Fired because of aspergers issues now looking for new job

I'm sorry that you had to face such a boss and a team. I am surprised that none of the employees began to express their disagreement with the boss's actions. He acted very unethically and uncultured. As a manager, he must understand the characteristics of the characters and behavior of his employees to help them, and not shoot them.

That's ok :)

Sunflower said:

Basically

By the way that was a mistake,I touched on Sunflower by accident,as very sensitive tablet :-),oops!

So pleased you spoke up about being patronised like that! One of my biggest fears about disclosing my diagnosis is that I am going to get the "does she take sugar?" response, people will talk to me v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and my mean manager will micromanage every task she gives me.

I work best when I am given a brief and left to get on with it. Even tight deadlines don't bother me as long as I have the resources I need, a suitable environment to work in, and other people don't keep interrupting! 

If someone wants to give me really complicated instructions I always ask them to email me - in the past they have sometimes made a fuss about this, now I can say it is a need not a want. 

Have you seen the thread on Post Diagnosis support? Would be worth mentioning Prospects there. 

She seems really cool - I don't watch IAC tho - I can never watch that stuff!

I really empathize with not being able to start again if my concentration is broken - for me it is physically painful like a tearing in my head if I'm stopped. I find myself not being able to understand instructions as they're being given because I can't concentrate, so I just remember what people say and process it later. My doctor says I might have ADHD as well so I'm waiting for a test to come back, but I'm really annoyed because I wasn't ADHD as a child - and it wasn't kids who bullied me into a state where I'm afraid of paying attention because my concentration might be broken - it was teachers, jealous on behalf of their own kids at the same school, who just hated the fact I was so much brighter than their kids. I remember being screamed at for reading books and made to stay in at break because I had aced an exam so I needed to sit the higher exam.

I really agree about the employment helpline! Yesterday I had to sign on for Universal Credit and my Job Coach tried to help me with my disability by writing down some instructions - which was helpful - then reading the instructions along with her finger, in a very slow voice, which I complained about immediately.

The NAS used to offer a very brilliant service I used called 'Prospects' and I wish they would bring it back!

Hope you are OK and that your interview went well. Several news programmes today have had features about autistic adults because Anne Hegerty is on 'I'm a Celebrity...'

I just found an interview with her on the NAS website where she mentions employment issues - here is an extract:

"Our research shows that just 16% of autistic people are in full time paid work. Why do you think this is the case?

That doesn’t surprise me. I’m very fortunate that The Chase pays well enough that I can take the amount of time off that I need to take off. For most of my life, I just thought I was lazy or that I lacked energy. It’s just simply that if I’m stopped in the middle of something, it’s hard to get started again. I always remember the story of Oliver Sacks going to see Temple Grandin. He was on the phone to her and she was reading out directions to her house. He interrupted her and she started all over from the beginning. And he realised, let’s not interrupt the autistic person!

Basically, what happened was that everything was just grinding to a halt. I was just unable to get jobs finished. I went on benefits in 2008 for two years. I don’t know where I’d be if The Chase hadn’t suddenly happened."

This shows how tough it can be for autistic people to maintain steady employment. We would really benefit from a dedicated employment helpline staffed by people with career, autism and employment law expertise.

Good luck with your interviews! You are hard working and really talented, so I hope things will go much better this time. Artificial Intelligence is a really cool field to work in! Wish you all the best.

In this case I have disclosed and they have invited me to present my code at a face-to-face interview tomorrow. I'm not really sure what to expect but I'm going to bring to my laptop and explain my code in front of them, which suits me a lot better than making a video. I have a telephone interview before that in the morning, so a first stage then a possible first-and-second stage on the same day.

I'm not counting my chickens for either of them - the company I'm doing the face-to-face one I was pretty exasperated by their coding challenge - the question for the test was clearly quite old because the API they wanted me to call had been updated quite considerably as the company supporting it moves away from REST - all of which means the docs were really bad! So I'm not that impressed by a company that sets a tech challenge and doesn't check it still works! Having said that, if they're nice people I think I am very capable and could get to grips with their systems - the recruiter said they have seen my code already and were quite "excited" about it - and they have a good mix of work for me to do from pretty routine to stuff that involves Machine Learning or Natural Language Processing - which means I could lay the foundations for moving into Artificial Intelligence which I would love.

I'm in contact with recruiters every day - they love me! I do a lot of interviews but I don't like timed coding challenges - I get stressed and the online platforms don't always work. Employers are moving towards more of these timed challenges because they want to filter out time-rich candidates. I feel I'm smart, but maybe not smart enough like that - I like to consider things and I just don't think very quickly. The solution to that might just be volume tho - if I do enough problems of the same type these beginner challenges are mostly quite easy - tho sometimes they send murderously difficult Computer Science challenges with hard algorithmic and combinatorics problems, which I struggle with because I studied art - I mean I feel pretty good I can even attempt them, but they take me more than 2 hrs!

I am really grateful for your help tho - thanks for encouraging me coz I felt a bit better after reading your support last night and hit the books a little harder today to prepare for tomorrow.

P.S., in your interviews, if there's the opportunity, try to tell them the positive aspects of yourself. You can say that you have had previous work experience as a Python Developer, so will be able to pick up the work quickly. You can also tell them about the project contents your previous boss gave you and how you were able to complete it on your own in good time, this can give them a concrete idea of your abilities. 

