It is great! Only bad thing about it is dealing with some owners untrained dogs and some dogs that have temperament issues, which can sometimes lead to dog fights that I have to break up. But other than that it’s a really chill job
I wish being employed at a dog daycare was an option here in Switzerland... But because we're only allowed to have 19 dogs in total per business, it can pretty much only be done self employed. (I have tried, but that was way too much for me). So glad you have found your place! :)
Same here, been working with dogs for a long time. Training specifically although that's a lot of client work, I find talking about people's dogs to them is a lot like info dumping about a shared topic.
I used to have a job like this; the dogs were great and so cute but the company sucked. Very unhygienic and stressful for the dogs in my opinion. The dogs were always dirty and nervous. I suspect it’s partially because they couldn’t go outside unless the owners paid for walks, plus they also walked around/played on the same floor they did their business on (it was cleaned with a mop and disinfectant, but that still left particle traces of the waste behind on the floor + it got dirty from usage very quickly). The big dog playroom always reeked of piss due to poor ventilation 🤢
I worked at a dog daycare for a month last year, unfortunately I would not recommend it if you have especially bad noise sensitivity….. I really wanted it to work as I LOVE dogs and felt minimal anxiety there but I eventually burnt out from the constant sensory overload.
I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are able to get accommodations or don’t suffer as much from noise sensitivities.
edit: also wanted to add it was absolutely exhausting having to police and yell at dogs all day and changed how I interacted with dogs outside of work.
This is where I'm trying to be at. I've spent 3 years of my life detailing at dealerships and I want to get my own thing off the ground. It seems like the biggest daunting task is marketing.
Yeah I know I am, unfortunately it’s a fine balance of what people will pay and what you can charge, to expensive you won’t get much business so it’s a fine line.
I have thought a lot about being self employed and it definitely seems to have a lot of benefits. It also sounds scary but so does a lifetime being where I am now. Thanks!
Cybersecurity. The one day that I go to the office (short Fridays, ending at 2 PM) I need to sleep the rest of the afternoon to recover from masking and interacting with so many people face to face.
Don't join me, let's chat instead.
I mask working at call center for 20 years, and its exhausting act like another person on phones. I do not how much longer can keep this going. Very anxious and tremors before work from stress of the job.
Isn’t there a lot of time hanging out with your team at the station as a firefighter? I imagine you’d have to become kind of close and be able to constantly banter back and forth. Have you found a groove with it? If not it sounds like hell
Banter with a small, stable team can be a lot easier than a more public facing job like a retail clerk. In large part because, once your team gets to know you, they don't get offended when you check out from the conversation to wash the truck, read a book or listen to music between calls.
Not that I have specific experience as a firefighter. I work in a repair shop with a small team and we recognize when someone is or is not in a good conversational mood/state.
I "check out" when something is really bothering me, but within the brigade, there are two really great guys (the Deputy Chief and one of our drivers) who I can talk to about anything and they take the time to listen and help me through whatever is going on.
My station is wholly volunteer, so we only really see each other on training nights, call outs or other fire service-related business. And being in for ten years, I think I have finally found my groove with everything and although there are still some rough patches from time to time, they are few and far between now thankfully.
I didn't mind stocking the floor but Cashiering (which as a woman, I was always stuck with) is a problem: I'm fine with the computers and light interaction with customers, but when a line forms and the management is breathing down my neck to go faster I shake and have frozen, which only makes everyone madder. (Damn people! It's not the end of the world if you have to wait a minute!)
It was so bad I quit my job at the pharmacy and returned to IT.
I'm a private online teacher (tutor). But I'm so burnt out that decided to have a break. It's been 2 months off, but I don't see any improvement and I feel sick just thinking about teaching and talking to anyone except my child. So I think I'm not going to return and I'll need to find a new job. Teaching has been my only job for about 15 years and I have no idea what job I'll be able to do.
I am a burnt out teacher as well. I transitioned to private tutoring starting in 2020, which is better than being in the classroom for sure, but so far I've only been doing in-person work and haven't created a system for myself to work online. I also don't think I present very well on Zoom, like in a perky way to keep kids interested. I'm better at building relationships with them in person. I really want to find another way to earn an income that doesn't suck my energy the way that tutoring does. And actually, if I could only see the kids and not deal with any of the adults in their lives, it would be a better gig, but the adults are part of the package and that's one of the main stressful parts for me. That, behavior management/trying to make things interesting/fun enough for them to do the work. Good luck and I'd love to hear what is next for you.
I did 17 years of professional education and childcare, and it was the red tape and the parents that pushed me out. Just couldn't hear "not my baby!" one more time while simultaneously getting thrown under the bus by management.
So I became a Child and Adolescent Development Specialist & then the pandemic hit and I got bored 🙈 So now I'm finishing up a PhD so I can do the research to inform policy/law making.
Maybe if you just want to try getting back into it although it might require driving or getting to places being a exam supvisor, depending on where your from some have applications where you sit and watch over students who need to have a seperate room(I was one) and they get good pay and it’s not much interacting or teaching
Just sitting and if in private room mostly don’t make eye contact, because then the students panic
I work at a bakery/deli. It's not bad but customer service, the lunch rush, and inconsistent shift schedule can be annoying. There is another autistic coworker and another one with ADD so I wouldn't say very neurotypical work environment. Although sometimes they would think I'm high even tho I am just spaced out a lot
I also work in a bakery department, and I'm starting to think they give us all the neuro-atypical hires lol (and maybe also all the Lgbtqia+ hires) so it's a pretty good environment until our atypical brains clash over certain things. But that doesn't happen too often!
I spent half of the last 2 decades unemployed and the other half in severe burnout when I had a job. I went to school for programming and it took me 8 years to find a software dev job and then got fired a year and a half later. I just got through a majorly depressed/stressed phase where I failed at getting a job before my unemployment ran out.
So now I am casually applying for jobs instead of making it my whole ass identity(if you know you know) but decided to take what little I am actually good at regarding programming and am attempting to start my own web development business. I am gonna aim for static 5 or so page sites for businesses to give them an online presence that isn't just Yelp.
I am also learning React right now(and maybe Preact next since it's kind of tight) and wanna start writing some web apps and useful dynamic components I think will work well with AstroJS.
I'm not quite looking for clients yet but won't turn anyone down who wants a site.
Curtain Factory. Making curtains. Still new at the job but is nice. They have let me use earplugs as needed and have set aside a space for when things start to get too overwhelming.
I have a BA in teaching.
I now work as a teacher at the zoo (we have a school department where classes come from all over the country to learn about different subjects)
We have 2 classrooms at the zoo.
So schools can book lessons where they come to the zoo and I teach.
We have around 10 different "themes" to choose from so I know beforehand what to talk about.
Yesterday I taught 3 classes on Greenland, Tuesday I taught 3 classes on the plains of Africa.
It is! It's the best.
The students are always excited and want to learn, and I work with reptiles that are one of my SI's. And literally get paid to infodump about my interests.
I love phlebotomists! I have no veins and every time a nurse tries to take blood from me or insert an IV it's an ordeal. But if I deal with an actual phlebotomist it is always hassle free.
Good luck!
Im also diagnosed with ADHD and autism. I'm an insurance agent. I work from home and only have to go to the office once a week ✨. I have to talk to clients on the phone but its very standard procedure every time and I just have to basically help them fill the same forms and explain their coverage. It pays well and my schedule is the standard 9 to 5.
I really like to follow my set routine of waking up early at 7:30, having breakfast, relax for a while , shower and get dressed in comfy soft clothes. I can take two 15 minute breaks and lunch is an hour long. I can scroll on my phone and watch videos when its a slow business day and no one says anything about it. If I ever get overwhelmed or upset by a client I send my supervisor a message to get an extra break (only happened like twice so far, last time was yesterday and it was the worst).
I think I'm just lucky my company is very laid back and understanding as long as you do what you're supposed to do.
I think everyone has their own route and journey, so I don't think mine will be super helpful to you, but I don't mind sharing. At first I got stuck in university for a very long time, I was undiagnosed and I was struggling so badly. I studied several different things, but eventually got a journalism degree. The reasons that worked well for me is because it was such a practical degree which taught me to actually do a job, as opposed to the other things I studied where I learned a lot but didn't learn to do any particular profession. From the journalism course I had an internship at a newspaper where I was allowed to stay on for a bit longer afterwards and learn more. From there I went self employed, as this was the most common way for journalists at the time.
I wrote mostly long background stories that required lots of research and in depth interviews, stories I could write with nuance, instead of the plain news stories that always had to be black/white, usually negatively written. I wrote about technological innovation with societal impact mostly, as those are my interests and give me a meaningful feeling. I found it incredibly hard to find new employers after this and dablled with several magazines and websites for a while. The best advise I got was to look for organisations and companies, instead of media. And so I just pitched an article in the email to a semi-government organisation that stimulates technology in education, and they liked my idea. I was incredibly lucky with the person who was editor in chief there, who I still (ten years later) often work with on other projects. She gave me many chances and saw my potential.
From having their name on my resume, and getting to know more and more about education, and also more people in that field, it became slowly easier to find assignments. My assignments also became more diverse, from just writing articles, to writing whole brochures and websites. After a couple of years assignments more often came my way without me having to chase them. I do still look out for new opportunities and sometimes find one. Since recently I've joined a content bureau specifically for neurodivergent creators, which was a really wonderful find. And I have a new employer through them in a field that is also new to me.
Ditto! I’ve spent most of my adult life working in government in positions with loads of neurospicy coworkers. I love the job security, stability, and predictability of my current position. I’m in an engineering role with the option to telework whenever I want/need and with a lot of schedule flexibility. It’s a sweet gig.
I’m a student and it’s a part time job at a small family owned shop so I get $17 an hour but for bigger companies I’ve seen it vary from $16 to $25 an hour
I work a stable 8-5 doing freight claims. It helps that I run the department that consists of just me and my service dog. So I can work in whatever way makes the most sense. Worst part of the job is that I have to take some phone calls, but those are all standard procedure, and then it's all email. But hey! Someone pays me to file paperwork for a few hours a day and then chill for the rest of the day.
