Which job sectors do people work in ?

Hi Possibly Autistic (from Definitely Autistic!),

Like you, I work in adult social care with learning disabilities/special needs.  After a lifetime of doing many, many other jobs, I finally came into it 13 years ago.  Prior to it, I was a civil servant.  I needed to get out from behind that desk and do something meaningful, though - even if it meant a huge drop in salary.

And prior to the civil service - which I was in for 5 years - I did a huge number of jobs.  I've done farm work, shop work, office work, road work, piece work.  I've delivered parcels, washing machines, beer, sanitary bins, leaflets, flat-packs, newspapers.  I even helped deliver a baby, once. I've been a recruiter for the IT sector.  I've sat on checkouts, dug trenches, changed tyres, ploughed fields, kept books, pumped petrol, answered phones, mopped corridors.  For a couple of months, I taught creative writing to a group of recovering alcoholics.  I've picked apples, stacked shelves, mucked out pigs, cooked meals, dollied barrels, groomed horses, stacked bales, ushered courtrooms, typed letters, driven buses, proofed manuscripts, input data.  My average is 2 jobs per year over a 43-year working lifetime.  The longest was 7 years - the shortest, 2 weeks.

For the last year, I've specialised with autism care.  In other care-work jobs, I've found generally that everyone gets lumped together as 'learning disabilities', which has meant that autistic people haven't received the special attention they need.  In my current job, they do.  The whole approach and ethos is different: non-aversive, person-centred, with activities as fixed or as varied as the individual needs them to be.  The pay, as you know, is lousy.  But it's enough.  And, quite frankly, if I was offered twice the amount to go back to an office... I'd stay put!  Work needs to be about more than just money. 

That’s an impressive list. I’d be really proud to have had all those jobs. How exciting and what a lot of things to learn. I love learning, and especially from situations, so that’s a whole boat load of situations to learn from as well as them being so varied.

Do you enjoy the regular routine of working in one place for a good while or do you  miss the diversity of lots of different jobs? Do you think you’ll be switching jobs again any time soon? 

I enjoy lots of different jobs, especially the lower paid ones, but I don’t find them financially or otherwise sustainable, for me, even when I have them in short bursts.  So sadly (or not), depending on how you look at it, I’m having to create my own work/business around my needs, which unfortunately or fortunately, don’t fit in with the average workplace. Like many of us, I can do the work, but the whole average or normal work set up is too draining on me so it’s back to the drawing board for me, to figure out what I can do, without being drained! 

That’s an impressive list. I’d be really proud to have had all those jobs. How exciting and what a lot of things to learn. I love learning, and especially from situations, so that’s a whole boat load of situations to learn from as well as them being so varied.

Do you enjoy the regular routine of working in one place for a good while or do you  miss the diversity of lots of different jobs? Do you think you’ll be switching jobs again any time soon? 

I enjoy lots of different jobs, especially the lower paid ones, but I don’t find them financially or otherwise sustainable, for me, even when I have them in short bursts.  So sadly (or not), depending on how you look at it, I’m having to create my own work/business around my needs, which unfortunately or fortunately, don’t fit in with the average workplace. Like many of us, I can do the work, but the whole average or normal work set up is too draining on me so it’s back to the drawing board for me, to figure out what I can do, without being drained!