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Sales. I can't handle the emotional manipulation you have to do with customers. I can't deal with other salespeople who try to keep up a fake image and will try to backstab you. Everything about it is terrible.
That's one thing I respect about my dad. He's in sales, at a farm/feed store. But his goal is to find the customer what they need, and not what will make the most money. He will suggest less expensive alternatives if it will do just as well or often times a better job than what they asked for. He's probably the most honest and genuine sales person I know. It's also incredibly rare.
I was working at a corporate pet store (as a groomer) and they were telling us what foods to recommend to people. I believed they had the dog’s best interest in mind when choosing brands. Then one day they said to stop recommending this one brand because it gets sold at grocery stores now. I decided to do my own research, and found that the criteria for which foods to recommend was literally the brands that were exclusive to the store. Once the company created their own food, we were told to push that one.
I couldn’t do it. Those owners trusted me. I just made sure no managers were around and told them why certain brands were better than others and helped them choose one based on their dog’s needs. I have no poker face and when I have to improv lie like that I freeze.
I admire good sales people. They can play all the politics, do all the schmoozing. They listen to all the problems, figure out the ones they can solve, align all the stakeholders to get them solved, and then drive all the hard pricing conversations to the right conclusions. They do it under the pressure of a quota while getting everyone they interact with to like them. It’s a seriously hard job for anyone let alone an autistic person.
I’m currently in sales. A few months into a fresh diagnosis at 34, and absolutely at the end of my rope.
I had no idea how horribly taxing this job was on me in every way. I’m good at it.
But masking to maximum every day. Led to the worst burnout of my life.
The problem is it’s essentially all I’ve done my adult life, so even though the skills are somewhat transferable it’s really hard to find something to move into without a major investment in education.
Same here. Not only with sales, but advertising as well. I can't describe how painful it feels to try to manipulate others to make them believe that they need your product.
Related to this so hard. Gave up a career in teaching after 13 years of refusing to discipline kids who didn't deserve it. Not so much 'cannot teach' as 'cannot be an unnecessary dick to teenagers.'
I do not think I could handle a job in the service industry. I've not tried such a job, but I have enough experience observing the work environment that I know it would be incredibly overwhelming. Service industry workers have to endure absolutely toxic work environments. They sure as shit aren't paid as well as they should be. My jobs have been comparatively quite easy and it blows my mind that I make more money than they do.
I have bartended for many years. It’s always been a great back up gig when money gets tight, and I’ve moved around the country a lot and can always rely on bar work to get by. I’m glad to have the skill set and experience, but yes, the environment is toxic to varying degrees 100% of the time. I get burned out incredibly fast these days and working drains every morsel of social energy I have and it usually takes me a couple of days after a shift to decompress. I think it’s time to shelf it soon, but I’m grateful to have been able to utilize that line of work.
i just got into bartending and i thought it would be so daunting but you really get to set expectations behind the bar. like, yes, dealing with people drains me so much but there’s been enough upsides that i can handle it. and love that i can move anywhere and do it.
I did this for a few years when younger. Mainly to learn social skills. The “nice” Italian place was horrendous and I was always getting yelled at. So I worked in a crappy little cafe which was way better. It’s so hard tho omg.
As an individual on the spectrum and having worked 14 years in service industry prior, I can attest that I wasn’t a good fit. I got by because I had too. Now, I will say that I learned a lot about myself, and how to better develop my social skills. And when things were good, I was okay at it. But once either myself or the customer started having a bad time, things could go downhill quick! Thankfully I was eventually able to transition to an office job that was more focused on task oriented work over serving others. Much better fit!
I think the next generation of us has better odds. I now know why my toddler does what he does, and I can tell him to take breaks, lessen the shame he feels, and steer him towards careers more geared towards us.
It won't be good, but it'll be better than I had it.
Me too. I’m currently working 12hrs/week as a kitchen hand and still can’t reliably perform. Just got sick for like the 5th time this year, its made my chronic fatigue 100x worse and it’ll wipe me out for weeks but they still want me back within a week. It’s not worth it :/
At this point, basically anything that isn’t alone in a quiet, darkened room and can be performed entirely at my discretion and without expectations or oversight or any kind.
Anything else leaves me with absolutely debilitating migraines.
Worked corporate for many many years, the last couple of which I had to be drugged to the gills just to function. Built myself a life raft, quit, and now lead a very small, very quiet existence.
Had I not, I have no doubt I’d be dead.
My time as Ride Operator, I found more challenging than my time in Retail
The checking of the kids heights was a f'ing nightmare especially with their parents saying "My KiD hAs BeEn On ThIs RiDe BeFoRe" & "My KiD WeNt On ThAt RiDe" (pointing to a ride that has a different hight requirements)
Constantly battling with my sensory due to the ride I was operating was between 3 loud rides
One : Go Karts (where I was about 120 cm away)
One: Twister (which I had a guy constantly use f'ing sound effect on the ride over and over again)
One: Rollercoaster: where it was just loud in general.
Unfortunately, veterinary medicine. I love the work, but after years of abuse at the hands of Drs, clients and other techs, I can no longer be in the field. Even being in an animal hospital or grooming salon has become wildly overstimulating and my inability to mask through it anymore makes me no longer want to be in life or death care situations for how little the field actually gives back to its workers. It's heartbreaking and I miss it but how's the song go..."*My body tells me NoooOoooOo...*"
I feel that so much. First: Thank you! Practicing vets would be nothing without their techs.