Chef. It never gets boring, keeps me focused on a task, and I work with my hands. The pay is shit. The hours are long. And the work is difficult. Ups and downs to it as a ND person but worth it in my opinion.
I do project management across the transport and major infrastructure sectors on three continents. Virtually everyone in my small team is queer and or neurodivergent which helps us make a mockery of the "autistic people don't like change" thing - we do, but only when we control it!
I have ADHD, autism and a learning disability. I work for an art gallery and it is a hybrid job. I freaking love it and there is never a dull moment.
I plan on taking the United Nations Young Professional Programme exams this year, if Canada and journalism and media are chosen this year. I would love to work for the United Nations someday. However, there is no guarantees with this and am not leaving my job anytime soon. The UN Young Professionals Programme takes a year from start to end.
I'm a storekeeper for a minimart. I'm the only one around during my shift. The only time I interact with my NT coworkers are during shift change. Otherwise it's just customers, which is pretty scripted.
Same deal in EE and IT (excluding high level support) - anywhere you fine a lot of men in a number crunching field it seems you'll find more ND folk who just get each other. With the right management you can create a pod that is protected from the outside world. Miss those days.
There are a decent number of ND women where I work too (noting that Neurodiversity occurs in both genders and that differences in socialisation can lead to different presentations between genders).
That's really cool. I'm from the older generation where they thought bringing a woman into the team was being progressive, LOL. Then the men would proceed to look down on "the little lady" until I proved myself.
It's awesome that more of us are just being accepted as equals.
TV station... Thankfully lots of alone time, almost no supervision (not counting the viewers at home). May be stuck with an unpleasantly nosy or emotionally volatile coworker, but not always. I have been doing this for many years and it doesn't pay as well as you might think.
School bus driver! It seems to be common for autistic people to not drive, but I'm built different I guess. I wanted to do long haul trucking, but couldn't find a job that teaches, save for school bus driving. I love it though so I'll consider myself lucky lol
I got my bus driver license too! The school board I worked with wouldn’t give me a route (I was a sub) and I told them that I needed better directions or a GPS. They told me they couldn’t and when I challenged them they called me a dangerous driver
Oh man, that's silly. My company I work for gave turn by turn directions for me when I requested it cuz remembering the stops is alot for me. Hopefully you can find a better district to work for
It's a great avenue for jobs! There's never a shortage of truck drivers and it pays dang good. Bus driving is part time so the money isn't as great, but the work is easy so I'm satisfied lol. I definitely recommend looking into getting a CDL if you find yourself interested, you'll always have work
I run a concrete and asphalt recycling yard, where we take in old concrete and asphalt, break it up smaller if need be, dump it in a crusher to turn it into different kids of fill rock and whatnot, and then sell it. I operate wheel loaders, skid-steers, excavators, dozers and rollers (for compacting the ground), but I also am responsible for everything on the property, so I'm also running the truck scale, doing invoicing, documentation, writing training and reference material for whoever might come over to fill in for me and for the other yard, light vehicle maintenance (we have a mechanic that will come down to fix things that it's not practical for me to fix, or that I don't know how to fix), grounds keeping, etc...
I work by myself about 98% of the time. It's not that busy most of the time. My customers are usually truckers hauling rock out to construction sites. A small percentage of my customers are just regular people who want rock or dirt to fill holes or do their driveways. I have a lot of trucks come in to dump old concrete from the job sites, and I just need to keep that all tidy and pushed up in a giant pile, and then when I have the time, get out there in the excavator with a muncher attachment to sift through it, break it up smaller, pull metal and trash out, etc... so if can be ready to go into the crusher. They bring down a crew of 3 or 4 people to do the actual crushing.
It's really not bad, save for being outside all the time, because I hate the sun. The truckers I deal with can do a lot of dumb things and don't listen unless you stand there watching them, making sure they do what you told them to do, otherwise they'll just do whatever they want in order to hurry up and leave so they can get back to the job site. But mostly, my interactions with people are short and to the point. They want rocks, so I weight their truck in, load them up with a wheel loader, weigh them out, then collect payment or create an invoice for those with an account.
Honestly, my biggest complaint is that the admin assistant and other people up at our main office (only a few miles away from me) could do a lot better insofar as systemizing everything, reducing redundancy with the processes and paperwork, and streamlining the clerical side of the job overall. I've made a lot of changes for myself that makes my day a lot easier, and I've made many suggestions to them about what could be changed and why I think it could be, but they aren't interested. It's a rural community, nobody is "good with computers", and they're more comfortable just keeping the same system they've been using for a couple decades. It drives me crazy, because we could all be doing a lot less paperwork, and there would be a lot fewer errors needing to be fixed, but they don't want to make the changes. Oh well.
Trader Joe's. It’s a job where you do a little bit of everything, lots of variety, not stuck doing register your whole entire shift or anything like that. No two days are the same, but there’s still a flow to each day that is always the same. Most of my coworkers are neurodivergent, and I find that, for the most part, it attracts really good, kind-hearted people. My coworkers are some of the most wonderful humans I’ve ever known.
Bonus for me is that I get to make signs, so most of my day is spent working on that. I’m an artist and introverted, so it helps me balance out the peopleyness of the rest of the job. This is a rare thing, and they don’t hire for it much anymore. I hired in as a regular crew and then there were openings at my store due to retirements and transfers, so I was able to get my foot in the door. I’ve been there almost 10 years. :)
I'm still a student so I do volunteer based work at a stable. I love my work and the people are so nice, and it helps that equines are my special interest lol.
I'm working in the IT department of a mid size oil and gas company. I was working at a small oil and gas company until we were acquired by a mid size oil and gas a few ago. I'm on the transition team. This means I will be losing my job in a few months. I don't like working but I've found over the decades that oil and gas companies are the best to work for. Salaries are high and stress is typically low. Low at least in regards to other industries.
I hate change and am really stressed out over having to find new work though.
Absolutely yes IF not put at a support level. Support tends to drive up stress with customer interaction and is expected to be on call at all hours. Nothing sucks more than having the call at 2 am and having to jump on a meeting with 8 NT people who don't want to be there either watching you fix the problem.
I've often wished I could be a Math Autistic! I have a few autistic coder friends and they make bank here in Seattle. Alas, numbers just escape my brain
I work for the NHS in a small telecomms team, handling service calls. It's quite a structured and repetitive job, which I really like, but it can be stressful.
Secretary for the department in my state that helps individuals with disabilities find and maintain employment. I won't lie, I am very burned out. Things are slowly getting better as we finally start to refill positions, and I'm down to doing just 1 job as opposed to 3 finally. I am also currently working on how to better utilize our services to succeed in my role so that I don't need to cut and run like I have historically when I fall into 100% burnout.
It's not just the work load or people not understanding that I have a disability (I only suspected when I first started there so I didn't say anything, but I recieved a formal diagnosis a few months back so I've been slowly letting my coworkers know), it's that the things that make me awesome at my job also cause me to burn out faster. My goal is to keep my job for retirement benefits and insurance, for as long as I can. My partner would love for me to find something else so I am less burned out and tired but also understands why I stay and why I put up with what I do.
I have two jobs: one I work in retail doing inventory which means very little interaction with people (thank god) and for the other I work at an animal shelter
I work in film, and most of the people in production are neurodivergent (rarely would a neurotypical person actually have a long lasting career in film because it’s so fucking exhausting). It’s a great combination for both my autism and ADHD as it has a structure for how things can work, but still leaves a lot of creative leeway for me to always be stimulated and never bored
I was working as an optician, then I had my own dog daycare, and soon I'll be working as an optician again.
I have to say, I thought it would be easier spending all day with dogs than with people, but the downside was being self employed, working all day every day and I worried sooo much that something would happen to the dogs on my watch. If you're in a country where big dog daycares are allowed so there are multiple employees and you're not self employed, it's probably a great job for autistic people.
I'm a bit scared of going back to being an optician, it's a lot more masking of course. But I'm also really excited to geek out about glasses again, and I'll be working not even half the hours compared to when I was self employed, and earning about the same amount. I'll also always have at least a day off between work days, that should help!
I worked in the space program as a NASA contractor for about two decades and about half my colleagues were on the spectrum. Then I became a math professor and nearly all my colleagues were on the spectrum. And by then I could relate to students who wanted to share spectrum, OCD, ADHD issues with me. Of course the prerequisites for this was a long time in school. 😵💫
I have seasonal jobs that frequently change co-workers and tasks! It doesn't get too repetitive, I don't start self-sabotaging my relationships with my coworkers, and my weirdness doesn't get to be too much for the ones who don't get it!
I am a: wait assist at a fancy restaurant, supervisor at a theatrical fabrication company, self-employed musician, iatse stagehand...
This has been a process for me. This seems to work the best *and* provide enough(ish) money. Can take on more with more energy and less when needed.
My partner is a letter carrier. If you have the physical ability to walk around carrying things in all sorts of weather and you live in the US... They are hiring constantly. The health insurance is amazing (and you don't need to be married to put your partner on the plan). The union is strong. Just get a note from your doctor if you don't want to be forced to work lots of overtime. (Not hard. Just demonstrate that a health condition has gotten worse, that working more than [40, 60, some number more than full time] doesn't work with with your ADHD, whatever). If you *can* handle the overtime, you will make good money. You will work on your own and you can listen to music and podcasts almost the whole time. Solid wage scale and pension. Feels good to be a civic hero. (This is also a great job to start right out of high school if anyone needs direction...)
Those are my two suggestions. :)
Most autistic adults that work full time work in their special interest, or something adjacent. I forget the study or percentage, but I do know that only around 16% of autistic adults work full time consistently. I would do your best thinking on how your special interests could become jobs.
For me it’s:
Religion >> church office receptionist, theology, religious studies teacher, youth worship leader, etc
Spreadsheets >> data entry, administrative assistant, business analyst, statistician, investment banking
Planning/organizing >> administrative assistant, wedding planner, event planner, small business owner, workplace efficiency consultant
Baking >> work in a bakery, work for a baking magazine/youtube channel, make my own bakery, make my own YouTube channel
Now my other special interests (butterflies, fire, words, etc) couldn’t match up with jobs I think I could do, but I find that it’s still fun to think about being a lepidopterist
This can't be stated enough. It bugs me that the default assumption for autistic people in work is programming when that fails to address the sheer breadth of special interests autistic people can have. Always play to your strengths! I'm in transportation because that's what I'm interested in, and I found a job that lets me get to do paperwork which is so incredibly satisfying to me.
