What have you studied?

[Canismajoris]

The profitable part of pharmaceuticals is Big Pharma.
The drug companies themselves. Always inventing some new medicine with a list of side effects that
if you can survive them you might be helped. Always getting approval from the FDA through lobbying.

What I did would be middle class profitable.
I filled scripts, packaged medicine in blister packs, worked in the sterile room packing medical equipment
where you had to dress up in what looked like a space suit.
I also had delivery routes to institutions such as jails and nursing homes.
Bring in the new orders, take back the old unused orders so I had a panel van for that.
I also did order checks and placement of the orders into the correct routes.
So I had various duties. All of which did not involve working with the public.
It was a large wholesale company. Partly owned by Mauch Care pharmacies and
the sterile packing part was for Johnson and Johnson.

I liked it since I did not have to deal with the public and much of the work was on my own in my
space of the building. It could be very tiring on the weekends I was on call though.
Might not get any sleep for two days depending on how many emergency orders were needed.

That actually sounded a pretty nice job! (Not the emergency/weekend part though!... It is next to impossible for me to change daily rythm.)

 

[tducey]

I have a 2 year office administration course.

 

[Baeraad]

I have a college diploma in computer science. It takes two years of full-time study to earn the credits for that. I spent... eight years in college. While admittedly ending up with more credits than were strictly needed for the diploma, since I was originally shooting for a degree, but still... it turns out, I was a lot better at going to classes and doing homework in high school than at the sort of independent studying you have to do in college. And I could certainly not see widely enough to even come up with an idea for a thesis project, much less carry it out basically on my own. I just really, really need someone to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing.

 

[Bikutoso]

Finished two of three years of upper secondary school .
Recently lost all interest in working with information technology.
Would want to get some sort of education, but have little interest in anything at the moment.

Most of my grades throughout the years where quite terrible due to personal problems that are still somewhat a problem to today.
Like my English and Norsk Bokmål (lucky was freed from doing Nynorsk) grades finished with a 2 (1:bad - 6:good).
Wish it was possible to go back in time to do to try to improve it.

Have only self-studied in recent years. While it works, there is the problem where there are little input on things that need improvement or done wrong.

 

[anxiety247]

Went to school for game development.

Actually did better than anyone else and was also the reason I was able to get a job in game development. I worked a lot harder than them though, because while they were out hanging with people I was at home with my obsession to create stuff.

Still working that job for 7 years and love it. The people I work for understand my struggles, though they still don't know why I act like I do. I'm the reason their business kicked off because of all my hard work, which is why they will go out of their way to help me.

For aspies, I would suggest looking into working for smaller businesses and preferably jobs that don't require interacting with outside people. Your relationships with the people you work for/with will grow a lot better and it will make your job easier.

 

[SixTimesNine]

My Ph.D. in Political Science took 10 years. I had thought that people that took this long were losers--until I actually got to the drafting a proposal stage. Other people in the same program told me they would be done much more quickly then me--but they took LONGER! My obstacles included work, a attention-demanding and inconsiderate ADHD wife, a unhelpful advisor, and my (quite common) fear that i had to write the best dissertation ever in order to have any hope of getting tenure.

 

[Catticus]

I have 2 Bachelor's Degrees, one in computer Information and the other in Computer Science. My minor was in Mathematics. I remember struggling through word problems and the English classes they made you take. Math came easy to me, it was like a game once you learned the secrets. Yes I did graduate. I did not have any distractions really, I worked two jobs and went to school full time. No room for social life even if I wanted one back then. I grew up basically with no friends in a dysfunctional family. I never knew about what friendships were about until 2013. What surprised me is I started off in college as a electrical engineer student with seeking a side degree of mechanical engineering, it all changed the day I sat down in front of a computer, and that was the day my college career choices changed. I am not tooting my horn, I just found something I loved doing. That is what I recommend to you all seeking, find something you love doing and follow through...

 

[puzzlingbill]

One thing to think about when considering what to go to school for:

At the time I was in college, the occupation that was my ultimate profession did not exist yet, and you couldn't go to school for it.

In my case, I was a software developer (with various job titles), which is obviously a common career now. When I was in college in the early 70s, there were no online systems, and software development was mostly seen as something the engineers did on the side. Advancements in technology quickly made software developer an important job, but I couldn't major in computers because that wasn't available as a major yet.

So this is a long way of saying the best job for you might not exist yet. Keep your options open if you can.

 

[Khendra]

English. Very well; graduated cum laude overall, and magna cum laude within my major. Normal amount of time.

School was easy for me. Friendships and employment were another story, and it was the problems there that led to my late diagnosis at age 29.

 

[Aeolienne]

First degree: BSc (Hons II.i) in Mathematics with Logic & Philosophy of Science. Had to repeat third year (of four-year-degree) after dropping out of an aborted Erasmus (European exchange programme) year.
Second degree: MSc in Mathematical Modelling & Numerical Analysis

(since you asked)

 

[SixTimesNine]

Like, back when I was a kid, I learned to use computers. This was back in the DOS era... the idea of a "user friendly" interface was non-existent. Nobody instructed me on how to do it, I simply figured it all out on my own. It wasnt long before I was considered the tech-savvy one in the family, despite still being a kid. I learned Basic programming and other stuff.

