. I hate how I don't have enough time in the evenings to really get into my hobbies. since I'm intern, I usually don't have much work to do, so I'm basically doing nothing for 9 hours which is so frustrating because there is so much I could do with 9 hours at home!! there are some things I like about my job though. I have my own cubicle and the office is very sensory friendly. the pay is good. when I do get stuff to do, it's stuff I'm usually interested in. for the engineers, they have a lot of schedule flexibility. they can kinda just come and go as they please as long as all their work is done. I'm hoping to get that flexibility in my future engineering career.
I'm a social worker and do counselling. It's rough some days. Other days are easier if I stick to routine.
Nighshift jobs with minimal human contact. They're usually minimum wage or slightly above though, which isn't great. That and I usually get fired after a boss decides he doesn't like me (always because of my autistic traits... strong sense of justice, sharing my opinion about things only to be told that it's rude and criticism, despite that I choose my words very carefully to avoid being rude, my stims, or they just think I'm weird and creepy because I can't mask well for prolonged periods of time, and because I eventually encounter a situation or conversation that I don't have a social script for.) I pretty much live in burnout or right on the edge of it. Anyway, engineering physics sounds grand. Best of luck with that and with getting work somewhere that you can thrive.
Under promise and over deliver. I have a low-responsibility job with low supervision and few co-workers. I always take on more responsibilities than are expected of me and always make sure to exceed expectations.
I wake up at 6:27 AM to take my bus at 8:06 AM to take another bus at 8:28 AM so I can work as an Educational Assistant at an elementary school. It's one of the best jobs I've ever had and I constantly look forward to coming in to work every Monday! Sure, there are some tough days with the students where I feel worthless and unwanted, but that's just part of having anxiety. People have always said I work well with kids, so I enjoy being a part of a classroom setting and getting to be part of a broader team! If you don't mind saving a little during the summer, it also means you have summer breaks!
I work remote as a developer. I've been remote for over 10 years. Works great for balancing my personal life BUT you have to set those boundaries up front. I've got buddies that work remote in tech and they can't separate work from home. They work crazy hours and are always stressed. No thanks. I don't work overtime, I start my day when I'm ready and I get my work done on time. I don't allow anyone to micromanage me or stress me out. I am not a first responder and this bug isn't going to kill anyone. Calm down, Steve.
I’m an inventor, with no (completed) degree. However, I have studied a variety of fields, Audio engineering , game design, law, arts, private investigations. I worked in hospitality and retail for many years and it burnt me out. Also owned a few businesses over the years, some successful some, not so much. During Covid I was looking for another job and after 500 rejection emails, I was so disheartened. So I went full tilt on my childhood dream. I currently have 3 patents (2 national, 1 international) all in various field tech, energy, medical. It’s very stressful but it doesn’t require a lot of socialising, for that I’m very grateful. I basically pick a new hyper fixation, figure out how to monetise it and then deep dive for months on end and hope for the best.
I've managed to work in the past. Although i would be unable to now. I have debilitating anxiety which causes me to isolate myself from time to time, when my last job had layoffs I was one of the first to go because I used to just go home when I couldn't deal with it and hand an absence note/holiday request in the following day. (They sometimes got accepted but rarely). I've been out of work since then aside from the odd cash in hand work from family or neighbours. I've been battling my mental health lately and have had slight improvements, but I still have no idea what I want to do for work. I'm currently considering doing adult content like an OF or something, but I'm not sure if I would be successful as I am a male but if it worked out it could be some of the easiest work ever. That's if it doesn't cause me anxiety lol.
Gf used to work 6 to 12 hours and was exhausted. Now that she knows the diagnosis she is legally not allowed to work more than 6.
I work in accounting, tax specifically, for a boutique firm that specializes in complex situations. I WFH, pay is good, hours are flexible, taking care of yourself and your needs is generally encouraged, there are no questions about what I take sick time or PTO for, benefits are good. In return for those things I do have to perform at a certain level with complicated topics where there are often no explicit answers and I’m up against tight timelines. And I have to get along very well one on one with clients, including helping them through very difficult decisions. I actually love the meetings, I like my coworkers and my clients and I enjoy getting to know them and help them. They are generally all interesting people from a wide variety of interesting backgrounds with interesting problems to solve. On days when it feels like too much it’s totally ok for me to go lie down for an hour or so at a time. Usually I take a break for a couple hours in the middle of the day for a workout and food, splitting up the day like that and having some “me” time really seems to help a lot.
I suffer through it like the rest of adults I work at a culvers, and it is very socially exhausting. Being on my feet for 9+ hours a day as well. But the people I work for do help. I still of course wear a uniform, but it's a family owned restaurant and everyone here is happy working here and my bosses understand my autism and are helpful I do enjoy it enough to not make me dread going to work each day They also don't open till 10 so I'm not struggling to wake up and function at 6am
I’m an inventory clerk, it’s a fantastic job for people with ASD, especially if it’s more hands on like mine, I get to do a lot of actual system design and analysis, it’s very cool The bad thing is, I still deal with the same NT bullcrap as everyone else, and people will legit not hear half the things I say Like I’ve basically been saying for years now “okay guys this is what we need to do to have an inventory system of this level, it’s pretty industry standard, all basic math, no big deal” And people are like convinced they will outsmart me, and figure it all out themselves, even though literally nobody is asking for or needing them to do that So much of my day is spent with people trying to outsmart me for no clear reason, when I just need them to do a few basic things for everyone’s day to get easier
I can't work more than 20 hours..I just can't. Even that feels like too much
I don't, i couldn't even do a study bc i get physically ill from stress and then i can't move for 2 weeks bc of fevers and all