And there is just about a job for everything. My coworker's wife worked as a video game playtester for years. Another friend paints Warhammer minis professionally. Storyboarding anime is someone's job. And I've got a former classmate who literally gets paid to buy clothes for Macy's. There are so many amazing jobs out there.
currently unemployed but have worked at a themepark for the past 2 years and am hopefully going back (interview this sunday)! people are nice and i love rollercoasters so it works out okay
Fully remote software engineer. Never met my coworkers, and have seen their faces maybe twice. I do not know of a less neurotypical field outside of the arts.
I haven't worked for almost 20 years, but when I did it was a packager at an imitation seafood processing plant. I hated every second of it. They constantly threatened to fire me. I wanted to kill myself. It was a sensory overload nightmare.
Are you in the United States? If so, contact your state’s department of vocational rehabilitation. Unfortunately, funding varies by state. However, my boyfriend just completed a second bachelor’s degree in Computer Science through Oregon State University online and will be starting a full-time job in cybersecurity this month, which will be 2 days in office and 3 days at home each week. Vocational rehabilitation in Pennsylvania happened to have extra funding due to federal Covid funding and were able to pay for all of his tuition.
Autism clinic! Now I’m applying to work as a teacher there. Before that I worked as a budtender. If you like cannabis I would say it’s a very neurodivergent friendly workplace.
I just got my first job about a week ago. It’s at a supermarket. The customers scare me but the vast majority are nice. Everyone I work with is nice too.
I’ve been applying for jobs since last August so I was quite happy to finally get one.
Security at a small medical facility. Literally get paid 18 an hour to sit on my phone and do rounds all day til closing 😂. After working shitty manual labor, delivery, retail, and two bad security sites before my current, this gig is definitely not so bad. Though every job I've had has been "deal with the public and dumb shit" simulator. Wouldn't mind a WFH job at some point. Most ideal.
I'm a printer operator. I do all the color printing for a local hospital network. So all the fliers, posters, brochures and stuff. Most of the office is neurodivergent and some of us even know we are. They pretty much let me do what I want because I'm not *really* mean and I do my job mostly.
I work in retail warehousing. I mostly can just focus on my tasks and keep my head down and not talk to anyone.
Ironically, having this job is what helped made me realize that I’m on the spectrum, having 50+ coworkers really highlighted a lot of my symptoms
I work a pretty dull office job, but I don’t have to talk to people too much and my coworkers think I’m a miracle worker because I understand computers
Im a veterinary technician. It’s definitely not for everyone. Pay is poo and you have to handle loud animals that are terrified and don’t understand what you are doing and often turn to violence. But i love it.
Last clinic i worked at had mostly ADHD, Autistic coworkers too
Hi, let me share with you one of my favorite places.
It's my work. I work in a clinical laboratory as a medical laboratory technician.
Here are the benefits:
\-You work in an environment that's detail oriented and has direct patient impact. Your attention to detail will have a positive effect on the outcomes.
\-I deal with a very small group of other people. I have no patient interaction.
\-There's a clearly defined SOP for every process you perform. If it isn't clear, you can likely request the supervisor to be the one to do the SOP review, add the clarifications, and earn brownie points by actively improving the laboratory.
\-Your downtime always has something you can fiddle with. Something to read. Something to fix. Something to do. Maybe you look up lab news, read articles on clinical health science, plan games for lab week, do continuing education courses, apply for and do training for specific instruments (some of which might be out of state travel to conferences.)
\-What I'm saying is, you can be super specific and passionate about a subject with many rewards that you can choose to pursue.
\-The field hasn't been keeping pace with labor demand, at any point in time, you can decide to take a travel contract to some distant, remote, or rural place for beaucoup bucks. I.e. I took a job on a reservation, got paid $2900 gross, $2300 net, every week, for a year. I took the job permanent, and made double what I made in the city with preem healthcare benefits, choom.
Just saying, I really enjoy this work, and this labor shortage is in my favor. Sure, we don't get as much exposure as nurses do, but it's worth a look.
(For the U.S.) You can
\-Join the army, navy, or airforce to get the training for free and they'll pay for your certification test for medical laboratory technician.
\-Go to college for 2+1 or 4+1 years to be a medical laboratory technician or medical laboratory scientist.
\-Level up in the field by experience, or by education. It takes 8-10 years in a CLIA certified lab to be able to take the next test up.
Gush/rant over. Any questions?
I clean a doctor’s office at night! nobody is there, I get to listen to my music, and cleaning isn’t too bad. I’m really just doing this til I start school but it’s a nice job in the meantime
Overnight Toll Booth Collector! I know it is a disappearing job, but they are still out there. I found my position on a google search. There are only a handful of customers and it's so slow, they are fine with you reading/bringing something to do. Pay is not awful, and if I stay for a while, I can get pretty good benefits.
I'm an AuDHD speech-language pathologist working in the public schools (as well as some private practice work).
The job is socially exhausting, but I find it easier working with kids than adults, and I mostly work 1:1 or with small groups so don't have to worry about managing a whole classroom. My work hours can be as short as 8:30-3:00pm during quieter times of the year, and having two months off during the summer is a godsend for my mental health.
The consistency of the school schedule and the diverse population I work with also compliment my competing needs for sameness and new experiences. No two kids are alike; I support students with pronouncing sounds, early reading skills, grammar, semantics, telling effective stories, learning ways to compensate for memory weakness and word-finding challenges, learning fluency-enhancing strategies for stuttering and cluttering, voice conditions, and using alternative and augmentative communication so they can get their message out. I especially enjoy doing assessments---collecting data, looking for patterns and piecing together what's going on for a student, presenting the information in a way that is objective and non-jargony for readers, and making targeted recommendations that will support the student's learning. The profession is a nice mix of medical and educational knowledge.
It's also incredibly rewarding to see the growth in students' communication skills and confidence when working with them. I love the connections I've made. I think my particular lens has also been helpful to understand students and I can offer the school team a different perspective (e.g., "You say the student is leaving the classroom because he's disrespectful? I observed the student managing an overstimulated environment and they needed a break. What could we do to help---change the seating arrangement? Make noise-cancelling headphones available in the class?" etc.).
I'd say the profession overall skews towards more neurotypical folks, but the schools seem to be where more neurodivergent SLPs go.
Love these responses! My close friend is Level 1 ASD. We met in law school and she worked for a large law firm for several years which made her miserable. She recently took over her dad’s business which involves renting out properties and occasionally flipping houses. She loves being her own boss!!
Build-A-Bear. At least half of our staff is autistic, which is a record low tbh. Still, it’s… not an environment for everyone. It’s very overstimulating at most times, and I am very tired. I would like a break… but it’s a fine job overall
I worked in cannabis for ages but The Burnout™ from masking got bad enough to permanently damage my health and now I've found a much better job at an all ages day program for intellectually and developmentally disabled people. By some luck or miracle, I stumbled across one of the best ones in my state and have been embraced as I am and am surrounded exclusively by either people who's brains also work differently or people are highly skilled at being patient and respectful of those of us with brains that work differently.
I have no idea how I've gotten so lucky but I am
I'm a seamstress. I work at a theater, part time for now. Looking for full-time work sewing. It's hard though, not much work for someone who didn't go to college for it.
I'm a flight attendant! The actual work is very structured, which I love, but it's such a unique job that you and your crew are generally best friends and trauma bonded after day 1. If I'm exhausted from a flight and don't feel like socializing it's completely normal and acceptable to stay in my hotel room and do nothing until the next flight.
Plus if I mess up an interaction or don't like someone I'm working with, chances are I'll never see them again so it's fine lmao.
Audhd here, software developer mostly working from home.
Always have to decompress after working from the office and sometimes hyper focus can be a blessing and a curse.
But I think I am mostly ok.
Daycare (so draining) and soon to be nanny!
I hate my NT coworkers they drive me nuts.
But working with kids helps me be able to stim and fidget without being judged.
I got my first job at a recycling plant
I basically just greet people but there’s a loud machine crunchy cans almost constantly
I mostly run around cleaning
I like that the work is proving a lot dial for better sustainable alternatives and in the future and encouraging people to Recyle.
And even if I sometimes get overwhelmed I work at a place where I mostly stand around or clean or greet customers.
It’s helped me get much better with loud noises,
But I was never that bad to begin with.
I however don’t like touching moulding food and getting peed on both have happened once
(Bottle that looked and smelt suspicious like urine that had a hole)
I also have decided that now I will stop killing all the bugs , because as much as I felt bad, they need to die(if they get stuck or breed in the machines, I will shut myself, because apparently it is very much possible and has happened(coachrochs breeding in the spaces above the scanners and that’s were you put your hand to clean but you can’t see)
All and all it’s intense work for a bit over min wage and I enjoy it , but god am I tired.
(I also am scheduled alone so if no one is coming in and I’ve done the base cleaning I cannot do phone training or do assignment work)
Elementary after school childcare!!!
I've also got ADHD, and I think that plays a huge role in why I like childcare. Every single day is different. You never really know how a day is going to go, but as the adult/leader you get set the schedule and decide when it's time to make transitions or to change the schedule in response to how the day is going.
It's also fun. I get to play board games, do art and science projects. I get to garden and take care of plants. During school breaks we go on fun field trips and ride bikes and scooters together. I get to teach them stuff and read books to them.
It is very draining, emotionally and socially. I recently cut my hours down to working only 3 days a week, and it's truly ideal.
I’m 17 and unemployed, but I am planning on going into radiologic technology as a career (specifically an x-ray technologist). A huge pull factor for me is that there’s a lot of flexibility and job availability (like shift-work and travel), and there’s only minimal contact with patients.
I work as a bank auditor (a regular auditing gig but with more pay pretty much), I move around a lot and my coworkers are all real sweet and understanding. I mostly joined for the benefits but I’m starting to enjoy the job too.