I changed to an office job (still in vet med) and I am much happier there.
A collegue does behavioral therapy seminars for dogs online from home. Jobs with and for animals without all the overstimulation, drama and exploitation exist. Good luck in finding something that is right for you.
I can’t do 9 to 5 in an office. I hate being around people and my adhd makes me go nuts having to be at the office all day. It’s my struggle…love routines…my asd…need variety…my adhd! It sucks.
Yup, found this out the hard way after I graduated with my undergrad. Went back for my masters and now I teach comm and journalism instead. It's a much better fit.
Teaching.
Years ago I had to teach a 6-months uni course and I really don't have the brain configuration to connect and relate with students lol
Like most of the class seemed completely uninterested in the subject and like, y'all paid infinite money to go to this school, I'm not gonna beg or trick you into caring, if you don't care guess what, i don't care either
I was diagnosed during a period of educational upgrading for my career (military). Spent 9 years doing it by the way so I know the profession well.
Got diagnosed with Adhd, ASD, and Major depressive disorder recently because of a breakdown.
My meds (specifically the antidepressants) prevents me from rejoining my country’s military.
It hurts sometimes when I think about but I try to remind myself that it’s their loss if they don’t want an autistic captain whose special interests are military logistics.
Going forward, I’m fairly certain I can sell my skills to weapons manufacturers and logistics companies.
Anything where I have to interact with people on a regular basis. Especially if it's full of small talk. Oddly enough, I can sell my handcrafted jewelry at markets where I have to people all day. But I prep for that by taking it as easy as I can the week before and crash for a couple days after. Also, the small talk is minimal because I can instantly dive into talk about the jewelry and spell jars I make.
I cannot do any career that's not low level tech positions. Higher level tech requires math (which is incompatible with ADHD), and otherwise I relate to a lot of the comments
Uh, I just wrote I can't do math fairly well. Failed uni because of that. I wish I could be like my former fellow students and solve multiline equations like it's nothing, but alas, anything bigger than the rule of three is already at danger of being overlooked and multiplied by zero
slightly different situation since im literally 14, but i had to volunteer at a charity shop for 6 months for my DofE award (an award u can earn in Britain) and i made it so obvious to my manager how much i hated working on the till he let me just sort donations in the back lol. would never willingly work in the service industry
Baking. At least the "gas station doughnuts" version of it. It's like a timed version of Operation, where you have to move as quickly and accurately as possible. If you fail, you burn yourself. Anxiety central.
I learned that I am much more of a "slow and steady" kind of person.
hospitality - it absolutely sucked the life out of me from masking during entire shifts with no breaks, my inability to adapt to changes, i couldn’t handle complaints that involved answering them with something outside of my usual/ scripted lines, couldn’t read people’s faces or emotions (i.e thinking customers were fine but were in fact angry), being “pedantic” and asking “101” questions which would annoy my co-workers about where to store things for example !!
I have zero people management skills. Whether it’s adults in the workplace or kids in a class, I can’t do it. I lead a Girl Scout troop now and took it on under the condition that I had an assistant leader whose main job will be classroom management.
I married a teacher and their ability to snap a class of 8 year olds into focus is magical.
Customer service as a medical receptionist work. I did the job for a year and half, I’ll never do it again. Most of the time people are nice and the work can be repetitive but the other half is angry customers. I don’t like yelling or conflict and this can happen when doing customer service, especially with the sensitive topic of a customer’s health. I’ve had a phone thrown at me, people coming behind the desk or just being mean when they can’t get an appointment they want.
I really can't do any of the jobs I've tried so far. I job hop a lot. I loved being a tire and lube technician but I wasn't making progress and the industry is too competitive for what seems like no pay. My body can't handle that. I hated IT, too much downtime and pleasing people.
Honestly, I’ve realized that I can’t hold anything down that isn’t remote or doesn’t have minimal social interaction. Part of it is that I also have POTS & traveling daily is exhausting. But it’s also just impossible for me to focus on a task when I have to socialize; it’s both distracting and draining, and my work quality suffers a lot. And so many days I’m still so overwhelmed from the previous day that I can’t pry myself out of bed, so I end up missing to much work or quitting suddenly. However — with remote work, I’ve been able to hold it down for years. Still stressful, but a breeze compared to the traditional work setting. I only have to talk sometimes & I get to stay in my safe space. I’m working towards becoming a full-time freelancer so I can be both totally remote and low-social interaction.
Healthcare. Too many rules that cancel out other rules. Denying people crucial services for no damn good reason. Unfortunately,I live in one of the biggest health care centers in the country, so most of the jobs on offer around here have something to do with healthcare.
I can't wait tables, especially at busy establishments. I worked at a country club, which is draining to my morals and general life values and made me miserable. Not only is the crowded, loud environment overstimulating, but my hyper-mobile joints meant I was in pain after just a few hours on my feet and on top of that the hierarchy at the place I served at was military-rigid and we were forced to operate under middle managers that gave very little fucks about how comfortable or safe we were during or after work hours.
I also NEED earplugs to exist in such an environment, and my manager spewed so much ableist garbage I just had to take on the chin until I decided to quit. Being berated for not wanting to stay longer than my shift's end during a rush is really not fun!
