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I was diagnosed with ADHD in my childhood and again in college. Got my autism diagnosis just under a couple years ago, at the tender age of 41. I have no problem holding down a job once I get one, but I've extreme difficulty getting through an interview. I've gotten through multiple phone interviews in which I was mainly asked technical questions to determine if I had the necessary skills only to be rejected during the in person interview, in which the interviewers are deciding whether or not they would like to work with me personally. I'm currently working as a substitute teacher. There was no interview. They hire anybody who has the qualifications and passes the background check. I've only ever gotten two jobs I interviewed for. One was for a company completely desperate to find someone willing to work only 5 hours a week. The other, I was interviewed by my high school friend's mom, who already knew me quite well. In the past, I've been turned down by places like Taco Bell, Blockbuster Video, and Babies R Us, places known for hiring pretty much anybody. My degree is in physics, with a lot of computer science to supplement. I have some valuable skills. I've had interviewers tell me quite enthusiastically "you should be working here" after taking their skills test, only to be ghosted after the in-person interview. I can't seem to get anywhere near a job that actually utilizes my skills, and have been a glorified babysitter for the last few years. It's not something I want to make a career out of, but I'm in my 40s, so I face ageism as well when I look for technical positions. I have a constant fear that if I lose my current job, I'll not be able to get a new one, but I live in the United States, and they'll never put me on disability because I've worked before, so I'm clearly capable of work. I've thought a lot about starting my own business. In my early 20's, a friend and I ran a web design business for a few years, and after college, that same friend and I ran a test engineering business for a while. So I know what it's like to run a business, and I'm confident I could do it, but that friend was the charismatic face of both businesses. He moved to Japan, so another venture with him would be pretty difficult to start. On my own, I always find myself at a loss as to what kind of business I'd like to start. My current job pays the bills, but it's very stressful not having work over the summer months. Usually by this time of year I've got several thousand dollars saved to get me through the summer, but this year I keep running into unexpected expenses, and haven't been able to save anything. I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent come August and September. I don't really have a question or a point, just wanted to share my experience and vent about the stress.
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Apr 11, 2023 16:53
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 15:16 |
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Oh, cool. That's encouraging. Hopefully other companies do something similar. Another worry I have is now I've been out of the game so long my skills have atrophied. I've definitely forgotten most of the things I learned in college. I'm confident I can pick it back up again quickly, just gotta buckle down and do it before I try to interview anywhere. A project to work on would help a lot. I've dabbled in game development a few times, but never finished anything. The market is flooded with them, but I think I'll make a simple Vampire Survivors-like game, I'm not trying to sell it, but it seems like something a single person dev can reasonably finish, and my therapist thinks that finishing something would be good for me.
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Apr 11, 2023 18:57
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Oh yeah, I'm also very anti-capitalist and would very much like to not work for banks, insurance companies, oil companies, etc. One thing I do like about my current job is that the goal of our whole organization has nothing to do with profit. I have issues with a lot of the 'education' that happens here, but at least I'm not busting my rear end to make some prick who couldn't care less about me even richer. The small businesses I've helped run or worked for have been pretty good about caring about employees, at least. I have a neurotypical brother who has worked for all three of the kinds of institutions I listed above, including Wells Fargo. He hated every one of those jobs, but for some reason remains convinced that working for big corps is the goal, and he just has to find the "right" one. I don't get it. He worked for a major oil company for a while. They have a policy of firing a fixed percentage of their lowest performing people every year, so each year he had to essentially re-apply for, and defend his position at his job. That sounds like an absolute nightmare.
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Apr 11, 2023 19:18
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Around where I live, the majority of employers seeking people with physics degrees are weapon manufacturers/military contractors and I simply will not apply to those. A friend of mine told me that makes me seem kind of entitled/stuck up, but eh, I just couldn't live with myself doing that kind of work. 
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Apr 12, 2023 00:25
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TIP posted:autistic integrity all the way Hell yeah, reminds me of a study I read about in which people were asked to choose between options that would benefit everyone, or just themselves. They found that overwhelmingly, Neurotypical people would choose to benefit others when they thought someone else would see their choice, but chose to benefit themselves when they thought no one was looking. Autistic people would choose to benefit the group whether people were watching or not.
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Apr 12, 2023 02:59
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Of course they did. I also recently saw an article about a study saying autistic people feel pain more intensely than normies. The article said "this goes against the prevailing belief that autistics are indifferent to pain" Yeah, the population known for complaining that their clothes hurt and things like that were thought to be indifferent to pain. loving doctors.
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Apr 12, 2023 06:43
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I'm sorry I have no idea how to handle that situation, but it reminded me of a bit I heard on NPR in which one woman said "I have never not regretted telling my employers about my autism." It sucks. I want the people at work to understand my differences, but especially since I work at a school and I see how the autistic students are viewed by the staff, I don't want them ever to find out about my diagnosis. You'd think in organizations seeking diversity it'd be a good thing, but people all have biases and preconceptions, no matter how evolved or 'woke' they are.
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Apr 12, 2023 18:07
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I've seen neurospicy a lot and it has always bugged the poo poo out of me. I didn't know it was an algorithm workaround thing, I just thought people thought they were being cute, and it irrationally annoyed me, like when people say "cool beans"
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May 31, 2023 05:41
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As an autistic person who studied physics in University, I've hated BBT since episode 1. I don't know who could call that 'representation' when the whole basis of the show is "lol, look at these nerds."
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Sep 20, 2023 21:17
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 15:16 |
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I recently rewatched Daria and think she's definitely coded autistic. Loved the show as a kid. It came out my senior year of high school, so I related a lot. Loved it again as an adult, now working in a high school, and seeing the teachers in the show from a totally new perspective.
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Sep 21, 2023 22:36
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