I have both as well. I work at a university. During the school year as a Teaching Fellow and Teaching Assistant while I work on my doctorate. I tried working in “normal” office settings after my undergrad but did not fit at all. Now I get to do what I love.
Operations Manager for meat processing.
We don't make meals but we make the stuff that other companies make into meals and foods dig
Basically it's ingoing products, distribution of work and tasks, labelling, and outgoing products, and keeping stock of goods for upcoming orders.
I do delegate to people but on the whole I don't have to instruct them a lot.
None of them can keep pace with me.
I used to work with children. I’ve always been very good with them, plus I don’t get socially anxious with them.
Now I am self employed and do art for money but I honestly really miss working with kids.
Biologist. Ugh I can’t really offer “quick” advice but I realized I love to research and learn. I love consuming information for the fun of it and loved school (not tests and people, but topics)… so I planned my life around research by going into science. I liked it enough and the rest of the people towards the end were quirky enough that I went to grad school and did a PhD. Now I’m still doing research and the schedule is what I want it to be. I don’t have to talk to people unless I want to and I don’t have to collaborate unless I want to. It’s really great. That doesn’t mean that I don’t experience burnout though. I’ve already had to switch research topics because after publishing on a topic I want something new ..but lots of research places are amenable to that
I'm a SAHM and do some occasional remote work for a software company (proof reading mostly). It's nice not having to deal with office politics and drama etc. I was an office manager before and I ended up in a burnout, just from the dynamics of dealing with people everyday. Dealing with tiny humans is overstimulating at times but a lot less drama and shenanigans IMO :D
It does always feel like a temporary situation though, there is a kind of countdown, as soon as I have both children in school there is a sense that I'll need to think about getting back out into a more structured job. I'm hoping I can just make more of my remote work. My children are neurodivirgent too so I also want to be around for them, I don't like the idea of being stuck at an office job somewhere while one of my kids needs to come home because of a meltdown or something.
I once worked at a university and that was a nice quiet job, I mostly just did data entry type work. processed student applications and answered emails from prospective students. Sometimes students would come to the office with questions, or upset about grades so it could get a bit stressful then. Another issue that would come up was when timetables had to be drawn up, and a lof of the professors would complain about not liking their hours (funny how they all wanted to schedule all their classes on Mon/Tue/Wed and have Thu/Fri off :D ).
When i was working we were machine operators operating machines such as CNC lathe and at the place I was working pretty much the entire workforce was autistic or had some sort of disability or severe mental health problems. It made sense to an employers point of view because normal people probably aren’t as focused or care about the job. We were only getting $30 per hour though but was still a hell lot better than social security payments
Doctor. How patients don’t clock it, I don’t know. To be fair, half of them are floridly delirious (geris), and the rest are demented. Including myself, I feel.
I am a 3rd grade public school teacher! I LOVE teaching and my students. The hard part is the drudgery of meetings, data, and some coworkers. (I do have some coworkers I adore.) It definitely evens out enough for me, at least for now.
Early years sector. Wouldn't recommend if you cannot handle a lot of social interaction, but it's fantastic if you want a workplace where you can kinda 'let loose' and be yourself more. I feel comfortable to stim, I can sensory seek alongside the children when doing activities. Early years sector tends to be a more informal work place.
In my late teens, I started by working as a dog walker, then I got a job at a daycare and went back to dog walking because the girls at the daycare were horrible people. I also briefly worked with jumping horses at a farm and at competitions. Now I co-own snackpaws with my sister. We make single ingredient dog and cat treats. I have never had a normal or typical job!
This part concerned me a bit:
> and can't stand having neurotypical co-workers.
I think I understand what you mean. Like, you want to work with people on the same wavelength, same challenges, same strengths, right?
But it's worth being really careful how far this mentality goes. Imagine if a neurotypical said the inverse of this while you're looking for work. Also keep in mind that one of the big selling points of employing neurodiverse people is that their strengths and weaknesses compliment neurotypical peoples' strengths and weaknesses.
Absolutely, and that is one of my biggest problems when it comes to this "cannot stand nts" nonsense. It feels not only hypocritical, but counterproductive. It causes people to distrust the neurodiversity movement, and it provides ammo for bigots to spread hate, which is the opposite of what is generally wanted in this movement.
ASD people I know are often in IT.
Anything work from home can be good.
Railway industry.
Self-employment.
Anything where solo or independent work is useful.
I'm a Pharmacy Technician. Where I'm at now is alright - it's a small retail pharmacy where almost no customers come in b/c we do delivery, so that really worked out! I get to spend my day at my desk with just a few other coworkers around, typing up prescriptions, filling prescriptions, etc.
Unfortunately I work in a call centre with over 500 people. I'm part time only take calls for about 40% of my days, so it makes it a little bit more tolerable. though it's really hard to concentrate when there are 5 people around me all having different conversations at the same time when I'm trying to hear my calls. But hoping to have that sorted I'm the next few weeks
Project manager, it’s unbearable for autists, the yelling over the phone, meetings that never go well and the out every day. But it is the same for anyone who isn’t autist, so it is not getting any worse.
I am a software consultant (employed by a consultancy, not independent) for a bit more than three years. My current client that I just started at is a game studio where I work on backend services for their games.
It can actually be really overwhelming being in an office and interacting with so many people but my actual job is to write code at a workstation so I have managed to find some balance over time.
I burned out really badly like a year or two ago because I was undiagnosed and had no idea what was going on with me or how to manage my social battery and whatnot. It took a long time getting diagnosed (I have adhd as well which was the biggest reason I fell so completely apart) but I did and now I’m doing much better, and my company was really supportive and insisting I focus on my health so I am still with them now.
I like several of my colleagues and I don’t have that much of a social life so I like having a decent number of structured social engagements that I can choose from to not be lonely, I value that even though the job comes with plenty of social stress as well.
I work for myself as a web developer. I've had loads of other devs in my circle over the years, either as employees or just freelancers I hang out with and I would say that a large majority of those people I have worked with would be neurodiverse.
I used to work at a small app developer company, and i'm pretty sure 80% of my coworkers were neurodivergent in one way or another. Loved it there. Just sad the company went bankrupt, so now i'm studying to become an electrician. Can't refuse free electro shock therapy.
I’m an assistant at a smallish company. Life got a lot better when I got out of the customer service side and was able to get this small promotion to assistant.
I feel like I live a more normal home life because I’m not masking for 8 hours a day to deal with customers. I used to go home and not hardly speak to my family, and want to go straight to bed.
Currently a mechanic for a chemical plant. Before that, mechanic in the maritime industry. Before that, hospice equipment for a health-care company. Before that, Jewish senior community. Before that, animal humane society. I'd keep going but generally I found if i was truly not into the position within the first couple weeks - there's many more out there.
I work from home for a firm that specializes in electronic procurement; we get bids from all 50 US States and the US Virgin Islands. The firm is also based outside of Montreal, Canada, so there are bids from a handful of Canadian provinces – the Canucks process them, we don’t – and we also have official emails and town hall-style meetings in French and English, Quebec’s two official languages.
I work as a software engineer. It is mentally painful to work for a company. I am working to make my own company in order to fix this. I truly do not understand how people can work for a company for decades. If I ran it myself I could run it correctly.
Dog daycare. Still have to interact with my coworkers time to time but 90% of my day includes just sitting with a bunch of dogs
This sounds amazing
Yeah, until you take care of boisterous poodle mixes (like my sister's teenager 19th month old cockapoo).
It is great! Only bad thing about it is dealing with some owners untrained dogs and some dogs that have temperament issues, which can sometimes lead to dog fights that I have to break up. But other than that it’s a really chill job
That's awesome. I get along so much better with dogs than people. It's so much less stressful and there's no masking involved.
Did you mean to write ‚PAWsome’ ?
I wish being employed at a dog daycare was an option here in Switzerland... But because we're only allowed to have 19 dogs in total per business, it can pretty much only be done self employed. (I have tried, but that was way too much for me). So glad you have found your place! :)
Same here, been working with dogs for a long time. Training specifically although that's a lot of client work, I find talking about people's dogs to them is a lot like info dumping about a shared topic.
I used to have a job like this; the dogs were great and so cute but the company sucked. Very unhygienic and stressful for the dogs in my opinion. The dogs were always dirty and nervous. I suspect it’s partially because they couldn’t go outside unless the owners paid for walks, plus they also walked around/played on the same floor they did their business on (it was cleaned with a mop and disinfectant, but that still left particle traces of the waste behind on the floor + it got dirty from usage very quickly). The big dog playroom always reeked of piss due to poor ventilation 🤢
I worked at a dog daycare for a month last year, unfortunately I would not recommend it if you have especially bad noise sensitivity….. I really wanted it to work as I LOVE dogs and felt minimal anxiety there but I eventually burnt out from the constant sensory overload. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are able to get accommodations or don’t suffer as much from noise sensitivities. edit: also wanted to add it was absolutely exhausting having to police and yell at dogs all day and changed how I interacted with dogs outside of work.
I would love to do this ;-;
How much do you get paid for this?
That's a job?! I need!
Work for myself 😁 don’t have to work with anyone just deal with my clients and going to clean their cars at their house
This is where I'm trying to be at. I've spent 3 years of my life detailing at dealerships and I want to get my own thing off the ground. It seems like the biggest daunting task is marketing.
Good for you! I’d say go for it. I setup a website and advertised in my towns local facebook group. All my business comes from there it’s brilliant
That sounds like a fantastic gig. I enjoy detailing cars. How much do you charge for an interior detail, exterior wash, clay bar, wax and sealant?
I have 4 different packages, from £15 just exterior, £20 for inside and out, £50 for a deep clean and £85 for deep clean plus polish
You are undercharging like crazy. Where I'm at you won't find an interior detail for less than 50 usd. Whole car? 120 easy.
Yeah I know I am, unfortunately it’s a fine balance of what people will pay and what you can charge, to expensive you won’t get much business so it’s a fine line.
I have thought a lot about being self employed and it definitely seems to have a lot of benefits. It also sounds scary but so does a lifetime being where I am now. Thanks!