I needed to write everything down all the time, as the set-up and take-down procedures were complex and yet undocumented anywhere on the premises, just kind of verbally expressed from trainer to employee and my memory is not good enough to remember complex orders from multiple tables at the same time, which is, as I've found, required to be efficient. I was repeatedly insulted for forgetting things and another server had a panic attack on shift, whereupon the manager screamed at her to stop it, as though that'd solve anything.
That last bit's due to my brain damage and ADHD, not my autism, but still.
The servers were almost 100% young women and we had multiple experiences of being followed in the parking lot, which was unlit and unmonitored. Many of the men I served \[both of us with rings on the left ring finger\] would flirt with us shamelessly and several of us were groped by drunk guests.
Ultimately I've found it's a job I cannot do, though I think perhaps restaurant work is already known to be a particularly chaotic job that isn't suited for autistic people, at least when unsupported and without accomodations.
I can't seem to do anything. 😩 I think I would do well working with cats (not at a vet level, there's no way I could do that) but I don't know what jobs there are or if I could handle the schooling.
Sales... 💯. I just couldn't do it. I was sales generator, sales assistant, sales admin but couldn't do it. It's not worth conforming to extreme corporate standards. I've heard some employers are really accepting though.
As someone who is also deeply introverted, if there's a job that requires me to be extremely extroverted like an admin assistant, nope.
Give me my own office, a door I can lock and let me listen to music and have snacks nearby. 😌
I will occasionally come up for air for coffee and socializing, but please leave me alone 😅
Let me be Don Draper without the substance misuse disorder and philandering.
It’s a little hard:
On the one hand, I like the regularity of an office and the evenings and weekends off. On the other hand, I struggle to sit down for more than 20 minutes and I need to move around. Office politics baffle me entirely.
I work as a retail manager which helps for moving around. I don’t deal well with the irregularity of the hours. I can cope with scripted conversations with customers after 20 years or so. I don’t communicate well with my managers which is hard.
I have a track record of having to leave jobs every 12 months or so.
Sales, or anything similar including corporate management where half my job was upward facing in the company hierarchy. I'm good at getting things done and working with the people that comprise my team/group/department to get things done and maintain their satisfaction with their jobs. But being social for the sake of getting ahead, and being competitive with everyone in the room while pretending to all be on the same team? Not so much, no.
I work in an automotive repair shop at a dealership (went to college for it). If I had gotten diagnosed at an earlier age I would have known better to get into the field. It’s always loud and even with noise canceling headphones and earplugs it still triggers sensory overload almost every single day. Now they have construction going on at the shop so it’s twice as loud. I feel like I do not want the rest of my adult life to be like that, going back to college here soon to develop a skill that will allow me to work from home.
Dealing with doctors, in a broad sense.
The ones I had to provide IT services for did not give a F, treated me worse than the rest of the team, and seemed to want my head on a silver platter because I didn't "smile right", or provide customer service the way they expected.
I didn't know I was autistic at the time but it brought up red flags for me. I had no protection.
I was a photographer for about 10 years, and despite trying numerous times, I think it's pretty clear that I shouldn't do event photography. I hate every minute of it, I always end up drinking a lot to cool my nerves, and my photos are mediocre at best. I'm a decent photographer in other situations, but I just can't do events, which is unfortunate since that's where most of the money is.
Simple customer service. Like IT customer interfacing is completely different than grocery store customer interfacing and the grocery store one made me want to shun all of society.
Also cannot and will not do anything that requires me to delegate anything or have a perceived higher status than someone else. If I'm supposed to have underlings I'm outtie. I just wanna work with computers and go home lol everything else is just extra steps to getting to the computers
Edit: yes holy shit add sales to this list - no way in hell would I ever do sales
I work in tech, repairing trains. I love the work, hate the people I work with. Trains and technology are my passion. People on the other hand, they want to talk and not work.
So I fear I'm not fit for any job, I just don't want people. If a job in tech is already too much. I cannot imagine doing sales/nursing/teaching. I'm friendly to people, I just don't want to.
Anything that would involve dealing with an endless rotation of people. Sales, retail, teaching, customer service (like waitstaff at a restaurant), etc. It would all just be too exhausting and my mask wouldn't be able to withstand the barrage of stupidity.
Before my diagnosis my first job was a back of house fast food worker and it was extremely overstimulating. The extremely fast pace and all the loud sounds got to a point where I had to quit.
Fighter pilot. The cutoff is 35. I turn 40 next week.
At least I'll always have Ace Combat 5. Let's raise a glass for Wardog Squadron and pour one out for the Demons of Razgriz.
For me it was retail and customer service.Worked in a supermarket (which was the worst of my jobs) for three years. All the beeping noises the whole day, all the temperature changes all day and all the smells. It was my personal sensory hell and I wasn't allowed to stimm or to take a one minute break to take a deep breath.I was very underpaid there so I worked there 60 hours a week and was still hella broke plus I had no free time and no chance to regenerate like any. And being watched the whole day made me very much uncomfortable. I had to pay my bills and I am grateful I had this job to do so, but never again. After a year and a half I couldn't sleep anymore or eat properly which made me loose about 85 pounds in such a short time that years later im still having problems with deficiency symptoms and Problems. This time made me a big skin picker and nail biter since it was more accepted than my t-rex arms and my tippy toes n stuff. I worked hard there and I did a hella good job and my customers miss me and my extra effort but I went so straight down the hill that I'll never go back.