I learned to program on a Commodore 64! My high school computers class actually had TRS-80s!

I tried to teach some programming to my kids. My son is the type that is super into things--until he tries them and finds out that they aren't the shiny objects he thought they were. My daughter is very unfocussed, so trying to teach her to use Scratch just resulted in messing around with the sprites. I did, however, use the turtle graphics component of Scratch to introduce computers to her Girl Scout troop so they could get their robotic badges. [Back in 1960s, turtle graphics actually controlled a robot with pen(s) that would move around the paper and draw a physical picture. This was before you could create decent graphics on a computer.]

 

[Crossbreed]

I learned to program on a Commodore 64! My high school computers class actually had TRS-80s!

Me, too!

 

[Butterfly88]

I have a Bachelor's in social sciences and a certificate in personal computers. It took four years going full time and one year going part-time to complete everything. I graduated with honors.

 

[Canismajoris]

I have a Bachelor's in social sciences and a certificate in personal computers. It took four years going full time and one year going part-time to complete everything. I graduated with honors.

Nice! Have you been able to work with these experties?

 

[Butterfly88]

Nice! Have you been able to work with these experties?

I actually ended up taking a lot of marketing electives and now I'm in online sales. The certificate in personal computers helps with that. I volunteer to help run a support group so my social sciences degree helps with that so it was still worth getting the degree to me.

 

[joe2006]

First time I studied Web Design and and lasted a year and a half in college. The last semester they gave me an algebra class but by the time I was done with it I did not have time to complete my other classes and failed 3 out of 4 of my classes. They were going to add another algebra class the next semester I just dropped out to avoid a repeat of what happened this semester. I was reminded that algebra was one of my weaknesses and if I wanted to pass it and all my other classes, I was going to have to start taking my classes one at a time. Back in high school, I had to retake algebra 3 time before I passed and I somehow passed it with a B right before graduation. I never have understood it very well. Then I studied computer repair and went to a trade school to take the classes. At this college, they allowed me to take my classes at my own pace as long as I completed everything within a year. I only focused on one class at a time to make sure I succeeded. They only had a basic math class that I had to take and I was done with it in about two weeks. Almost a year later, I passed all my classes and earned my computer repair certificate. I went back again to get my computer technician certificate and earned it within a year.

 

[HannahMarie]

I have an associate's degree in assistance dog education. I attended a specialized school for 9 months (also spent the previous year at a community college getting general Ed requirements) and learned to train service dogs to assist people with disabilities. It was a lot of fun, and I fondly remember that period of my life. Unfortunately, there just aren't a lot of job opportunities to do that (a lot of service dog organizations are non-profit and rely mostly on volunteers).

I also graduated last year with a Bachelor's in elementary education. But I barely passed my student teaching. I really knew all along that teaching wasn't for me and I was probably never going to get comfortable with it, but it was just something I kind of settled for because I didn't know what else to do. The anxiety it caused me was terrible. I like working with children, but teaching was just too much. I didn't have the proper organization, interpersonal skills, and classroom/time management skills to do it.

 

[AnnMoss]

Currently in my master's program for mental health counseling and TERRIFIED I will fail when I go out in the world. I am awful with trying to have friendships and work relationships, but I am an excellent interviewer, troubleshooter, human puzzle solver. I also have great empathy - I don't want to have any kind of closeness with the people I can speak with, but I feel I can relate to those I advise. It's like the part of me who is terrible with people turns off when the focus is not on me and I am given a human puzzle to work on. So all that lets me feel I would be good at the job. It's the problem with work relationships. And whether I can always be there for clients due to frustrations overwhelming me in life outside of my job.

Poor work relationships have undermined me in the past, I just don't know (and don't really care to know) how to be "normal". I am too critical of error and what I deem as laziness or injustice. That does not go over well. I feel it is unbearable to try to restrain myself from speaking out, if I am even capable of pausing and processing whether or not I should before I open my mouth. Anyways, I'm very worried that I will undermine myself even though my GPA is very high.

I think I went off topic quite a lot, sorry.

 

[Running Girl]

I studied nursing. Did great on the tests and terrible in the clinicals. Too bad the job is all clinical. I'd excell as a Professional Test Taker. I hate nursing, btw. In truth, i shoulda been a forest ranger or a night watchman, or a light house keeper. Common theme is being the only human at work.

 

[AnnMoss]

I studied nursing. Did great on the tests and terrible in the clinicals. Too bad the job is all clinical. I'd excell as a Professional Test Taker. I hate nursing, btw. In truth, i shoulda been a forest ranger or a night watchman, or a light house keeper. Common theme is being the only human at work.

One of my professors recommended I try to be a research psychologist. It was a psych testing class and she was very impressed with my work but I also wonder if she senses my awkwardness and direct/sometimes tactlessness and was trying to steer me in a better direction.

Is it too late too be a night watchman? There are other jobs that don't necessarily pay well and the work may be very physically but you are alone: I was a night baker. VERY hard work, but I was alone and could listen to my own music out loud as I worked. Didn't work out, but I did enjoy the "alone" part.