What jobs best suit you as an autistic adult?

Hi Ellie

I have only recently received my diagnosis after a long term absence due to stress. I am a Building Surveyor, which I really enjoy, although the social side of the role was crippling me. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to return.

The most enjoyable jobs I've had have involved repetition and structure. I have been an engineer in the Army, a car valeter and a chef. I enjoy just getting my head down and cracking on.

If you like fitness and teaching, could you be a Personal Trainer? I have a few ASD friends who love fitness but have never managed to get along with allistic traniers. Could be a niche in the market for you.

I work in an inner London Secondary School with a large SEN department. We are a very rough school and I am Head of Art. I have been doing it for 15 years, but it gets increasingly difficult and I often burn out, though no one would notice as I just keep on going. Being a teacher I enjoyed, less stress, lots of routine and good relationships with students, HOD is harder, more pressure, more pointless tasks which make no sense to do. 

This type of technical data gathering is where being detail focussed, with a literal interpretation and questioning of assumptions, pays dividends.

You tend to point out all the things others implicitly assume or gloss over.

People get fed up with all the questions, but they learn to like how smoothly things work afterwards.

Part of my role is requirements gathering. Someone comes along saying "we want the website to do this", I then take that and ask questions to get them to clarify what they actually want. First figuring out that they didn't mean what they said, working out what they actually want it to do, working out what it can be made to do, and finally working out what is achievable in the time they want it in.

It's not something I'm enthusiastic about, sometimes it can be a little frustrating, but I'm rather good at it in part due to autistic traits I think. It does also make it much more pleasant later when I can just power through the work on my own, or when others are appreciative of the level of clarity in it all. 

The anxiety is definitely a huge hurdle for me and may as well be a mountain at times. I tend to view situations from a viewpoint of the outsider too which adds a perspective of observing others perhaps to try pin point what keeps them afloat in a harsh environment like a workplace, what motivates them and what is the positive impact on them from being there and performing these duties. There’s the banter and social interactions too where colleagues or staff may discuss their private lives perhaps comparing their pet’s behaviour or throwing in a joke about another. I could try to copy and imitate these behaviours but if it’s something I am consciously doing it’s not me and would be highly likely to trigger more anxiety, poor sleep quality and low mood. To try explain these issues to NTs is like trying to teach them a new language from scratch, it just simply doesn’t make sense to them.

Thinking about how others manage professionally when I’ve always struggled massively with it since my very first job at every imaginable level is completely normal, but at the same time, not so helpful. It’s psychologically damaging because it somehow implies I’m doing it on purpose when it’s actually beyond my control. The repetitive pattern of a motivation relapse becomes a more serious issue as time passes, affecting virtually every aspect of life besides the economy. This leads to uncontrollable anxiety, and anxiety never comes alone. It’s definitely not an easy one.

Nice to meet you by the way Autismman . What a beautiful avatar and name (Autismman) you have by the way. Reminds me of some of the music I listen to. 

Thanks for your reply. Trying to figure out how someone comfortably goes about their work day around others is impossible for me, I wish I could build a bubble around my home and never have to leave to be honest. I can occupy myself with my interests but there’s this nagging economy and money thing that is trying to enter that bubble constantly. 

It’s so “nice” (I hope you know what I mean cause obviously there is actually nothing nice about this) to know I’m not alone in this. I read your first post in this thread the other day and that one also made me feel related. 

Feeling this at the moment, haven’t a clue what I want to do but realising it may have to involve as little human contact as possible. I haven’t got anything left in my tank to mask and pretend any longer 

I'm retired but I used to work as a freelance copy editor. I liked that the work was solitary, I had a clearly structured and specific workflow, and it brought me a lot of interesting reading material. The downside is having to run your own business (fortunately my wife was an accountant). 

Hi. I work as a youth mentor/youth worker supporting other young people with neurodiverse needs and emotional wellbeing needs.

Both are people facing, but only one on one. Neither can be replaced by a machine easily. 

A bit like unblocking drains or changing locks.

Thank you, I appreciate the insight! I definitely have some things to think about over the weekend.

For longevity, I'd say hairdressing or become a tattoo artist, salons for both of these seem to be the only businesses that are booming

orangutan said:

I'm looking to either get back into IT (ideally in a network engineering role or something like that to work my way up), or go self employed delivering IT solutions.

I would actually advise getting out of IT as the rate of progress of AI means the majority of roles here will be automated in the near future and there will be a large amount of staff displaced and looking for the few roles that are advertised.

Find something that AI cannot replace such as a trade (electrician, plumber, plasterer etc) and train up as people will always need somewhere to live and these always need building, upgrades or repair so you have a life long job.

However in the short term I think the network engineer roles are unlikely to be an option as there seem few positions and a lot of candidates looking who are already experienced. I looked down this route about 15 years ago, got my Cisco certifications etc but nobody wanted a paper engineer - there were plenty of experienced candidates to choose from and it seems you need to fall into the role organically to make it most of the time.

The skills of the moment would seem to be all AI related so if you want to try something interesting then get involved in this, but realise that most companies are interesting in replacing staff with AI so if you have moral issues around suspect management actions then this may not be for you.

Project management was one of the more interesting things I tried - it is a very versatile role as you get to do all sorts of things, IT and otherwise and they can be very deep dives into the subject matter if this interests you. You do have to do a lot of people influencing to be effective here however and the work can be a bit "lumpy" with quiet spells then several projects starting at the same time causing a huge workload.

To do most of these things I think it best to upgrade your skills in your own time, pay for your own certifications and try to use a job using your existing skillset to move into these areas. Most of this need human networking skills to get the management to want to give you the opportunity and this needs you to be able to accept poor management and sometimes questionable business practices if you want to succeed.

There is a great deal of suspect behaviour and dodgy dealings going on in many companies upper management and if you go in making a fuss over it then you will quickly find yourself out. Learning when and how to make a stand on this is an artform but so long as you do not participate in it yourself it is about as good as it gets from what I have seen.

That was a long winded answer but maybe some discussion points to consider.

I’m looking for something with minimal contact with others, working in a small team or solo. Ideally self employed but with rising prices of just about every thing and with me being particularly under-skilled it’s not very likely. 

I've been an IT technician for the past 3 years or so, however on Monday I handed my notice in and now I'm on garden leave. I left because I disliked the management and the way they handled things, how they treated staff, and how they ripped off customers by selling them things they didn't actually need.

I'm looking to either get back into IT (ideally in a network engineering role or something like that to work my way up), or go self employed delivering IT solutions. I know the focus of this forum is autism rather than business, but would you have any advice for me?

I've done so many different things, but I enjoyed being a hairdresser and I was good at it.

Technical roles where I am largely my own boss.

By accident or design I end up doing something other people aren't good at, get good at it, take it over, then get left to get on with it as no one else wants it or can do it.

I ought to be doing more than I am, but I have got comfortable. I could earn more but I can't really be bothered. I don't want to burn out again, but maybe I can avoid it now I know.

Now I have been diagnosed, once I get fully well again, I am wondering whether to push myself a bit more. I don't know what I want out of life at the moment.

The short answer is none. Everything I ever started was ended 90% of the time by me. The initial motivation always abandoned me cruelly without the chance to reconsider. I’ve worked in so many different sectors that it all feels like a bad dream.