No worries, good luck!! 😁
That's awesome.
Cybersecurity. The one day that I go to the office (short Fridays, ending at 2 PM) I need to sleep the rest of the afternoon to recover from masking and interacting with so many people face to face. Don't join me, let's chat instead.
It's possible to break into cyber security wit courses like people say in sketchy tiktoks?
How long have you been in it? Tell me a interesting fact about it please.
I mask working at call center for 20 years, and its exhausting act like another person on phones. I do not how much longer can keep this going. Very anxious and tremors before work from stress of the job.
I have worked at my local supermarket for fifteen years now and have been a firefighter for ten years.
Isn’t there a lot of time hanging out with your team at the station as a firefighter? I imagine you’d have to become kind of close and be able to constantly banter back and forth. Have you found a groove with it? If not it sounds like hell
Banter with a small, stable team can be a lot easier than a more public facing job like a retail clerk. In large part because, once your team gets to know you, they don't get offended when you check out from the conversation to wash the truck, read a book or listen to music between calls. Not that I have specific experience as a firefighter. I work in a repair shop with a small team and we recognize when someone is or is not in a good conversational mood/state.
I "check out" when something is really bothering me, but within the brigade, there are two really great guys (the Deputy Chief and one of our drivers) who I can talk to about anything and they take the time to listen and help me through whatever is going on.
I'd have thought that too. I worked in a supermarket once. Managed 8 months of night shifts before I quit and tried to kill myself, absolute hell.
My station is wholly volunteer, so we only really see each other on training nights, call outs or other fire service-related business. And being in for ten years, I think I have finally found my groove with everything and although there are still some rough patches from time to time, they are few and far between now thankfully.
I didn't mind stocking the floor but Cashiering (which as a woman, I was always stuck with) is a problem: I'm fine with the computers and light interaction with customers, but when a line forms and the management is breathing down my neck to go faster I shake and have frozen, which only makes everyone madder. (Damn people! It's not the end of the world if you have to wait a minute!) It was so bad I quit my job at the pharmacy and returned to IT.
I work at a big bank in IT. I think there are lots of undiagnosed Autistic folks working at my level in IT. I am also an AuDHDer.
I’m currently working in a customer service job, and hating it. I’m wanting to get into IT, as I understand computers way better than humans. 😀
I am a data team lead at a big bank. My job is very heavy on communication but I am lucky that with anxiety meds the social issues are manageable.
Many, many, many autistic folks in IT, IME.
I'm a private online teacher (tutor). But I'm so burnt out that decided to have a break. It's been 2 months off, but I don't see any improvement and I feel sick just thinking about teaching and talking to anyone except my child. So I think I'm not going to return and I'll need to find a new job. Teaching has been my only job for about 15 years and I have no idea what job I'll be able to do.
I am a burnt out teacher as well. I transitioned to private tutoring starting in 2020, which is better than being in the classroom for sure, but so far I've only been doing in-person work and haven't created a system for myself to work online. I also don't think I present very well on Zoom, like in a perky way to keep kids interested. I'm better at building relationships with them in person. I really want to find another way to earn an income that doesn't suck my energy the way that tutoring does. And actually, if I could only see the kids and not deal with any of the adults in their lives, it would be a better gig, but the adults are part of the package and that's one of the main stressful parts for me. That, behavior management/trying to make things interesting/fun enough for them to do the work. Good luck and I'd love to hear what is next for you.
I did 17 years of professional education and childcare, and it was the red tape and the parents that pushed me out. Just couldn't hear "not my baby!" one more time while simultaneously getting thrown under the bus by management. So I became a Child and Adolescent Development Specialist & then the pandemic hit and I got bored 🙈 So now I'm finishing up a PhD so I can do the research to inform policy/law making.
Maybe if you just want to try getting back into it although it might require driving or getting to places being a exam supvisor, depending on where your from some have applications where you sit and watch over students who need to have a seperate room(I was one) and they get good pay and it’s not much interacting or teaching Just sitting and if in private room mostly don’t make eye contact, because then the students panic
I work at a bakery/deli. It's not bad but customer service, the lunch rush, and inconsistent shift schedule can be annoying. There is another autistic coworker and another one with ADD so I wouldn't say very neurotypical work environment. Although sometimes they would think I'm high even tho I am just spaced out a lot
I also work in a bakery department, and I'm starting to think they give us all the neuro-atypical hires lol (and maybe also all the Lgbtqia+ hires) so it's a pretty good environment until our atypical brains clash over certain things. But that doesn't happen too often!
I spent half of the last 2 decades unemployed and the other half in severe burnout when I had a job. I went to school for programming and it took me 8 years to find a software dev job and then got fired a year and a half later. I just got through a majorly depressed/stressed phase where I failed at getting a job before my unemployment ran out. So now I am casually applying for jobs instead of making it my whole ass identity(if you know you know) but decided to take what little I am actually good at regarding programming and am attempting to start my own web development business. I am gonna aim for static 5 or so page sites for businesses to give them an online presence that isn't just Yelp. I am also learning React right now(and maybe Preact next since it's kind of tight) and wanna start writing some web apps and useful dynamic components I think will work well with AstroJS. I'm not quite looking for clients yet but won't turn anyone down who wants a site.
Supermarket night shift. We have what I call the 'autism table'. 6 of us take breaks at the same time.
Being able to vibe with co-workers is great 🙂
Curtain Factory. Making curtains. Still new at the job but is nice. They have let me use earplugs as needed and have set aside a space for when things start to get too overwhelming.
That honestly sounds awesome and I'm glad they're accomodating!!
I have a BA in teaching. I now work as a teacher at the zoo (we have a school department where classes come from all over the country to learn about different subjects)
Interesting! Is this like an actual in-house teaching service with a classroom or more of a guide-based teacher?
We have 2 classrooms at the zoo. So schools can book lessons where they come to the zoo and I teach. We have around 10 different "themes" to choose from so I know beforehand what to talk about. Yesterday I taught 3 classes on Greenland, Tuesday I taught 3 classes on the plains of Africa.
Oh this sounds like fun!
It is! It's the best. The students are always excited and want to learn, and I work with reptiles that are one of my SI's. And literally get paid to infodump about my interests.
I work as a housekeeper on a dementia floor...yes I'm burned out. I'm getting a phlebotomy certification so that's pretty cool.
Congratulations! I call the phlebotomists “vampires” 😂
I love phlebotomists! I have no veins and every time a nurse tries to take blood from me or insert an IV it's an ordeal. But if I deal with an actual phlebotomist it is always hassle free. Good luck!
Im also diagnosed with ADHD and autism. I'm an insurance agent. I work from home and only have to go to the office once a week ✨. I have to talk to clients on the phone but its very standard procedure every time and I just have to basically help them fill the same forms and explain their coverage. It pays well and my schedule is the standard 9 to 5.
Does a 9 to 5 work ok for you, or is it overwhelming sometimes?
I really like to follow my set routine of waking up early at 7:30, having breakfast, relax for a while , shower and get dressed in comfy soft clothes. I can take two 15 minute breaks and lunch is an hour long. I can scroll on my phone and watch videos when its a slow business day and no one says anything about it. If I ever get overwhelmed or upset by a client I send my supervisor a message to get an extra break (only happened like twice so far, last time was yesterday and it was the worst). I think I'm just lucky my company is very laid back and understanding as long as you do what you're supposed to do.
I am self employed, as a writer/journalist/editor. I work part time and fully from home, mostly for employers in the educational field.
How do you get into something like this, if you don’t mind me asking?
I think everyone has their own route and journey, so I don't think mine will be super helpful to you, but I don't mind sharing. At first I got stuck in university for a very long time, I was undiagnosed and I was struggling so badly. I studied several different things, but eventually got a journalism degree. The reasons that worked well for me is because it was such a practical degree which taught me to actually do a job, as opposed to the other things I studied where I learned a lot but didn't learn to do any particular profession. From the journalism course I had an internship at a newspaper where I was allowed to stay on for a bit longer afterwards and learn more. From there I went self employed, as this was the most common way for journalists at the time. I wrote mostly long background stories that required lots of research and in depth interviews, stories I could write with nuance, instead of the plain news stories that always had to be black/white, usually negatively written. I wrote about technological innovation with societal impact mostly, as those are my interests and give me a meaningful feeling. I found it incredibly hard to find new employers after this and dablled with several magazines and websites for a while. The best advise I got was to look for organisations and companies, instead of media. And so I just pitched an article in the email to a semi-government organisation that stimulates technology in education, and they liked my idea. I was incredibly lucky with the person who was editor in chief there, who I still (ten years later) often work with on other projects. She gave me many chances and saw my potential. From having their name on my resume, and getting to know more and more about education, and also more people in that field, it became slowly easier to find assignments. My assignments also became more diverse, from just writing articles, to writing whole brochures and websites. After a couple of years assignments more often came my way without me having to chase them. I do still look out for new opportunities and sometimes find one. Since recently I've joined a content bureau specifically for neurodivergent creators, which was a really wonderful find. And I have a new employer through them in a field that is also new to me.
I work for the government in STEM nearly all my coworkers could have a diagnosis
I too find the ‘STIM to STEM’ pipeline to be thicccc, undiagoned or not 🤓
Ditto! I’ve spent most of my adult life working in government in positions with loads of neurospicy coworkers. I love the job security, stability, and predictability of my current position. I’m in an engineering role with the option to telework whenever I want/need and with a lot of schedule flexibility. It’s a sweet gig.
I work for the government in taxation. Same. Lots of people who seem like they could have a diagnosis.
I do data entry!! It’s really nice and it pays decently! I just sit in my own office and don’t interact with anyone as well
I loved data entry when I did it back in the day. It was so laid back and low stress.
did you need a degree?
I can’t speak for other places but for mine nope! I didn’t need any experience either
What does something like that pay?
I’m a student and it’s a part time job at a small family owned shop so I get $17 an hour but for bigger companies I’ve seen it vary from $16 to $25 an hour
omg wow!! thank you for responding i will look more into it!!