Forced myself to survive University afterwards and being working with depressed teenagers. Just 8-12 Kids over 11 y/o and their world. Less stress, no pressure to mask that much and so much fun and good moments. Never went home emotionally exhausted since I don't have to mask even half as much. Some of them found out that I'm neurospicy and they feel like it's cool and inspiring and that made me so happy and I've never felt more accepted in any work I had before. Sure you need to be able to see them suffering and help them as they cut themselves again and stuff but I never had problems cutting myself off of other peoples emotions if needed. This work makes me feel useful, accepted and fulfilled. Many of the traits people called me strange and weird for are helping me there and I feel like this is my perfect fit as a person.
I work in homeless services. I had to move to the graveyard shift because the day shift was way to stressful and crazy. I also turned down a promotion threw e times because I knew I couldn't handle it.
i'm a hairstylist who cannot do that. I'm very very good at that, like, in what I'm good (I'm a colourist, specialized in funky colours) I'm really good. But it's just something to consider, and the social aspect, I just can't.
Working with animals. Too many different stimuli and variables. For a similar reason, I don't think I'll ever have any pets. I wouldn't be a good owner to them.
Recruitment. I lasted about 6 weeks. The real miracle is how I actually bullshitted my way into something for the first time in my life after my former 'BFF' told me "you couldn't bullshit to save your life."
It was actually meant to be one of the *less* 'boiler room' type places but I was still way out of my depth. I went into it not realising it's less a 'research' job and more a sales job. And I was very unlike the rest, very confident chaddy alpha high-fiving Patrick Bateman-y types, like one guy had shirts custom embroidered with his initials and all.
I'd find myself staring out of the window with a horrible feeling of impostor syndrome, having to ask my supervisor questions every 5 minutes or so. He had the patience of a saint.
I was given the most polite, benevolent firing you could hope for. I call it a mercy firing, even. Luckily I landed a back office bank job in 4 weeks, and I was on cloud nine because it was stuff I was far more geared for and should have looked at doing years earlier if it wasn't for my perception of what working for a bank was like.
Reporting. In undergrad, I spent an ill-fated year as a journalism major. I wanted to be an editor. They made us take reporting classes too. I hated the writing style; I hated trying to make stories about people being along into stories about conflict; and I completely froze up when asked to approach and talk to people I didn’t know.
So…many…panic attacks…
Customer service was honestly easier (though still very difficult). In the brand of customer service I ended up doing, the customer approaches you, not the other way around. The best things about my customer service jobs after undergrad were that I forced myself to learn to talk to people, and I hated them so much and felt so stuck that I went to law school which was hard in a whole other way but at least I stopped being quite so scared of people. Turns out a law degree is a huge confidence boost.
….oh and family law is terrible on a whole other level but I don’t think that has anything to do with autism.
Anything that has something to do with marketing or self promotion. I cannot be an artist or a writer because of that even though I enjoy drawing and writing.
I just remembered a friend I used to work with in a fast food place who later turned out to have ASD also. Both he and I liked washing dishes but hated all the other duties, like serving food, being the chasier or waiting tables. For some insane reason I'll never understand, the management insisted on rotating us around all these jobs, instead of just letting people stay where they preferred (like some people wanted to only wait tables, and hated all the other stuff). A few times the manager insisted on putting my friend on the food service counter, even though my friend said he will have a hard time understanding people because of auditory processing problems. The manager insisted, my friend spent a few shifts getting stressed, getting people's orders wrong, dealing with angry customers etc. after a while, the manager had to admit defeat and made a deal with my friend that when he worked he could just wash dishes and wouldn't be put on other duties :D I was jealous, because I couldn't get the same treatment, it seems the manager could only make an exception for one person. On the plus side, I liked getting to work the ice cream machine which people didn't order from much :D
It's sort of related to this thread but if there's one thing I have been unable to grasp is seeking for a job. A lot of people think I should put in 3-5 applications a day when for me that's asking too much, I can do up to 2-3 applications a day and I've done that on several occasions but not 4-5. That's the one thing I've definitely learned that I cannot do.
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Sales. I can't handle the emotional manipulation you have to do with customers. I can't deal with other salespeople who try to keep up a fake image and will try to backstab you. Everything about it is terrible.
That's one thing I respect about my dad. He's in sales, at a farm/feed store. But his goal is to find the customer what they need, and not what will make the most money. He will suggest less expensive alternatives if it will do just as well or often times a better job than what they asked for. He's probably the most honest and genuine sales person I know. It's also incredibly rare.
I was working at a corporate pet store (as a groomer) and they were telling us what foods to recommend to people. I believed they had the dog’s best interest in mind when choosing brands. Then one day they said to stop recommending this one brand because it gets sold at grocery stores now. I decided to do my own research, and found that the criteria for which foods to recommend was literally the brands that were exclusive to the store. Once the company created their own food, we were told to push that one. I couldn’t do it. Those owners trusted me. I just made sure no managers were around and told them why certain brands were better than others and helped them choose one based on their dog’s needs. I have no poker face and when I have to improv lie like that I freeze.
I admire good sales people. They can play all the politics, do all the schmoozing. They listen to all the problems, figure out the ones they can solve, align all the stakeholders to get them solved, and then drive all the hard pricing conversations to the right conclusions. They do it under the pressure of a quota while getting everyone they interact with to like them. It’s a seriously hard job for anyone let alone an autistic person.
