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.
I was the same except with a specialisation in the physical sciences. After over two decades of training and study and several university degrees including a PhD, my career has been cut short by colleagues who just could not tolerate my condition. It has been a continuous struggle where my achievements have been ignored or even attributed to someone else, and my mistakes (mostly in the social realm) have been completely blown out of proportion to the extent that they, rather than my work ethic and potential, define my work for some people.
I don't want to tell you that there's no hope for you because of what happened to me, but I think you really need to consider letting potential PhD advisors, and later potential employers, know about your condition, and, ideally, seek one out who is also on the spectrum. Even though I only just found out last year that I was on the spectrum myself, as I look back, the people in my life who supported me and gave me a real chance were most likely, and in the case of my PhD advisor, almost certainly, on the spectrum. Without them, despite my considerable academic talents, I don't think I would have been able to get even as far as I did.
Because you are already aware of your condition at this stage in your career, you have a distinct advantage over what I had. My advice to you is not to hide your condition. In academic circles, it is possible that your unique talents and way of thinking will be highly valued, but only by those that are highly intelligent, and not those that have small, mediocre minds. I think that if you make your condition and your needs, but also your particular talents and strengths, known right at the beginning, you will give potential supervisors the choice of whether or not they are willing to accept you for who and what you are.
There are many posts on this site agonising about whether to disclose or not, but in the case of an academic career, which requires several years of training and study to build, it is worth disclosing your condition, because you will have a h*** of a lot more to lose than someone who works in a grocery store, for example, if your boss and/or one or more of your colleagues decides after a few months that your quirks are just too annoying. What I am saying is that when you go for an interview, for example, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. If you have the least bit of reservation about whether they will be able to work with someone on the spectrum, don't accept the position. As I said before, if possible, try to work for someone who is on the spectrum themselves. That is very difficult to determine on first meeting someone, I realise, but I honestly believe it means the difference between a long, fulfilling and successful career, and the complete train wreck that my own life has become.
I wish someone had given me that advice when I was starting out. Hopefully you can benefit from my experience. I truly wish you the best and don't let what someone else thinks or feels about your condition hold you back. You deserve just as much of a chance as anyone else, and don't accept anything less than that.
Also comes with comprehensive training