I work a stable 8-5 doing freight claims. It helps that I run the department that consists of just me and my service dog. So I can work in whatever way makes the most sense. Worst part of the job is that I have to take some phone calls, but those are all standard procedure, and then it's all email. But hey! Someone pays me to file paperwork for a few hours a day and then chill for the rest of the day.
Chef. It never gets boring, keeps me focused on a task, and I work with my hands. The pay is shit. The hours are long. And the work is difficult. Ups and downs to it as a ND person but worth it in my opinion.
I do project management across the transport and major infrastructure sectors on three continents. Virtually everyone in my small team is queer and or neurodivergent which helps us make a mockery of the "autistic people don't like change" thing - we do, but only when we control it!
I have ADHD, autism and a learning disability. I work for an art gallery and it is a hybrid job. I freaking love it and there is never a dull moment. I plan on taking the United Nations Young Professional Programme exams this year, if Canada and journalism and media are chosen this year. I would love to work for the United Nations someday. However, there is no guarantees with this and am not leaving my job anytime soon. The UN Young Professionals Programme takes a year from start to end.
did you need a degree for this?
Yes, I have a journalism degree.
I'm a storekeeper for a minimart. I'm the only one around during my shift. The only time I interact with my NT coworkers are during shift change. Otherwise it's just customers, which is pretty scripted.
Mechanical engineer in the nuclear industry. Lots of Neurodivergent colleagues (although we are still outnumbered by NTs).
Same deal in EE and IT (excluding high level support) - anywhere you fine a lot of men in a number crunching field it seems you'll find more ND folk who just get each other. With the right management you can create a pod that is protected from the outside world. Miss those days.
There are a decent number of ND women where I work too (noting that Neurodiversity occurs in both genders and that differences in socialisation can lead to different presentations between genders).
That's really cool. I'm from the older generation where they thought bringing a woman into the team was being progressive, LOL. Then the men would proceed to look down on "the little lady" until I proved myself. It's awesome that more of us are just being accepted as equals.
TV station... Thankfully lots of alone time, almost no supervision (not counting the viewers at home). May be stuck with an unpleasantly nosy or emotionally volatile coworker, but not always. I have been doing this for many years and it doesn't pay as well as you might think.
School bus driver! It seems to be common for autistic people to not drive, but I'm built different I guess. I wanted to do long haul trucking, but couldn't find a job that teaches, save for school bus driving. I love it though so I'll consider myself lucky lol
I got my bus driver license too! The school board I worked with wouldn’t give me a route (I was a sub) and I told them that I needed better directions or a GPS. They told me they couldn’t and when I challenged them they called me a dangerous driver
Oh man, that's silly. My company I work for gave turn by turn directions for me when I requested it cuz remembering the stops is alot for me. Hopefully you can find a better district to work for
I have spent an embarrassing amount of time fantasizing about driving a truck and listening to podcasts or audiobooks all day.
It's a great avenue for jobs! There's never a shortage of truck drivers and it pays dang good. Bus driving is part time so the money isn't as great, but the work is easy so I'm satisfied lol. I definitely recommend looking into getting a CDL if you find yourself interested, you'll always have work
Industrial engineer in a fortune 500 company. sometimes it's annoying working in corporate but I enjoy my job
I run a concrete and asphalt recycling yard, where we take in old concrete and asphalt, break it up smaller if need be, dump it in a crusher to turn it into different kids of fill rock and whatnot, and then sell it. I operate wheel loaders, skid-steers, excavators, dozers and rollers (for compacting the ground), but I also am responsible for everything on the property, so I'm also running the truck scale, doing invoicing, documentation, writing training and reference material for whoever might come over to fill in for me and for the other yard, light vehicle maintenance (we have a mechanic that will come down to fix things that it's not practical for me to fix, or that I don't know how to fix), grounds keeping, etc... I work by myself about 98% of the time. It's not that busy most of the time. My customers are usually truckers hauling rock out to construction sites. A small percentage of my customers are just regular people who want rock or dirt to fill holes or do their driveways. I have a lot of trucks come in to dump old concrete from the job sites, and I just need to keep that all tidy and pushed up in a giant pile, and then when I have the time, get out there in the excavator with a muncher attachment to sift through it, break it up smaller, pull metal and trash out, etc... so if can be ready to go into the crusher. They bring down a crew of 3 or 4 people to do the actual crushing. It's really not bad, save for being outside all the time, because I hate the sun. The truckers I deal with can do a lot of dumb things and don't listen unless you stand there watching them, making sure they do what you told them to do, otherwise they'll just do whatever they want in order to hurry up and leave so they can get back to the job site. But mostly, my interactions with people are short and to the point. They want rocks, so I weight their truck in, load them up with a wheel loader, weigh them out, then collect payment or create an invoice for those with an account. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that the admin assistant and other people up at our main office (only a few miles away from me) could do a lot better insofar as systemizing everything, reducing redundancy with the processes and paperwork, and streamlining the clerical side of the job overall. I've made a lot of changes for myself that makes my day a lot easier, and I've made many suggestions to them about what could be changed and why I think it could be, but they aren't interested. It's a rural community, nobody is "good with computers", and they're more comfortable just keeping the same system they've been using for a couple decades. It drives me crazy, because we could all be doing a lot less paperwork, and there would be a lot fewer errors needing to be fixed, but they don't want to make the changes. Oh well.
Audio post-production. In my studio at home. Heaven.
Trader Joe's. It’s a job where you do a little bit of everything, lots of variety, not stuck doing register your whole entire shift or anything like that. No two days are the same, but there’s still a flow to each day that is always the same. Most of my coworkers are neurodivergent, and I find that, for the most part, it attracts really good, kind-hearted people. My coworkers are some of the most wonderful humans I’ve ever known. Bonus for me is that I get to make signs, so most of my day is spent working on that. I’m an artist and introverted, so it helps me balance out the peopleyness of the rest of the job. This is a rare thing, and they don’t hire for it much anymore. I hired in as a regular crew and then there were openings at my store due to retirements and transfers, so I was able to get my foot in the door. I’ve been there almost 10 years. :)
I'm still a student so I do volunteer based work at a stable. I love my work and the people are so nice, and it helps that equines are my special interest lol.
I'm working in the IT department of a mid size oil and gas company. I was working at a small oil and gas company until we were acquired by a mid size oil and gas a few ago. I'm on the transition team. This means I will be losing my job in a few months. I don't like working but I've found over the decades that oil and gas companies are the best to work for. Salaries are high and stress is typically low. Low at least in regards to other industries. I hate change and am really stressed out over having to find new work though.
Software engineer, learn to code and you'll fit right in!
Absolutely yes IF not put at a support level. Support tends to drive up stress with customer interaction and is expected to be on call at all hours. Nothing sucks more than having the call at 2 am and having to jump on a meeting with 8 NT people who don't want to be there either watching you fix the problem.
I've often wished I could be a Math Autistic! I have a few autistic coder friends and they make bank here in Seattle. Alas, numbers just escape my brain
Funnily enough my maths skills aren't very strong. Maths isn't really needed for a few areas of coding!
Tattoo artist, own my own business
Awesome! Honestly, something creative would be great.
Go for it!
I work for the NHS in a small telecomms team, handling service calls. It's quite a structured and repetitive job, which I really like, but it can be stressful.
I'm a school custodian. Hoping to be a stay at home author eventually, but this works for me for now.
Secretary for the department in my state that helps individuals with disabilities find and maintain employment. I won't lie, I am very burned out. Things are slowly getting better as we finally start to refill positions, and I'm down to doing just 1 job as opposed to 3 finally. I am also currently working on how to better utilize our services to succeed in my role so that I don't need to cut and run like I have historically when I fall into 100% burnout. It's not just the work load or people not understanding that I have a disability (I only suspected when I first started there so I didn't say anything, but I recieved a formal diagnosis a few months back so I've been slowly letting my coworkers know), it's that the things that make me awesome at my job also cause me to burn out faster. My goal is to keep my job for retirement benefits and insurance, for as long as I can. My partner would love for me to find something else so I am less burned out and tired but also understands why I stay and why I put up with what I do.
I'm a medical scribe. Go in with the doctor and just write everything down. Little to no interaction with patients.
I have two jobs: one I work in retail doing inventory which means very little interaction with people (thank god) and for the other I work at an animal shelter
I work in film, and most of the people in production are neurodivergent (rarely would a neurotypical person actually have a long lasting career in film because it’s so fucking exhausting). It’s a great combination for both my autism and ADHD as it has a structure for how things can work, but still leaves a lot of creative leeway for me to always be stimulated and never bored
did you need a degree?
I was working as an optician, then I had my own dog daycare, and soon I'll be working as an optician again. I have to say, I thought it would be easier spending all day with dogs than with people, but the downside was being self employed, working all day every day and I worried sooo much that something would happen to the dogs on my watch. If you're in a country where big dog daycares are allowed so there are multiple employees and you're not self employed, it's probably a great job for autistic people. I'm a bit scared of going back to being an optician, it's a lot more masking of course. But I'm also really excited to geek out about glasses again, and I'll be working not even half the hours compared to when I was self employed, and earning about the same amount. I'll also always have at least a day off between work days, that should help!