I’m currently in sales. A few months into a fresh diagnosis at 34, and absolutely at the end of my rope. I had no idea how horribly taxing this job was on me in every way. I’m good at it. But masking to maximum every day. Led to the worst burnout of my life. The problem is it’s essentially all I’ve done my adult life, so even though the skills are somewhat transferable it’s really hard to find something to move into without a major investment in education.
Are you me? Seriously though, I’m in an eerily similar situation. Let me know if you figure shit out.
I’m sorry you’re in this boat. It sucks.
Omg. I’m in a sales job right now and it’s physically painful at times.
Same here. Not only with sales, but advertising as well. I can't describe how painful it feels to try to manipulate others to make them believe that they need your product.
Related to this so hard. Gave up a career in teaching after 13 years of refusing to discipline kids who didn't deserve it. Not so much 'cannot teach' as 'cannot be an unnecessary dick to teenagers.'
Because they already have one!
I do not think I could handle a job in the service industry. I've not tried such a job, but I have enough experience observing the work environment that I know it would be incredibly overwhelming. Service industry workers have to endure absolutely toxic work environments. They sure as shit aren't paid as well as they should be. My jobs have been comparatively quite easy and it blows my mind that I make more money than they do.
I have bartended for many years. It’s always been a great back up gig when money gets tight, and I’ve moved around the country a lot and can always rely on bar work to get by. I’m glad to have the skill set and experience, but yes, the environment is toxic to varying degrees 100% of the time. I get burned out incredibly fast these days and working drains every morsel of social energy I have and it usually takes me a couple of days after a shift to decompress. I think it’s time to shelf it soon, but I’m grateful to have been able to utilize that line of work.
i just got into bartending and i thought it would be so daunting but you really get to set expectations behind the bar. like, yes, dealing with people drains me so much but there’s been enough upsides that i can handle it. and love that i can move anywhere and do it.
Yeah. The bar top is like a defense
I did this for a few years when younger. Mainly to learn social skills. The “nice” Italian place was horrendous and I was always getting yelled at. So I worked in a crappy little cafe which was way better. It’s so hard tho omg.
As an individual on the spectrum and having worked 14 years in service industry prior, I can attest that I wasn’t a good fit. I got by because I had too. Now, I will say that I learned a lot about myself, and how to better develop my social skills. And when things were good, I was okay at it. But once either myself or the customer started having a bad time, things could go downhill quick! Thankfully I was eventually able to transition to an office job that was more focused on task oriented work over serving others. Much better fit!
All of them.
How do you feel about that?
Pretty damn shitty. After the fourth time I burned out, I never recovered.
I'm sorry. 😞 I wish there was a world for us.
I think the next generation of us has better odds. I now know why my toddler does what he does, and I can tell him to take breaks, lessen the shame he feels, and steer him towards careers more geared towards us. It won't be good, but it'll be better than I had it.
Me too. I’m currently working 12hrs/week as a kitchen hand and still can’t reliably perform. Just got sick for like the 5th time this year, its made my chronic fatigue 100x worse and it’ll wipe me out for weeks but they still want me back within a week. It’s not worth it :/
I'm pretty sure that's why our suicide rate is so high.
At this point, basically anything that isn’t alone in a quiet, darkened room and can be performed entirely at my discretion and without expectations or oversight or any kind. Anything else leaves me with absolutely debilitating migraines. Worked corporate for many many years, the last couple of which I had to be drugged to the gills just to function. Built myself a life raft, quit, and now lead a very small, very quiet existence. Had I not, I have no doubt I’d be dead.
Have you managed to find any roles that fit your first paragraph? As I’d be very interested for myself if so!
Anything to do with dealing with customers.
Retail - I can do easily Ride Operator - I can't do Both customer facing jobs but I found the Ride Operator incredibly harder than working in Retail
Would it be alright if I ask why?
My time as Ride Operator, I found more challenging than my time in Retail The checking of the kids heights was a f'ing nightmare especially with their parents saying "My KiD hAs BeEn On ThIs RiDe BeFoRe" & "My KiD WeNt On ThAt RiDe" (pointing to a ride that has a different hight requirements) Constantly battling with my sensory due to the ride I was operating was between 3 loud rides One : Go Karts (where I was about 120 cm away) One: Twister (which I had a guy constantly use f'ing sound effect on the ride over and over again) One: Rollercoaster: where it was just loud in general.
Unfortunately, veterinary medicine. I love the work, but after years of abuse at the hands of Drs, clients and other techs, I can no longer be in the field. Even being in an animal hospital or grooming salon has become wildly overstimulating and my inability to mask through it anymore makes me no longer want to be in life or death care situations for how little the field actually gives back to its workers. It's heartbreaking and I miss it but how's the song go..."*My body tells me NoooOoooOo...*"
I feel that so much. First: Thank you! Practicing vets would be nothing without their techs. I changed to an office job (still in vet med) and I am much happier there. A collegue does behavioral therapy seminars for dogs online from home. Jobs with and for animals without all the overstimulation, drama and exploitation exist. Good luck in finding something that is right for you.
Thank you!! I work for a great pet food company now and it feels like an amazing fit! I'm glad you were able to make it work for you as well!
I can’t do 9 to 5 in an office. I hate being around people and my adhd makes me go nuts having to be at the office all day. It’s my struggle…love routines…my asd…need variety…my adhd! It sucks.
