Coding as a career?

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that autism, despite is high profile, is still widely misunderstood by employers and particularly interviewers. Coding is a very useful skill to have but just getting through the door is hard enough and once through the door is just the start of more issues. I've programmed in over 20 languages and I have a PhD in engineering but that hasn't made me any more noticeable to an employer. I think the application is more important, i.e. what you use those coding skills to do, e.g. web development, IoT development, machine learning, graphics, databases, etc. Pick something and create a portfolio of the things you have done.

If you are just starting out then the best way in may be to volunteer at a company to get a feel for the conditions. You won't get paid but you should still qualify for ESA (and perhaps PIP). See how you get on. You may get lucky and invited to become a full employee but at the very least you will gain valuable experience.

One thing you should be prepared for is that you will very quickly become normalised. That is, colleagues and managers will see your disability less and less, which may sound ideal, but it is exactly the opposite. Try to build some form of network of people that you trust and use them to sound out issues. Secretaries and other clerical staff are very useful for this because they can escalate any issues you may be having to the people that could do something about it and they often don't get much credit for what they do so they are usually up for a supportive chat every now and then. Sadly, some managers try to bottleneck any support you get by forcing you to go through them and it becomes a mechanism for control and abuse. Even companies with a progressive attitude towards autism fail a lot because the internal culture is so poorly developed.

Good luck.

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that autism, despite is high profile, is still widely misunderstood by employers and particularly interviewers. Coding is a very useful skill to have but just getting through the door is hard enough and once through the door is just the start of more issues. I've programmed in over 20 languages and I have a PhD in engineering but that hasn't made me any more noticeable to an employer. I think the application is more important, i.e. what you use those coding skills to do, e.g. web development, IoT development, machine learning, graphics, databases, etc. Pick something and create a portfolio of the things you have done.

If you are just starting out then the best way in may be to volunteer at a company to get a feel for the conditions. You won't get paid but you should still qualify for ESA (and perhaps PIP). See how you get on. You may get lucky and invited to become a full employee but at the very least you will gain valuable experience.

One thing you should be prepared for is that you will very quickly become normalised. That is, colleagues and managers will see your disability less and less, which may sound ideal, but it is exactly the opposite. Try to build some form of network of people that you trust and use them to sound out issues. Secretaries and other clerical staff are very useful for this because they can escalate any issues you may be having to the people that could do something about it and they often don't get much credit for what they do so they are usually up for a supportive chat every now and then. Sadly, some managers try to bottleneck any support you get by forcing you to go through them and it becomes a mechanism for control and abuse. Even companies with a progressive attitude towards autism fail a lot because the internal culture is so poorly developed.

Good luck.