Tell me about your work life!
I've been in and out of so many different jobs. Usually I get to a point where I burn out and just can't go in anymore. Best job I ever had was as a tour guide in a distillery telling people facts all day and working with what I now realise was a whole bunch of other neurodivergent people. Only left that because I wasn't paid enough to live. Honestly could have stayed there forever otherwise. Such is life!
Currently in the middle of a career change after realising the whole 9-5 office job life isnt sustainable for me. I'm hoping to be able to work for myself soon and not be beholden to other people's schedules!
What jobs have you tried out over the years? What has worked well for ye?
Generally: Programmer - Currently making video games but have also worked with a vast array of platforms and things. Corporate apps, mobile, AR, Weird art things with Raspberry Pi's..
For me being able to fall into a hole to solve a problem is the best feeling ever, problem is then everything goes by the wayside and I forget to stop and eat or sleep 😅.
Of course the downsides is attempting to do anything I can't latch my brain onto. I know now that I am not built for a corporate environment...
Just saw this post. Weird art things with a raspberry pi sounds very interesting. What kind of stuff did you make?
Be an engineer they said, its all about problem solving they said, they lied. No one mentioned the documentation and reports, just let me tinker/build/fix/test things. Turns out should be a technician 😂but i do love it really.
@EmrysOfTheValley @neamhsplach
Do computer programming (software development) so you only need to talk to computers.
Haha, just kidding. 90% of it is communicating with humans. Either directly (tickets, reviews, meetings, ...) or indirectly (comments in code, commit messages, ...). 😕
I got a job in R&D and it’s great. I also work for a great company so there’s that. I lead the Neurodivergent Support Group for my company! I really got lucky as I realize so many of us have issues with employment.
Switched about 10 jobs working for someone else. Now just doing UberEATS and Doordash deliveries. Money is not great but the balance of work/money/free time is good enough.
Having lots of free time is key. For me, that free time affords me all the time I need for all those self care activities that suffer when I'm working full time, like showering and sleeping and keeping my living space somewhat tidy. I don't know how people manage that when they're working full time!!
Yes! Maybe neurotypicals just have more control of their attention, less intrusive thoughts distracting them, kinda more "stable" internal weather.
I'm a lawyer with a background in business! There are a lot of lawyers with interesting wetware since the initial filters on the profession are almost entirely test-based and the tests don't target things like emotional maturity, empathy, or interpersonal interactions.
I have a lot of lawyers in my social circle and this is definitely the case! I wonder if the "strong sense of justice" trait also attracts a lot of neurodivergent people to the industry initially.
I'm sure it differs from person to person, but a significant portion (possibly a majority) of the people at my law school seemed to be there because they didn't have any other ideas about what to do with their undergraduate degree. Easy access to ruinous student loan debt can seriously warp a person's decisionmaking process.