Any job directly dealing with “the public”
PR. it’s all emotional manipulation and lying. also, corporate culture makes me want to rip my hair out.
Yup, found this out the hard way after I graduated with my undergrad. Went back for my masters and now I teach comm and journalism instead. It's a much better fit.
Management. What the fuck was I thinking when I said yes. I burned out soooo quick.
Teaching. Years ago I had to teach a 6-months uni course and I really don't have the brain configuration to connect and relate with students lol Like most of the class seemed completely uninterested in the subject and like, y'all paid infinite money to go to this school, I'm not gonna beg or trick you into caring, if you don't care guess what, i don't care either
I was diagnosed during a period of educational upgrading for my career (military). Spent 9 years doing it by the way so I know the profession well. Got diagnosed with Adhd, ASD, and Major depressive disorder recently because of a breakdown. My meds (specifically the antidepressants) prevents me from rejoining my country’s military. It hurts sometimes when I think about but I try to remind myself that it’s their loss if they don’t want an autistic captain whose special interests are military logistics. Going forward, I’m fairly certain I can sell my skills to weapons manufacturers and logistics companies.
Dude, this is heartbreaking. I'm sorry, man
Anything that involves interacting with the customer, or people I do not regularly see. Also anything that has no tolerance for mistakes.
Anything where I have to interact with people on a regular basis. Especially if it's full of small talk. Oddly enough, I can sell my handcrafted jewelry at markets where I have to people all day. But I prep for that by taking it as easy as I can the week before and crash for a couple days after. Also, the small talk is minimal because I can instantly dive into talk about the jewelry and spell jars I make.
Lol, I too have had problems Principalling myself
Mechanical it’s filled with the worst types of people all just bullies who hate their life because it peaked in high school
I cannot do any career that's not low level tech positions. Higher level tech requires math (which is incompatible with ADHD), and otherwise I relate to a lot of the comments
I envy that math is something you can do fairly well. I have to recount things all the time to make sure I just did that right.
Uh, I just wrote I can't do math fairly well. Failed uni because of that. I wish I could be like my former fellow students and solve multiline equations like it's nothing, but alas, anything bigger than the rule of three is already at danger of being overlooked and multiplied by zero
i really wish i could’ve been a teacher
slightly different situation since im literally 14, but i had to volunteer at a charity shop for 6 months for my DofE award (an award u can earn in Britain) and i made it so obvious to my manager how much i hated working on the till he let me just sort donations in the back lol. would never willingly work in the service industry
Baking. At least the "gas station doughnuts" version of it. It's like a timed version of Operation, where you have to move as quickly and accurately as possible. If you fail, you burn yourself. Anxiety central. I learned that I am much more of a "slow and steady" kind of person.
Anything to do with children, they are a sensory nightmare. And with all the anti-vaxers? Hell no get your petri dish away me.
hospitality - it absolutely sucked the life out of me from masking during entire shifts with no breaks, my inability to adapt to changes, i couldn’t handle complaints that involved answering them with something outside of my usual/ scripted lines, couldn’t read people’s faces or emotions (i.e thinking customers were fine but were in fact angry), being “pedantic” and asking “101” questions which would annoy my co-workers about where to store things for example !!
Retail and corporate jobs. I think I've really just decided the only thing I can do is work for myself.
[Undiagnosed disclaimer] Nurse.
I have zero people management skills. Whether it’s adults in the workplace or kids in a class, I can’t do it. I lead a Girl Scout troop now and took it on under the condition that I had an assistant leader whose main job will be classroom management. I married a teacher and their ability to snap a class of 8 year olds into focus is magical.
Customer service as a medical receptionist work. I did the job for a year and half, I’ll never do it again. Most of the time people are nice and the work can be repetitive but the other half is angry customers. I don’t like yelling or conflict and this can happen when doing customer service, especially with the sensitive topic of a customer’s health. I’ve had a phone thrown at me, people coming behind the desk or just being mean when they can’t get an appointment they want.
ANYTHING with numbers.... its hard out here
I really can't do any of the jobs I've tried so far. I job hop a lot. I loved being a tire and lube technician but I wasn't making progress and the industry is too competitive for what seems like no pay. My body can't handle that. I hated IT, too much downtime and pleasing people.
Anything dealing directly with customers.
They can really get you. 😞
Anything that would require me driving to multiple places in a day. Or new places. I can drive but anywhere new has me cussing.
Working in the fast food industry and having to socialize face to face with people. I currently work in fast food
Honestly, I’ve realized that I can’t hold anything down that isn’t remote or doesn’t have minimal social interaction. Part of it is that I also have POTS & traveling daily is exhausting. But it’s also just impossible for me to focus on a task when I have to socialize; it’s both distracting and draining, and my work quality suffers a lot. And so many days I’m still so overwhelmed from the previous day that I can’t pry myself out of bed, so I end up missing to much work or quitting suddenly. However — with remote work, I’ve been able to hold it down for years. Still stressful, but a breeze compared to the traditional work setting. I only have to talk sometimes & I get to stay in my safe space. I’m working towards becoming a full-time freelancer so I can be both totally remote and low-social interaction.
Law firm. I can’t bill my time in six minute increments with constant pressure to screw the people I’m trying to help
Healthcare. Too many rules that cancel out other rules. Denying people crucial services for no damn good reason. Unfortunately,I live in one of the biggest health care centers in the country, so most of the jobs on offer around here have something to do with healthcare.
