Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
I am a uni student in life sciences at a top UK university, top student in my class, straight As, won a few awards. I have extensive customer service experience, and some limited experience in life sciences research but I don't think any of my references would speak particularly highly of me. Due to my Asperger's syndrome, I find social interaction and practical tasks hard and struggle in the workplace despite my qualifications on paper making me look like an excellent candidate. I get extremely anxious and low when things go wrong, even when it's not my fault, to the point of planning my own suicide whilst in some jobs. Other jobs I have coped slightly better, but I still do not enjoy them and do not excel at them, and they do not give me the 'space' to improve my mental health.
I want input from others with autism/or with experience with autistic people on what I should do in terms of a job for the future after graduation? The natural career progression for me now is to do a PhD, but I'm not sure if I'll get in due to a lack of networking skills. Even if I do, I might struggle and become very stressed if I can't pick up the technique, or things don't go to plan. A research job would follow this. I'm also very motivated by money, and although I would accept the minimum wage for the good of my health, I'd at least like the possibility of making more. I will give a list of my characteristics below and see if anyone has any suggestions for jobs that might be suitable for me after graduation.
Hi there. You've pointed out a lot of key factors of how you would like your ideal job to be like and what possible difficulties that you may encounter if you do a PhD. I think these are all excellent points. Perhaps you can discuss your concerns with some professors at uni? I'm not sure if you have considered, or if you would like the idea, of doing a Masters degree or a couple years of Research Assistant before doing PhD? I think a Masters / RA jobs would be a lot less stressful compared to a PhD, and there is often a lot more support / structure. You can perhaps get a better idea of what doing graduate level research would be like, have more time to acquire technical skills, and decide whether or not this kind of environment is what you enjoy. And if you like it, you can apply for a PhD next year. There's really no rush, and the extra time you've taken to consider and learn other things may help in the long run. No one really cares about your age during the PhD.
For your question about jobs after graduation. I think there are lots of research-related jobs if not staying in academia. Bio-tech companies, pharmaceutical companies, science parks, NHS research. I wonder if you might be interested in autism-related research? Your uni probably has a career service that you could consult with someone about your interests and see if they have any suggestions?
You are very talented. You are currently in a top uni and having good grades. Good luck!
Unfortunately I can't afford to do a Masters, as there is no financial support for those. I've consulted with my uni service before, but all their suggestions required me to do a second undergrad degree, which again I couldn't afford. Don't you need some post-graduate experience to do a research assistant post?
My degree won't qualify me to work within an NHS post as it's not accredited, and the other options still require a PhD in my field although they are outside academia. Autism research interests me a lot, but I think I would be turned away because my diagnosis might introduce a bias working in that field, and as DragonCat16 has usefully stated, I think I would need to be honest about my condition if I wanted to find the right post for me. Plus, I think my issue is that any of these options would be too stressful or difficult jobs for me to do. My issue is that my good grades don't translate into me being a good employee because of my autism. I'm trying to think of a job that wouldn't be stressful. I was thinking about being a cleaner, but I'm scared of being turned away for being overqualified. I can't really think of any other options. Suggestions along those kind of lines, where there's no pressure or expectations, would be useful.
You can get a student loan for a masters degree and a PhD, no problem, I recently made inquiries, and the masters degree and phd in autism studies welcome very much autistic students and in fact the courses are designed around autistic students. NAS also do a university masters course, I think it is, with opportunities for jobs etc which are particularly aimed at autistic individuals. It sounds like your mindset is set to what you can’t do and you seem very certain of what you can’t do. You won’t figure this out by thinking about it, you need some specialist support to help you figure out what it is exactly that excites you and makes you feel good rather than what you can ‘manage’, which sounds very depressing, restrictive and uninspiring. Speak to NAS about what they offer.
Great. Let me know how you get on aralez and if I can ever be of any help, please let me know and I will always do my best to help. It's been great chatting to you.
Thanks! I'll try filling in the online form.
Ahh, got ya, yes, I am talking about England, sorry. You can contact the NAS helpline though and speak to somebody there as a starting point. They get a lot of money to help people like us so they aren’t exactly doing you a favour by helping you so don’t be intimidated. I’ll get you the numbers and the opening times etc. But please don’t lose that passion. You tried, that’s amazing and now you know that you absolutely need some support to be able to succeed and excel in your chosen area. Don’t give up. You’re worth way more than that and the world needs your mind and your input and we need you to be happy and fulfilled.
Are you from England? I'm from Scotland and there's not govt. loans for postgraduates. I'm not sure where I'd go for this specialist support. The previous thing you mentioned was in Sheffield. How do I speak to NAS?
It is depressing, but up until this point I've followed my 'heart', as you might say. I did a uni course that I felt passionate about, aspired to a career that I felt passionate about, but unfortunately my autism has made the thing I enjoy a misery. There's a lot of networking, incomplete training, etc in this field which I struggle with. This is why I must look at what I'm capable of, rather than what I want to do, even though it is hugely upsetting to me. I'm sick of being miserable and anxious all the time.
I'm glad to hear some courses are accepting of autistic individuals. I think one issue with autism is that the projects tend to fall under psychology rather than neuroscience which means they're less likely to be funded (again, due to my financial situation, funding is an absolute must). But I'll have a look.