Published on 12, July, 2020
I know that the same old question about suitable jobs for autistic people comes up time and time again, so I apologise up front
I'm in my early 50's and have always worked in IT, most often on the technical side (dev). I was pushed out of my previous job earlier this year due to my conditions (chronic fatigue, ASD, FND + more). That job was a mix of development and business analysis, working on a very niche technology. I loved that job, but I became unreliable, having to take a lot of time off and my boss didn't know whether I would be fit to work from one day to the next.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I started a new job for a local authority working as a business analyst (no technical "getting your hands dirty").I'm now starting to question whether being a pure BA is really my thing. Also, having always worked in the private sector, moving into local authority is a completely different beast (still not sure whether it is something that I will completely embrace or completely hate).
So now, after only a couple of weeks, I am starting to ponder whether I am in the right job, and if the answer is a resounding "No", then there are a number of barriers to me being a success doing something else, including...
What I do excel at (or some may say, disabled by) is my attention to detail.I'm your typical grammar police guy, but I do manage to exercise self restraint rather than pulling people up on social media regarding their inability to distinguish between "there, their and they're" or "lose & loose". Nonetheless, it does really trigger me in my mind and it distracts me from the bigger picture (I struggle to understand a piece of text because I am too caught up on what to me is a glaring error).If you've got this far, thank you for hearing me out - hopefully you cam give me some pointers?
How about a complete change of direction?
I left 32 years of working in IT Support / Service Delivery Management to work as a property developer (lots of hands on in my case) which I love.
It makes decent money, I have a product to be proud of at the end of the job and I spend a chunk of time each year working on affordable housing projects to give back to the community - the feelgood factor far outweights the inconvenience.
Do you have any hobbies, interests or passions you could move into that are sustainable for you?
I find the tangible product of my work more than overcomes any mental fatigue - sure there is the muscle pains at times and exhaustion from some heavy labour days but these somehow all feel so wholesome. I never had that sort of feeling from working in a corportation as a small cog in a huge machine.
If you really want to stay in IT then make a plan to learn a related skill - see what is newish on the market and gaining traction - AI seems logical - and go through a learning process and try to find where it can be applied at work and then get to know the people approving such projects so you can get in if/when they happen.
I never stopped learning new tech in my career as IT is evolving so constantly. There are plenty of online courses to give you the basics on pretty much anything so I would advise making time to do this if you want to stay in IT.
In the meantime, a mix of mindfulness (to stop your anxiety from taking over) and meditation (to find some peace) would be my recommendation.
Also look at early retirement - you may find your pension schemes will start to pay out now and if your outgoings are modest then it could support you while you work on your plan B.
Thanks Iain - I always enjoy watching Homes Under The Hammer and would quite fancy that, but I'm not very good with my hands. Plus being a perfectionist, I imagine that jobs would take far too long to complete and I'd never be satisfied with the end result.
I have (or have had) a few hobbies that could potentially turn into work, but then the enjoyment of the hobby would be diminished. For example, I used to be really into photography (semi-professional), but spent way too much time editing images for it to be a viable full time job. I had a friend who was in similar situation and went for it, becoming a full time pro photographer (weddings, portraits, commercial shoots) but the rewards were very small compared to the effort. I had a run in with a professional photographer several years ago and that just killed my enthusiasm for photography full stop!
I'm not sure that I've got what it takes to get back into IT after a long career which included 21 years with a global IT company where I did well until the company was bought out and I got laid off. As I mentioned in my OP, a lot of companies are now turning to the likes of India/Asia for their IT needs - something that happened at my last place. Learning and keeping up with IT developments takes a lot of energy and I really don't have that any more.
One of my health consultants suggested that I try yoga - I've been doing that for several months now, although I did have a non-epileptic seizure during a class a couple of weeks back! I go the gym several times a week, doing yoga, spin, weights, cardio. I'd say that my physical health isn't too bad (despite my BMI suggesting that I'm obese!)
Unfortunately I always put off thought of or contribution to my pension during the majority of my career, so early retirement isn't an option.
Sorry if I've given a quite negative sounding response to your well intended response. I guess that's very typical of how I think - always have and probably always will.