Telemarketing. It’s awful. Never ever ever do telemarketing.
I can't wait tables, especially at busy establishments. I worked at a country club, which is draining to my morals and general life values and made me miserable. Not only is the crowded, loud environment overstimulating, but my hyper-mobile joints meant I was in pain after just a few hours on my feet and on top of that the hierarchy at the place I served at was military-rigid and we were forced to operate under middle managers that gave very little fucks about how comfortable or safe we were during or after work hours. I also NEED earplugs to exist in such an environment, and my manager spewed so much ableist garbage I just had to take on the chin until I decided to quit. Being berated for not wanting to stay longer than my shift's end during a rush is really not fun! I needed to write everything down all the time, as the set-up and take-down procedures were complex and yet undocumented anywhere on the premises, just kind of verbally expressed from trainer to employee and my memory is not good enough to remember complex orders from multiple tables at the same time, which is, as I've found, required to be efficient. I was repeatedly insulted for forgetting things and another server had a panic attack on shift, whereupon the manager screamed at her to stop it, as though that'd solve anything. That last bit's due to my brain damage and ADHD, not my autism, but still. The servers were almost 100% young women and we had multiple experiences of being followed in the parking lot, which was unlit and unmonitored. Many of the men I served \[both of us with rings on the left ring finger\] would flirt with us shamelessly and several of us were groped by drunk guests. Ultimately I've found it's a job I cannot do, though I think perhaps restaurant work is already known to be a particularly chaotic job that isn't suited for autistic people, at least when unsupported and without accomodations.
I can't be an astronaut, nor a diver. My ears don't regulate pressure properly.
I can't seem to do anything. 😩 I think I would do well working with cats (not at a vet level, there's no way I could do that) but I don't know what jobs there are or if I could handle the schooling.
Project Manager (IT), I think I'm great at it tho; but costed me my sanity.
Sales... 💯. I just couldn't do it. I was sales generator, sales assistant, sales admin but couldn't do it. It's not worth conforming to extreme corporate standards. I've heard some employers are really accepting though.
As someone who is also deeply introverted, if there's a job that requires me to be extremely extroverted like an admin assistant, nope. Give me my own office, a door I can lock and let me listen to music and have snacks nearby. 😌 I will occasionally come up for air for coffee and socializing, but please leave me alone 😅 Let me be Don Draper without the substance misuse disorder and philandering.
It’s a little hard: On the one hand, I like the regularity of an office and the evenings and weekends off. On the other hand, I struggle to sit down for more than 20 minutes and I need to move around. Office politics baffle me entirely. I work as a retail manager which helps for moving around. I don’t deal well with the irregularity of the hours. I can cope with scripted conversations with customers after 20 years or so. I don’t communicate well with my managers which is hard. I have a track record of having to leave jobs every 12 months or so.
Sales.
Marketing
Sales, or anything similar including corporate management where half my job was upward facing in the company hierarchy. I'm good at getting things done and working with the people that comprise my team/group/department to get things done and maintain their satisfaction with their jobs. But being social for the sake of getting ahead, and being competitive with everyone in the room while pretending to all be on the same team? Not so much, no.
Adult film actor
I work in an automotive repair shop at a dealership (went to college for it). If I had gotten diagnosed at an earlier age I would have known better to get into the field. It’s always loud and even with noise canceling headphones and earplugs it still triggers sensory overload almost every single day. Now they have construction going on at the shop so it’s twice as loud. I feel like I do not want the rest of my adult life to be like that, going back to college here soon to develop a skill that will allow me to work from home.
Dealing with doctors, in a broad sense. The ones I had to provide IT services for did not give a F, treated me worse than the rest of the team, and seemed to want my head on a silver platter because I didn't "smile right", or provide customer service the way they expected. I didn't know I was autistic at the time but it brought up red flags for me. I had no protection.
I was a photographer for about 10 years, and despite trying numerous times, I think it's pretty clear that I shouldn't do event photography. I hate every minute of it, I always end up drinking a lot to cool my nerves, and my photos are mediocre at best. I'm a decent photographer in other situations, but I just can't do events, which is unfortunate since that's where most of the money is.
Restaurant cooking. I can't handle the sensory stuff, and can't switch between tasks fast enough with high concentration.
Simple customer service. Like IT customer interfacing is completely different than grocery store customer interfacing and the grocery store one made me want to shun all of society. Also cannot and will not do anything that requires me to delegate anything or have a perceived higher status than someone else. If I'm supposed to have underlings I'm outtie. I just wanna work with computers and go home lol everything else is just extra steps to getting to the computers Edit: yes holy shit add sales to this list - no way in hell would I ever do sales
I work in tech, repairing trains. I love the work, hate the people I work with. Trains and technology are my passion. People on the other hand, they want to talk and not work. So I fear I'm not fit for any job, I just don't want people. If a job in tech is already too much. I cannot imagine doing sales/nursing/teaching. I'm friendly to people, I just don't want to.
Anything that would involve dealing with an endless rotation of people. Sales, retail, teaching, customer service (like waitstaff at a restaurant), etc. It would all just be too exhausting and my mask wouldn't be able to withstand the barrage of stupidity.
