Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi. A friend of mine who is 19 with ASD (I'm sure of it) wants a career in electronics. At high school he completed a GCSE in Design and Technology - Electronic Products. He got (I am told) a grade "A" in practicals and a "C" in electronics theory (I think an overall grade of "B" - or grade 6). But he only got a grade 2 in math and 3 in English (Need grade 4 for a standard pass in GCSEs). He took his math and English GCESs again recently, but won't know until August his results. At school he also did the European Computer Driving License (ECDL), where he got a distinction.
The problem he has got is that his math and English GCSE results are poor and that's why they had him doing gardening in his first year, In his second year he did business and some IT studies. For this coming September, the local college don't want him to continue with IT/ computing, they want him to do retail. His parents have decided he is not going back to college to do retail.
Anyway, at some point he has done some coding in class and pupils have come to him when they got stuck. So, the way forward seems to be for him to focus first on coding. It might be that through coding he will get to grips with electronics. In other words if he first gets to grips with coding that might lead to an understanding of electronics, and is preferable to getting a grip on electronics leading to an understanding of coding. Who knows but in the end my friend might end up focusing on coding.
I just wonder if anyone here has experience of trying to get on in a career in electronics or coding where ASD has been an issue. Especially if it's been difficult to sort out a placement at college. Thanks. Rich
Richard,
I would always say follow your heart. Try what you think you like, and if you don't like it, try something else.
I didn't do that well at school, and had no idea what I wanted to do, nor did the careers advisors.
However, at 16 all I wanted to do was get out. I ended up on a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. It was a lot better than school with practical and academic learning. However, after three years I got bored with it and thought I really wanted to do electronics. I found an electronics engineering apprenticeship and switched. I loved it and still love my job. There are so many varied jobs relating to computing, programming, electronics, systems, designing, installing, commissioning, managing, that it can take a while to find the niche that suits, but a college course in either computing or electronics is a good place to start. I've eventually ended up doing a degree part time with the OU, which I enjoyed.
If your friend does have ASD I cannot imagine anything worse than retail dealing with the public. I would find that a daily hell.
In terms of education professionals telling you what to do with your life, I always recall a relative's story. It will have been many years ago now but his career's advice was to become a bus driver. He liked computers, ignored the suggestion, went to college and studied computing and ended up setting up his own tech company.