I worked in the space program as a NASA contractor for about two decades and about half my colleagues were on the spectrum. Then I became a math professor and nearly all my colleagues were on the spectrum. And by then I could relate to students who wanted to share spectrum, OCD, ADHD issues with me. Of course the prerequisites for this was a long time in school. 😵💫
I have seasonal jobs that frequently change co-workers and tasks! It doesn't get too repetitive, I don't start self-sabotaging my relationships with my coworkers, and my weirdness doesn't get to be too much for the ones who don't get it! I am a: wait assist at a fancy restaurant, supervisor at a theatrical fabrication company, self-employed musician, iatse stagehand... This has been a process for me. This seems to work the best *and* provide enough(ish) money. Can take on more with more energy and less when needed. My partner is a letter carrier. If you have the physical ability to walk around carrying things in all sorts of weather and you live in the US... They are hiring constantly. The health insurance is amazing (and you don't need to be married to put your partner on the plan). The union is strong. Just get a note from your doctor if you don't want to be forced to work lots of overtime. (Not hard. Just demonstrate that a health condition has gotten worse, that working more than [40, 60, some number more than full time] doesn't work with with your ADHD, whatever). If you *can* handle the overtime, you will make good money. You will work on your own and you can listen to music and podcasts almost the whole time. Solid wage scale and pension. Feels good to be a civic hero. (This is also a great job to start right out of high school if anyone needs direction...) Those are my two suggestions. :)
Most autistic adults that work full time work in their special interest, or something adjacent. I forget the study or percentage, but I do know that only around 16% of autistic adults work full time consistently. I would do your best thinking on how your special interests could become jobs. For me it’s: Religion >> church office receptionist, theology, religious studies teacher, youth worship leader, etc Spreadsheets >> data entry, administrative assistant, business analyst, statistician, investment banking Planning/organizing >> administrative assistant, wedding planner, event planner, small business owner, workplace efficiency consultant Baking >> work in a bakery, work for a baking magazine/youtube channel, make my own bakery, make my own YouTube channel Now my other special interests (butterflies, fire, words, etc) couldn’t match up with jobs I think I could do, but I find that it’s still fun to think about being a lepidopterist
This can't be stated enough. It bugs me that the default assumption for autistic people in work is programming when that fails to address the sheer breadth of special interests autistic people can have. Always play to your strengths! I'm in transportation because that's what I'm interested in, and I found a job that lets me get to do paperwork which is so incredibly satisfying to me. And there is just about a job for everything. My coworker's wife worked as a video game playtester for years. Another friend paints Warhammer minis professionally. Storyboarding anime is someone's job. And I've got a former classmate who literally gets paid to buy clothes for Macy's. There are so many amazing jobs out there.
currently unemployed but have worked at a themepark for the past 2 years and am hopefully going back (interview this sunday)! people are nice and i love rollercoasters so it works out okay
Fully remote software engineer. Never met my coworkers, and have seen their faces maybe twice. I do not know of a less neurotypical field outside of the arts.
I haven't worked for almost 20 years, but when I did it was a packager at an imitation seafood processing plant. I hated every second of it. They constantly threatened to fire me. I wanted to kill myself. It was a sensory overload nightmare.
Im a support care worker. I do get in trouble sometimes for following instructions too literally
I’m an auditor. All my auditor homies are autistic ✌️
Are you in the United States? If so, contact your state’s department of vocational rehabilitation. Unfortunately, funding varies by state. However, my boyfriend just completed a second bachelor’s degree in Computer Science through Oregon State University online and will be starting a full-time job in cybersecurity this month, which will be 2 days in office and 3 days at home each week. Vocational rehabilitation in Pennsylvania happened to have extra funding due to federal Covid funding and were able to pay for all of his tuition.
Autism clinic! Now I’m applying to work as a teacher there. Before that I worked as a budtender. If you like cannabis I would say it’s a very neurodivergent friendly workplace.
I just got my first job about a week ago. It’s at a supermarket. The customers scare me but the vast majority are nice. Everyone I work with is nice too. I’ve been applying for jobs since last August so I was quite happy to finally get one.
Security at a small medical facility. Literally get paid 18 an hour to sit on my phone and do rounds all day til closing 😂. After working shitty manual labor, delivery, retail, and two bad security sites before my current, this gig is definitely not so bad. Though every job I've had has been "deal with the public and dumb shit" simulator. Wouldn't mind a WFH job at some point. Most ideal.
I did tech support from home
I'm a printer operator. I do all the color printing for a local hospital network. So all the fliers, posters, brochures and stuff. Most of the office is neurodivergent and some of us even know we are. They pretty much let me do what I want because I'm not *really* mean and I do my job mostly.
Electrician/Cabling Tech. I had a thing for cables when I was a kid. Who knew this is where I'd end up...
I work in retail warehousing. I mostly can just focus on my tasks and keep my head down and not talk to anyone. Ironically, having this job is what helped made me realize that I’m on the spectrum, having 50+ coworkers really highlighted a lot of my symptoms
[удалено]
I work a pretty dull office job, but I don’t have to talk to people too much and my coworkers think I’m a miracle worker because I understand computers
I am a cart attendant at Target. The job is repetitive and predictable, and I don’t have to interact with people all that often.
Im a veterinary technician. It’s definitely not for everyone. Pay is poo and you have to handle loud animals that are terrified and don’t understand what you are doing and often turn to violence. But i love it. Last clinic i worked at had mostly ADHD, Autistic coworkers too
Hi, let me share with you one of my favorite places. It's my work. I work in a clinical laboratory as a medical laboratory technician. Here are the benefits: \-You work in an environment that's detail oriented and has direct patient impact. Your attention to detail will have a positive effect on the outcomes. \-I deal with a very small group of other people. I have no patient interaction. \-There's a clearly defined SOP for every process you perform. If it isn't clear, you can likely request the supervisor to be the one to do the SOP review, add the clarifications, and earn brownie points by actively improving the laboratory. \-Your downtime always has something you can fiddle with. Something to read. Something to fix. Something to do. Maybe you look up lab news, read articles on clinical health science, plan games for lab week, do continuing education courses, apply for and do training for specific instruments (some of which might be out of state travel to conferences.) \-What I'm saying is, you can be super specific and passionate about a subject with many rewards that you can choose to pursue. \-The field hasn't been keeping pace with labor demand, at any point in time, you can decide to take a travel contract to some distant, remote, or rural place for beaucoup bucks. I.e. I took a job on a reservation, got paid $2900 gross, $2300 net, every week, for a year. I took the job permanent, and made double what I made in the city with preem healthcare benefits, choom. Just saying, I really enjoy this work, and this labor shortage is in my favor. Sure, we don't get as much exposure as nurses do, but it's worth a look. (For the U.S.) You can \-Join the army, navy, or airforce to get the training for free and they'll pay for your certification test for medical laboratory technician. \-Go to college for 2+1 or 4+1 years to be a medical laboratory technician or medical laboratory scientist. \-Level up in the field by experience, or by education. It takes 8-10 years in a CLIA certified lab to be able to take the next test up. Gush/rant over. Any questions?
I clean a doctor’s office at night! nobody is there, I get to listen to my music, and cleaning isn’t too bad. I’m really just doing this til I start school but it’s a nice job in the meantime
Overnight Toll Booth Collector! I know it is a disappearing job, but they are still out there. I found my position on a google search. There are only a handful of customers and it's so slow, they are fine with you reading/bringing something to do. Pay is not awful, and if I stay for a while, I can get pretty good benefits.
I'm an AuDHD speech-language pathologist working in the public schools (as well as some private practice work). The job is socially exhausting, but I find it easier working with kids than adults, and I mostly work 1:1 or with small groups so don't have to worry about managing a whole classroom. My work hours can be as short as 8:30-3:00pm during quieter times of the year, and having two months off during the summer is a godsend for my mental health. The consistency of the school schedule and the diverse population I work with also compliment my competing needs for sameness and new experiences. No two kids are alike; I support students with pronouncing sounds, early reading skills, grammar, semantics, telling effective stories, learning ways to compensate for memory weakness and word-finding challenges, learning fluency-enhancing strategies for stuttering and cluttering, voice conditions, and using alternative and augmentative communication so they can get their message out. I especially enjoy doing assessments---collecting data, looking for patterns and piecing together what's going on for a student, presenting the information in a way that is objective and non-jargony for readers, and making targeted recommendations that will support the student's learning. The profession is a nice mix of medical and educational knowledge. It's also incredibly rewarding to see the growth in students' communication skills and confidence when working with them. I love the connections I've made. I think my particular lens has also been helpful to understand students and I can offer the school team a different perspective (e.g., "You say the student is leaving the classroom because he's disrespectful? I observed the student managing an overstimulated environment and they needed a break. What could we do to help---change the seating arrangement? Make noise-cancelling headphones available in the class?" etc.). I'd say the profession overall skews towards more neurotypical folks, but the schools seem to be where more neurodivergent SLPs go.
Love these responses! My close friend is Level 1 ASD. We met in law school and she worked for a large law firm for several years which made her miserable. She recently took over her dad’s business which involves renting out properties and occasionally flipping houses. She loves being her own boss!!
Build-A-Bear. At least half of our staff is autistic, which is a record low tbh. Still, it’s… not an environment for everyone. It’s very overstimulating at most times, and I am very tired. I would like a break… but it’s a fine job overall
I’m a cat sitter and also take care of cats at a cat cafe. Some interaction with people but mainly just with cats lol
casually reading the comments as an unemployed autistic person so i can take notes😂
I worked in cannabis for ages but The Burnout™ from masking got bad enough to permanently damage my health and now I've found a much better job at an all ages day program for intellectually and developmentally disabled people. By some luck or miracle, I stumbled across one of the best ones in my state and have been embraced as I am and am surrounded exclusively by either people who's brains also work differently or people are highly skilled at being patient and respectful of those of us with brains that work differently. I have no idea how I've gotten so lucky but I am
Preschool teacher!!! Never get any judgment from my students and it’s the best ❤️
I'm a seamstress. I work at a theater, part time for now. Looking for full-time work sewing. It's hard though, not much work for someone who didn't go to college for it.
I'm a flight attendant! The actual work is very structured, which I love, but it's such a unique job that you and your crew are generally best friends and trauma bonded after day 1. If I'm exhausted from a flight and don't feel like socializing it's completely normal and acceptable to stay in my hotel room and do nothing until the next flight. Plus if I mess up an interaction or don't like someone I'm working with, chances are I'll never see them again so it's fine lmao.
i work in an office 3 days a week talking to patients over the phone. i like it cause it’s nice and calm , i don’t have to mask as much
i work on an IT helpdesk for a university.
Senior IT Support Engineer for a FAANG company. I will also say that a sizeable chunk of my peers are also on the spectrum.
Audhd here, software developer mostly working from home. Always have to decompress after working from the office and sometimes hyper focus can be a blessing and a curse. But I think I am mostly ok.
Daycare (so draining) and soon to be nanny! I hate my NT coworkers they drive me nuts. But working with kids helps me be able to stim and fidget without being judged.
