Yes, that is what I interpreted your post as:
"is life actually getting harder for us Aspies?? It seems like the majority of older Aspies and autistic folk on here are married and have a family and job and such, while a lot of younger Aspies on here, myself included, are often struggling to attain the above, and often have a lot issues to deal with that hinder us from getting there"
I was very successful in my career choices because I presented myself as knowledgeable in my chosen fields.
I was raised in a family run machineshop and ran equipment there at a very early age.
We were also taught to weld at very young ages.
As a side interest, I was taught the ways of vehicle performance modifications to increase their power output and reliability.
Early on, I combined the front and rear halves of two vehicles to in effect triple the power output of the base model I began with.
I utilized my machining skills, my metal fabrication skills, design work borrowed from exposure to steel tube fabric covered airframes and my knowledge of performance vehicles to apply it to my work
Oh, and I should probably mention that I was only 14 at the time.
After highschool, I left the family business to explore my other options and landed in the tech sector where I made machined parts for quadrupole mass spectrometers.We did complete units, from the ultra-high vacuum chambering down to the full array of supporting electronics.In their fab shop area, I applied my gas welding skills I learned as a teenager to transition to TIG welding on our assemblies. After a year in their machining facility, I was recruited to work in their class 10 cleanroom to do probe assembly and testing. I also assisted their mechanical engineering staff with design work directly related to our end product. I was only about 21 when I was handed the supervisory position of my department and given a staff of four employees to oversee.
I owe all of that to what I brought to their table from what I learned as a child.
After my stint there, at about age 24, a former supervisor at the 'nuke's machining facility called me and asked me if I wanted to do a startup on a new machineshop where we built specialty sublimation equipment used in vacuum chambers we built to allow prototyping work in the semiconductor industry.
I was given very little to work with, but based on what I brought to their table, that outfit now has a state of the art CNC machining and fab business providing items on a global networking scale.
Four years later, I was recruited from there to work in lower management for the next firm.
Money always talks if you listen to it and like what you hear, so I generally followed the money while getting to put my special interests to work.
When it was all said and done, I had made it to the highest levels of management based on applying what this autie learned as a child.
Just like most auties, I was never really good at the relationship game, but did my best to mimic what I observed others doing to get who they wanted.
A lot of hit and miss to that game, but not necessarily tied to my neurology either, so I'll rule that out.
I finally thought I found the right girl and proposed.
I will never say I got good at it, but I did finally end up married, so something must have been acceptable about my approach.
My career was ended at age 50 the night I was involved in a very traumatic motorcycle accident that placed me on the sidelines of the corporate world forever.
I still have a finger on the pulse of the business world, but mainly out of fascination for something that gave me so much to look forward to.
Starting off at ground zero again, after relearning how to walk talk and read, at about age 54, it was discovered that in addition to my brain injury, I was also on the spectrum.
I lived 54 years under the cloak of autism knowing next to nothing about it, and look at me now, trying to make yet another run at a world of uncertainty.
I won't ever view my differing neurology to be a deciding factor of what I can't accomplish because of what it has proven that it can.
My point being that if you apply something you know about to something you want to achieve, it will generally put you where you want to be unless your skill levels are not up to par with the needs of your employers, then it is back to the drawing board again to find out what works better.
I still honestly believe that perseverance is the key, and that as an individual, the sky is the limit unless you are the one that is holding you back.
This easier for older aspie question shows me signs of you trying to find a reason for why you think younger aspies haven't gained what you consider the instant gratification the older generations never really had.
Trust me, we worked for it on all fronts
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