NAS49818 said:

I'm failing tech tests I should pass and employers aren't being accommodating about adjustments at interview - one in particular is demanding I make a video of myself explaining my work and this is not something where I feel I understand what I'm being tested on

Do you have to make the video on-site, or are you able to take time to do it at home before sending it in? Perhaps they they want to make sure you can write eligible code that others might need to read, and be able to explain it to others when developing code as a team? If you have time to do it at home, you can take your time to perfect the video. I had to give job talks recently and it's not something I am good at, but I spent several hours each day for two weeks practicing giving the talk. I'm a researcher not a presenter. But unfortunately it's something they do, they want you to present your work so they can evaluate.

You could also try several more places to interview. The type of interviews can be different from place to place. I've heard that solving coding problems is quite common when interviewing software engineers. Perhaps it will help you more if you were less anxious and more confident. Do you think doing some practice problems before the interview will help you warm-up?

Have you considered disclosing your disability before the interview? I've actually not disclosed yet due to personal considerations, so I can't tell you what it will be like, but it's also something to consider. Some companies may be able to make the tests less stressful.

I really do think you have good skills! It's great to hear that you are being proactive in trying to find another job. And given that you have been offered many interviews, it sounds like you are highly qualified and people value your skills. There are so many things that employers take into consideration when hiring people, and often times it's just a matter of the right timing rather than your ability. There's a lot of luck involved, e.g., how many positions are open this year, the company's current financial situation, the personality of the manager, etc. I'm also starting to look for jobs recently as well, and have already been turned down by some due to various reasons like space and funding. In my field, it is quite common to apply for tens of places before getting a good offer. You seem talented, so keep looking, I'm sure you will find a place that will value your skills.

Thanks for your encouragement! Yeah that's what I shall do - I've been getting interviews consistently for about a month but my confidence has taken a severe knock tho

I'm in my late 40s and don't "own" a house.  Unless I can pull off something fairly spectacular I think it's unlikely.  I don't think you're going to be far from unique in your generation.  Hopefully you can do all do a better job of sorting out the housing issue than previous generations have!

It definitely sounds like you have very good skills! You've done really well landing a job as a Python Developer in the first place, and you were able to complete tasks given to you while you were there even under stressful conditions. It was unfortunate that you met a bad boss. Given your skills, could you apply to a similar Python Developer position with a different team, and hope you could get a better boss next time? 

I am sure you have a case. The way you were treated was terrible. After an experience like this anxiety is bound to be heightened. With the right adjustments and employer you will be able to fulfil your potential. 

Like others have said it's a good idea to take the pressure off yourself for a while if you can. Try not to let this undermine your confidence - bullying makes it impossible to function properly, everything will be so much better when you find the right employer. 

That sounds like good advice and I think I had probably better sign on for UC asap - I have an interview on Fri with an employer I have disclosed to during the interview phase (but only because they were messing me about so I'm not optimistic). I just hate this stuff - I should have a career by now and be on my way to putting down a deposit for a house - as it is I don't think I'll ever have a space I can really call my own even tho that is the only thing that will make me feel happy and safe. 

You were set up to fail by a bully, basically, by the sound of it. That's what happened to me in my last job. It was actually a lovely place to work to begin with, the best I've ever experienced (a small educational technology company, mostly doing CAD and a little programming). Then the R&D manager was replaced by a complete a-hole who's background was actually sales and marketing - he hadn't a clue how to deal with engineers. I wasn't the only one on the receiving end, there was another colleague who seemed to have some kind of developmental condition who got it in the neck even worse than I did - same as you, overt put-downs in front of the whole team at standups. It didn't help that I was dumb enough to call him out on it one day when I just snapped. My ability to get the job done completely disintegrated, and I was still waiting for my autism assessment at the time, so I wasn't in a position to ask for adjustments.

It's probably best to do what Robert123 suggested for the time being and get yourself a little income from UC, horrible though it is - and insist that you are seen by one of the JobCentre's disability staff (DEA). If you let your finances run down too much, it could put you in an even worse place for finding further employment, and you should be put under a little less pressure if you're on a DEA caseload.

Disclosure is a tricky one, but my gut feeling is that disclosing is best. I know that whether I do or not, I'll be "outed" as soon as I have my first melt-down at least, if not before when my other traits get noticed. I may as well be rejected by a-hole employers right from the get go, as if they're not autism-friendly, I'll be kicked out soon enough whatever I say, and have another black-mark on my CV. Of course, I respect that this might not be so appropriate for you.

Absolutely! I feel it's a real bonus and gives me an edge on other people sometimes -I think I could really make a lot of progress really quickly if I had the right support - I've never had an employer who reacted positively to my diagnosis tho and a few who made it their personal missions to make my life hell, so I'm not going to disclose at all now until I have to - tho that's what I did this time as well!

I can understand then your need to bounce from others and have reassurance that you’re on the right track. 

Most of my classes contain a higher relative proportion of spectrum developers the miswired aspie brain helps this... it’s a positive if you can get the right support and awareness from an employer your performance as less anxious can only improve, surely?

I received no warnings at all - even tho one of the Reasonable Adjustments I did ask for was for them to put things like that in writing so I could have a chance to address them.

I am quite junior as a Python Developer, so although one of the points of my latest career direction is to eventually work from home, I am really scared about not having a supportive team I can learn from. WFH Python positions I have encountered tend to be contract positions - so I would have to register my own company and pay my own tax - but the biggest concern for me is reassurance I'm producing the right code that does the right thing and opportunities to learn from other developers.

Tbh I'm not very good at interpreting the requirements of technical tests and that has been a stumbling block for the last month as I try to get back on my feet - if the task description says it does not need to be production code I don't check for PEP8 - or I might just get a bit confused about what people want and need to take extra time to figure it out.