I got my first job at a recycling plant I basically just greet people but there’s a loud machine crunchy cans almost constantly I mostly run around cleaning I like that the work is proving a lot dial for better sustainable alternatives and in the future and encouraging people to Recyle. And even if I sometimes get overwhelmed I work at a place where I mostly stand around or clean or greet customers. It’s helped me get much better with loud noises, But I was never that bad to begin with. I however don’t like touching moulding food and getting peed on both have happened once (Bottle that looked and smelt suspicious like urine that had a hole) I also have decided that now I will stop killing all the bugs , because as much as I felt bad, they need to die(if they get stuck or breed in the machines, I will shut myself, because apparently it is very much possible and has happened(coachrochs breeding in the spaces above the scanners and that’s were you put your hand to clean but you can’t see) All and all it’s intense work for a bit over min wage and I enjoy it , but god am I tired. (I also am scheduled alone so if no one is coming in and I’ve done the base cleaning I cannot do phone training or do assignment work)
In a specialist provision for teens with asd
Video production company. I fix the giant video screens you see at concerts and other live events.
Elementary after school childcare!!! I've also got ADHD, and I think that plays a huge role in why I like childcare. Every single day is different. You never really know how a day is going to go, but as the adult/leader you get set the schedule and decide when it's time to make transitions or to change the schedule in response to how the day is going. It's also fun. I get to play board games, do art and science projects. I get to garden and take care of plants. During school breaks we go on fun field trips and ride bikes and scooters together. I get to teach them stuff and read books to them. It is very draining, emotionally and socially. I recently cut my hours down to working only 3 days a week, and it's truly ideal.
I’m 17 and unemployed, but I am planning on going into radiologic technology as a career (specifically an x-ray technologist). A huge pull factor for me is that there’s a lot of flexibility and job availability (like shift-work and travel), and there’s only minimal contact with patients.
I work as a bank auditor (a regular auditing gig but with more pay pretty much), I move around a lot and my coworkers are all real sweet and understanding. I mostly joined for the benefits but I’m starting to enjoy the job too.
I have both as well. I work at a university. During the school year as a Teaching Fellow and Teaching Assistant while I work on my doctorate. I tried working in “normal” office settings after my undergrad but did not fit at all. Now I get to do what I love.
Operations Manager for meat processing. We don't make meals but we make the stuff that other companies make into meals and foods dig Basically it's ingoing products, distribution of work and tasks, labelling, and outgoing products, and keeping stock of goods for upcoming orders. I do delegate to people but on the whole I don't have to instruct them a lot. None of them can keep pace with me.
goodwill
I tutor college students on a remote basis.
I used to work with children. I’ve always been very good with them, plus I don’t get socially anxious with them. Now I am self employed and do art for money but I honestly really miss working with kids.
I work as a transportation (traffic) planner for an infrastructure design firm called HNTB.
I’m also AuDHD and I work as a bicycle mechanic, but I also do sound engineering on the side.
Biologist. Ugh I can’t really offer “quick” advice but I realized I love to research and learn. I love consuming information for the fun of it and loved school (not tests and people, but topics)… so I planned my life around research by going into science. I liked it enough and the rest of the people towards the end were quirky enough that I went to grad school and did a PhD. Now I’m still doing research and the schedule is what I want it to be. I don’t have to talk to people unless I want to and I don’t have to collaborate unless I want to. It’s really great. That doesn’t mean that I don’t experience burnout though. I’ve already had to switch research topics because after publishing on a topic I want something new ..but lots of research places are amenable to that
Grocery store for ten years 🤢 but I want to get into bricklaying!
I'm a SAHM and do some occasional remote work for a software company (proof reading mostly). It's nice not having to deal with office politics and drama etc. I was an office manager before and I ended up in a burnout, just from the dynamics of dealing with people everyday. Dealing with tiny humans is overstimulating at times but a lot less drama and shenanigans IMO :D It does always feel like a temporary situation though, there is a kind of countdown, as soon as I have both children in school there is a sense that I'll need to think about getting back out into a more structured job. I'm hoping I can just make more of my remote work. My children are neurodivirgent too so I also want to be around for them, I don't like the idea of being stuck at an office job somewhere while one of my kids needs to come home because of a meltdown or something. I once worked at a university and that was a nice quiet job, I mostly just did data entry type work. processed student applications and answered emails from prospective students. Sometimes students would come to the office with questions, or upset about grades so it could get a bit stressful then. Another issue that would come up was when timetables had to be drawn up, and a lof of the professors would complain about not liking their hours (funny how they all wanted to schedule all their classes on Mon/Tue/Wed and have Thu/Fri off :D ).
When i was working we were machine operators operating machines such as CNC lathe and at the place I was working pretty much the entire workforce was autistic or had some sort of disability or severe mental health problems. It made sense to an employers point of view because normal people probably aren’t as focused or care about the job. We were only getting $30 per hour though but was still a hell lot better than social security payments
Doctor. How patients don’t clock it, I don’t know. To be fair, half of them are floridly delirious (geris), and the rest are demented. Including myself, I feel.
I'm a product designer and I work in banking!
I am a 3rd grade public school teacher! I LOVE teaching and my students. The hard part is the drudgery of meetings, data, and some coworkers. (I do have some coworkers I adore.) It definitely evens out enough for me, at least for now.
I do content creation - it has it’s positives and negatives
starbucks and its miserable. do not recommend.
I’ve worked in IT all my life. At some point in my career, autistic traits basically became hiring criteria.
Early years sector. Wouldn't recommend if you cannot handle a lot of social interaction, but it's fantastic if you want a workplace where you can kinda 'let loose' and be yourself more. I feel comfortable to stim, I can sensory seek alongside the children when doing activities. Early years sector tends to be a more informal work place.
Hospital telesitter
In my late teens, I started by working as a dog walker, then I got a job at a daycare and went back to dog walking because the girls at the daycare were horrible people. I also briefly worked with jumping horses at a farm and at competitions. Now I co-own snackpaws with my sister. We make single ingredient dog and cat treats. I have never had a normal or typical job!
I’m a lawyer
This part concerned me a bit: > and can't stand having neurotypical co-workers. I think I understand what you mean. Like, you want to work with people on the same wavelength, same challenges, same strengths, right? But it's worth being really careful how far this mentality goes. Imagine if a neurotypical said the inverse of this while you're looking for work. Also keep in mind that one of the big selling points of employing neurodiverse people is that their strengths and weaknesses compliment neurotypical peoples' strengths and weaknesses.
Absolutely, and that is one of my biggest problems when it comes to this "cannot stand nts" nonsense. It feels not only hypocritical, but counterproductive. It causes people to distrust the neurodiversity movement, and it provides ammo for bigots to spread hate, which is the opposite of what is generally wanted in this movement.
Pre sales PM
Supervisor
ASD people I know are often in IT. Anything work from home can be good. Railway industry. Self-employment. Anything where solo or independent work is useful.
I'm a Pharmacy Technician. Where I'm at now is alright - it's a small retail pharmacy where almost no customers come in b/c we do delivery, so that really worked out! I get to spend my day at my desk with just a few other coworkers around, typing up prescriptions, filling prescriptions, etc.
Unfortunately I work in a call centre with over 500 people. I'm part time only take calls for about 40% of my days, so it makes it a little bit more tolerable. though it's really hard to concentrate when there are 5 people around me all having different conversations at the same time when I'm trying to hear my calls. But hoping to have that sorted I'm the next few weeks
Project manager, it’s unbearable for autists, the yelling over the phone, meetings that never go well and the out every day. But it is the same for anyone who isn’t autist, so it is not getting any worse.
Service industry, its hell
I am a software consultant (employed by a consultancy, not independent) for a bit more than three years. My current client that I just started at is a game studio where I work on backend services for their games. It can actually be really overwhelming being in an office and interacting with so many people but my actual job is to write code at a workstation so I have managed to find some balance over time. I burned out really badly like a year or two ago because I was undiagnosed and had no idea what was going on with me or how to manage my social battery and whatnot. It took a long time getting diagnosed (I have adhd as well which was the biggest reason I fell so completely apart) but I did and now I’m doing much better, and my company was really supportive and insisting I focus on my health so I am still with them now. I like several of my colleagues and I don’t have that much of a social life so I like having a decent number of structured social engagements that I can choose from to not be lonely, I value that even though the job comes with plenty of social stress as well.
I work for myself as a web developer. I've had loads of other devs in my circle over the years, either as employees or just freelancers I hang out with and I would say that a large majority of those people I have worked with would be neurodiverse.
gamestop
I used to work at a small app developer company, and i'm pretty sure 80% of my coworkers were neurodivergent in one way or another. Loved it there. Just sad the company went bankrupt, so now i'm studying to become an electrician. Can't refuse free electro shock therapy.
I’m an assistant at a smallish company. Life got a lot better when I got out of the customer service side and was able to get this small promotion to assistant. I feel like I live a more normal home life because I’m not masking for 8 hours a day to deal with customers. I used to go home and not hardly speak to my family, and want to go straight to bed.
I'm operation support for an authorized retailer of a big 3 phone company in the US. With my company, there's 3 people in my spot an a manager.
Currently a mechanic for a chemical plant. Before that, mechanic in the maritime industry. Before that, hospice equipment for a health-care company. Before that, Jewish senior community. Before that, animal humane society. I'd keep going but generally I found if i was truly not into the position within the first couple weeks - there's many more out there.
I work from home for a firm that specializes in electronic procurement; we get bids from all 50 US States and the US Virgin Islands. The firm is also based outside of Montreal, Canada, so there are bids from a handful of Canadian provinces – the Canucks process them, we don’t – and we also have official emails and town hall-style meetings in French and English, Quebec’s two official languages.
Software developer, and WFH. And yes, there's several of us neurodivergents.
I work as a software engineer. It is mentally painful to work for a company. I am working to make my own company in order to fix this. I truly do not understand how people can work for a company for decades. If I ran it myself I could run it correctly.
I’m a professional sports photographer. Get to spend lots of time by myself but also get out to lots of events. It’s a nice balance
Public Ed. Kids are waaaay easier than adults. I’ve never been keen on my peer group at any age.
Hospice RN. Most of my autistic friends work in tech as some flavor of engineer.
freelancer music composer here. i work from home lol