What’s your job and why

[DavidS]

Electrician, because I wasn't allowed to be a historian.

Although, it is nice that I'm getting paid about 4x more than historians, so... Eh, meh.

You sound a lot like me! I’ve gotten position offers for site interpreter from the Texas Historical Commission but my electrician pay scale is much better.

 

[watersprite]

“what’s your job and why”

Painting, mostly. Reason being it’s done alone and all the other stuff I tried did not go well. Kids turned out well, but that’s due to patenting, not a job per se.

 

[ucrenegade]

I have had a hard time holding onto jobs. I am smart enough to get them but to slow in trying to keep and maintain them. I recently went to the department of rehabilitation services and they helped me find a job counseling company that helped me find the job I am in. This job knows my limitations as it was discussed by my counselor to them and I no longer have the fear of when I am going to get fired. Now the job counselor mediates for me to anyone I work with and especially with the bosses who hired me specifically knowing of my limitations before I even had a interview which was really just a formality.

 

[DogzSpirit]

I've been self employed, empowering those with (primarily physical) disabilities, and advocating for those in that position. I've also done sales for that same population (Think Medical Alert preventive products) when I had to up my income substantially. In order to work, I must believe there is a value (to others) in what I do. I did other sales, but it seemed silly at it's core, for the material items really held little value to me, and the importance people attribute to those items seemed short sighted.

I am the "protector" type personality, and get great satisfaction from turning a negative to a positive/righting wrongs. I like being a game changer and not waiting for change.

Hobbies include rescuing strays, being part dog (yes they have given me honorary status to their secret society lol) and I even bark with them on occasion. Only my immediate family knows this, and the secret is safe for they would die of embarrassment if word got out. NT are very fragile like that.. grin.

 

[Judge]

Retired a few years back. Determined to retreat from the "rat race" once and for all.

Though I wouldn't call this "coasting" either. Amazing how busy one can get simply to keep up with all the paperwork of not working full or part time. Go figure.

 

[Emily Write]

I did have a minimal wage job as lunch staff, and still do as childcare staff, at a private school. It's just temporary since I can't make a living off of that and it forces me to hide personal beliefs that do not align with the program there. I would love to be a librarian or archivist, but might end up having to settle with a bachelor's degree job, since that requires a masters and will be harder to get later on then it is already.

 

[Suzette]

I have mostly worked as an admin assistant. Most of my jobs lasted about 3 or 4 years. Year one I felt like a star, year two tarnished but credible, year three, burn out. What seemed easy in year one became a trying slog through the mud and I would start missing work, forgetting important tasks, spacing out more, hiding more etc. Inevitably I would be let go or simply quit.
Thankfully my my boyfriend invited me to retire on his savings and we bought a boat and now spend 90% of the year in Mexico. We are also now married.

 

[jleeb05]

I’m an attorney. I have a private practice where I mostly do child welfare law and I work full-time at a university investigating sexual misconduct. I started my private practice because I couldn’t find a job that worked for me. If I’m not interested in something, it’s hard for me to devote time to it. However, I find people fascinating.

I did my private practice exclusively for 3 years but worried that I was too disorganized to work on my own. I’ve been in my current full time position at the university for 3 1/2 years but am considering going back to only doing my private practice. I think the only reason I haven’t quit yet is because I’m working from home due to COVID but that’s supposed to end in September

The downside of ASD is not caring/focusing on work tasks that don’t interest me. Still, I actually think ASD can be an asset in my line of work because I need to be dispassionate and fact-based. People often ask how I’m able to work child abuse and sexual assault cases but the truth is, while I have a lot of empathy, I find the social interaction more draining than the subject matter.

 

[Shillelagh]

I've been a security guard for over 30 years. Because it's easy and I'm by myself most of the time. My learning disability, coordination disability and executive dysfunction make many other jobs out of the question.

 

[Suzette]

Sounds like how I can be with jobs (other than the part about retiring with a boyfriend on a sailboat. That sounds so romantic every time I read about it).

I suppose there is romance in it, but...to avoid stealing this thread I will write aboyt the "but" on my blog page this site.

 

[Unclewolverine]

I was an auto mechanic out of high school, went to college, became an auto mechanic again, then drove a forklift/inventory control in a warehouse for 13 years until the company got bought out and our redundant warehouse got shut down. I loved that job except the culture was toxic. Then I tried a custom car business which didn't work out, drove a truck for a year, the solitude was nice and scenery was great but I hated being away from home so long and the pay was not good. Now I'm a rural mail carrier which is pretty nice, very routine, get to drive my own jeep, don't have to interact with people much. But like anything government the management is a complete disaster.

 

[rse92]

I'm a lawyer. It's my job because I graduated from college with a liberal arts degree in 1982 into an economy with 10% unemployment. I figured going to law school was a better choice than staying for a masters degree. People laugh when I tell them everything I knew about being a lawyer before I entered law school I learned from watching Perry Mason, but it's true.

I've come to accept that lawyering is a profession I was born to do. I think I would I would have been a good engineer and possibly a doctor in a specialist practice where bedside manner is less important. I encouraged my younger daughter to go the STEM route in college. Now she is a police officer and EMT. Funny how life works.

 

[unperson]

Early interest and study was fine art, dropped out, could only get part time/temp whatever jobs like kitchenhand, factory, mail sorting, driving. Was often gotten rid of or quit partly out of fear of being noticed to be different. Best of those and best job I ever had was a one weekend holiday job I got with a ff, working on a prawn trawler up in QLD - so staggeringly beautiful out at sea, the sharks trailing, sigh. Quite liked the kitchen work too.

Desperate for full time work and the money it brought, I learnt how to type and sat for the public service exam, even though I'd heard horror stories about it and did 9 years there, while also undertaking a degree in Communications (graduated) which led to my burnout and dx, have been on disability since, with some limited volunteer work.

 

[dragonfire42]

The only two jobs I’ve ever had were as a part-time janitor, because those were the only ones I could get. Having a college degree seems to not actually be any mark in my favor, but rather one mark that isn’t against me, and I basically have nothing else going for me. I never even had a real interview to have my performance there affect anything. These two places were so desperate for employees, there was no interview, I was asked to work extra shifts every week, and I was asked multiple times if I knew anyone else who would like a part-time job. I’ve been on SSI for the past few years.