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How to explain how you think to your employer

ByteBandit

Hello,

I need some pointers to articles for my boss that help to explain why it is that I have little difficulty with technical tasks, but cannot get my head around business concepts and processes. 

I'm 40, HFA, have been in my current job for 5 years, survived three rounds of layoffs and am employed as a senior software developer in a small team.

I am happy in the job, it is extremely accomodating of me personally and my family needs but I recently said that I was unhappy with the work because of the lack of engagement. Had a meeting, another one next week.

The lack of engagement is because a lot of the work is fairly menial (comparatively speaking) and/or I lack the comprehension required to do the work properly and whilst I can do the bulk of the work through brute force, it invariably goes to somebody else to be fixed, which I find really quite soul destroying and competence questioning.

The areas where I excel are the ones that are more free of business specifics and tend to be more technical.

My boss does not understand how such a seemingly contradictory state of affairs can exist. I don't think this is disbelief, just doesn't understand.

I have spent hours trying to find a down to Earth article, that is reputable and recent to explain how I think differently, the visual nature of my thoughts, the somewhat haphhazard memory which is simultaniously the font of my creativity, etc.

I describe myself as a software developer, but honestly, it feels more like being a digital artiste. I work 9-5, but I think 24x7, ideas just pop into my head, 'visions' will appear like some shadowy image somewhere between 'me' and the inside of my eyes. Yet it took 4 1/2 years to learn which of the two top draws has socks and which has pants.

How do you explain this to a lay person? I keep coming across Temple Grandin articles, but they are old and lengthy.

Any help appreciated.

Parents

  • I worked twelve years in research and development in industry. I have a problem of "gaps" - things I do not really comprehend or cannot do properly, and I inexplicably miss bits of instruction.

    I lived those 12 years on the brink of dismissal most of the time (and indeed another 20 years after, teaching, with much the same problem). 

    In compensation I had certain skills which I could really do well and that kept me in work.

    But it does make me think that, but for having just enough trade-off skill, I could as easily have been out of a job more often than in. Which is after all the problem for many.

    I've had plenty of assessments and reviews and being hauled in because of a personality defect, or persistant failings, or because someone just cannot get round there's something not quite right about me. Even getting a diagnoses didn't make things easier.

    The trouble is the explanations of being on the autistic spectrum that are given out are based on the triad of impairments and theory of mind/executive function. Even NAS pushes this stuff out. Does it explain people's everyday needs and experiences? Does it help people in the workplace?

    Just because only a small percentage of people on the spectrum secure long term employment, there seems to be this notion that its a minority not worth studying.

    So sadly there's nothing out there to provide scientifically based evidence of what can happen, let alone offer advice that would explain it to employers.

Reply

  • I worked twelve years in research and development in industry. I have a problem of "gaps" - things I do not really comprehend or cannot do properly, and I inexplicably miss bits of instruction.

    I lived those 12 years on the brink of dismissal most of the time (and indeed another 20 years after, teaching, with much the same problem). 

    In compensation I had certain skills which I could really do well and that kept me in work.

    But it does make me think that, but for having just enough trade-off skill, I could as easily have been out of a job more often than in. Which is after all the problem for many.

    I've had plenty of assessments and reviews and being hauled in because of a personality defect, or persistant failings, or because someone just cannot get round there's something not quite right about me. Even getting a diagnoses didn't make things easier.

    The trouble is the explanations of being on the autistic spectrum that are given out are based on the triad of impairments and theory of mind/executive function. Even NAS pushes this stuff out. Does it explain people's everyday needs and experiences? Does it help people in the workplace?

    Just because only a small percentage of people on the spectrum secure long term employment, there seems to be this notion that its a minority not worth studying.

    So sadly there's nothing out there to provide scientifically based evidence of what can happen, let alone offer advice that would explain it to employers.

Children
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