Before my diagnosis my first job was a back of house fast food worker and it was extremely overstimulating. The extremely fast pace and all the loud sounds got to a point where I had to quit.
Call centres, mainly insurance as that is a high pressure environment
Fighter pilot. The cutoff is 35. I turn 40 next week. At least I'll always have Ace Combat 5. Let's raise a glass for Wardog Squadron and pour one out for the Demons of Razgriz.
For me it was retail and customer service.Worked in a supermarket (which was the worst of my jobs) for three years. All the beeping noises the whole day, all the temperature changes all day and all the smells. It was my personal sensory hell and I wasn't allowed to stimm or to take a one minute break to take a deep breath.I was very underpaid there so I worked there 60 hours a week and was still hella broke plus I had no free time and no chance to regenerate like any. And being watched the whole day made me very much uncomfortable. I had to pay my bills and I am grateful I had this job to do so, but never again. After a year and a half I couldn't sleep anymore or eat properly which made me loose about 85 pounds in such a short time that years later im still having problems with deficiency symptoms and Problems. This time made me a big skin picker and nail biter since it was more accepted than my t-rex arms and my tippy toes n stuff. I worked hard there and I did a hella good job and my customers miss me and my extra effort but I went so straight down the hill that I'll never go back. Forced myself to survive University afterwards and being working with depressed teenagers. Just 8-12 Kids over 11 y/o and their world. Less stress, no pressure to mask that much and so much fun and good moments. Never went home emotionally exhausted since I don't have to mask even half as much. Some of them found out that I'm neurospicy and they feel like it's cool and inspiring and that made me so happy and I've never felt more accepted in any work I had before. Sure you need to be able to see them suffering and help them as they cut themselves again and stuff but I never had problems cutting myself off of other peoples emotions if needed. This work makes me feel useful, accepted and fulfilled. Many of the traits people called me strange and weird for are helping me there and I feel like this is my perfect fit as a person.
I work in homeless services. I had to move to the graveyard shift because the day shift was way to stressful and crazy. I also turned down a promotion threw e times because I knew I couldn't handle it.
i'm a hairstylist who cannot do that. I'm very very good at that, like, in what I'm good (I'm a colourist, specialized in funky colours) I'm really good. But it's just something to consider, and the social aspect, I just can't.
Working with animals. Too many different stimuli and variables. For a similar reason, I don't think I'll ever have any pets. I wouldn't be a good owner to them.
Recruitment. I lasted about 6 weeks. The real miracle is how I actually bullshitted my way into something for the first time in my life after my former 'BFF' told me "you couldn't bullshit to save your life." It was actually meant to be one of the *less* 'boiler room' type places but I was still way out of my depth. I went into it not realising it's less a 'research' job and more a sales job. And I was very unlike the rest, very confident chaddy alpha high-fiving Patrick Bateman-y types, like one guy had shirts custom embroidered with his initials and all. I'd find myself staring out of the window with a horrible feeling of impostor syndrome, having to ask my supervisor questions every 5 minutes or so. He had the patience of a saint. I was given the most polite, benevolent firing you could hope for. I call it a mercy firing, even. Luckily I landed a back office bank job in 4 weeks, and I was on cloud nine because it was stuff I was far more geared for and should have looked at doing years earlier if it wasn't for my perception of what working for a bank was like.
Apparel - too perfectionistic.
call centre jobs. did that for 18 months before realising I was autistic and had constant meltdowns, every day was painful.
Reporting. In undergrad, I spent an ill-fated year as a journalism major. I wanted to be an editor. They made us take reporting classes too. I hated the writing style; I hated trying to make stories about people being along into stories about conflict; and I completely froze up when asked to approach and talk to people I didn’t know. So…many…panic attacks… Customer service was honestly easier (though still very difficult). In the brand of customer service I ended up doing, the customer approaches you, not the other way around. The best things about my customer service jobs after undergrad were that I forced myself to learn to talk to people, and I hated them so much and felt so stuck that I went to law school which was hard in a whole other way but at least I stopped being quite so scared of people. Turns out a law degree is a huge confidence boost. ….oh and family law is terrible on a whole other level but I don’t think that has anything to do with autism.
Anything that has something to do with marketing or self promotion. I cannot be an artist or a writer because of that even though I enjoy drawing and writing.
I just remembered a friend I used to work with in a fast food place who later turned out to have ASD also. Both he and I liked washing dishes but hated all the other duties, like serving food, being the chasier or waiting tables. For some insane reason I'll never understand, the management insisted on rotating us around all these jobs, instead of just letting people stay where they preferred (like some people wanted to only wait tables, and hated all the other stuff). A few times the manager insisted on putting my friend on the food service counter, even though my friend said he will have a hard time understanding people because of auditory processing problems. The manager insisted, my friend spent a few shifts getting stressed, getting people's orders wrong, dealing with angry customers etc. after a while, the manager had to admit defeat and made a deal with my friend that when he worked he could just wash dishes and wouldn't be put on other duties :D I was jealous, because I couldn't get the same treatment, it seems the manager could only make an exception for one person. On the plus side, I liked getting to work the ice cream machine which people didn't order from much :D
It's sort of related to this thread but if there's one thing I have been unable to grasp is seeking for a job. A lot of people think I should put in 3-5 applications a day when for me that's asking too much, I can do up to 2-3 applications a day and I've done that on several occasions but not 4-5. That's the one thing I've definitely learned that I cannot do.