Employment ~ Past, Present, Future ?

[Sa Skimrande]

In a bid to show what ASD people are capable of despite the difficulties they experience, let's talk about employment in that what have you done, what are you doing and what do you hope to be doing in the future ?

 

It might also be interesting to learn when you were diagnosed with ASD and did that in any way interact with your employment.

 

And to get the ball rolling, my work history ;

 

1st job ; YTS Construction Technician ~ 1980's high unemployment, it's all there was for school leavers

2nd job ; Building Estimator ~ House extensions and a few new builds

3rd job ; Trainee Quantity Surveyor ~ Roofing - got sacked

4th job ; Site Engineer ~ civil engineering, pipe laying and tunnelling and fun stuff like blasting and working in compressed air, mostly sewer work and it was interesting driving a tunnel through mining country.

5th job ; Royal Air Force ~ Avionics Technician, aka fairies, bay worker where I could work on my own and usually got the jobs that required intricate repair and ghost faults - depression started here ! (1991)

6th job ; Plant mechanic ~ The Fitter, repairing anything from quarry trucks to kettles and everything in between, there was no such thing as can't do ! Also workshop manager in charge of 12 people.

7th job ; Hire Controller ~ This is where I started to lose the plot, shop front work and dealing with public.

8th job ; Plant Mechanic ~ Had enough of shop front work, was happier in the workshop, also became LEA lifting engineer and that was the first job I ever got made redundant from, mind, depression didn't help.

 

Been unemployed for five years where I was diagnosed with AS, anxiety and depression, where I also found out I had an extra x chromosome which might be responsible for a few issues, but nearly completed BA in Applied Art which I did part time, but quit due to depression in the final year.

 

The future ; If I can sort my confidence and mood issues out, I hope to start my own business as an artist metalsmith as I have been precious metal jewellery making most of my life as a hobby.

 

So, what of others ?

[Nesf]

I was a teacher of English as a Foreign Language for many years but struggled with it, quit it once, started again, lost my job, found another one briefly but quit due to depression. Now I'm unemployed adn looking for a new job. I develop obsessions about foreign languages and cultures and this was a way of developing them.

[Aeolienne]

1st job: Building services consultancy - fired after five weeks for not fitting in and lacking initiative

2nd job: Scientific civil service - fired after seven years for underperformance

3rd job: Environmental consultancy - fired after five months for failing to deliver the right level of technical input

4th job: Internship with smart metering firm

5th job: Placement with oil(!) company arranged by Prospects

 

I'd really like to work in renewable energy.

[Kelly83]

My first job I worked in the accounts department of a solicitors, long story short I was pushed into becoming the office junior so that one of the other employees sister in law could have my job. I was then sacked a few months later because I had been an hour late 3 times in a row(with good reason, the first day I rushed my dog to the vets as she had cut her foot open on some glass, second and third days she had ripped her bandages off).

 

After that i went back to college and had a few part time jobs, namely a week working at a spar shop (I told the manager to shove his job after being treated like dirt), a telesales job for a fortnight that I hated and got screwed out of wages. Then the web design company next door hired me on the spot when they heard what was happening (me arguing over not being paid) to do pretty much the same thing(sell their services) that lasted about a fortnight.

 

Then I had to leave college to help my mother out financially, got a job at a pharmecutical company in their accounts department, was made redundant several months later.

 

I started a new job in an accounts department for a water treatment company 2 days after being made redundant, I worked there for a year before moving hundreds of miles away, got married and had a baby.

 

Since then I have struggled to get anything, I have done a few uni courses hoping (at the time) to get into web design but coding caused me so many meltdowns when it didn't go correctly I decided it was best not to go down that route.

 

I'm hoping to be a writer despite my poor grammar, spelling etc, I've already written 2 of a series of several books(and had great impartial reviews) and have written down the plot for another book series, it's just finding the time to get what's in my brain on paper(as i can write faster then I type), then typed up, then proofread, then re-edit, add, change and proofread again and so on. I'll probably get it off to a publisher sometime this year.

[oakers]

I've pretty much always been in work, except for when I first moved up north and hurt my foot a couple of times.

 

 

I worked in stores / shops whilst in high school and college. I then had trouble finding anything related to my qualifications (travel and tourism qualification) so I took the first job on offer, which was working in a grocery store and I stayed there until I decided to come to England to have a year out.

 

I came to work in a hotel as it was live in and I could save to travel. Plans changed and I ended up staying here nearly 16 years ago. I took on temp jobs as a secretary when moving up north and then had some work in a high secure mental hospital for a couple of years, as a secretary / admin in various departments, before moving on to being a medical secretary in an adult mental health team for another couple of years.

 

I have since moved to working as a co-ordinator in palliative care and that's where i've been for the last 3 or so years. I kind of just fell into the whole medical secretary / admin stuff and over the years have gotten more used to having to be on the phone etc, although I still wouldn't say it's my favourite thing to have to do.

 

I guess, when I look at how my life could have been, I should realise how lucky I've been in so many ways... even though diagnosis came late at 34.

[Aeolienne]

1st job: Building services consultancy - fired after five weeks for not fitting in and lacking initiative

2nd job: Scientific civil service - fired after seven years for underperformance

3rd job: Environmental consultancy - fired after five months for failing to deliver the right level of technical input

4th job: Internship with smart metering firm

5th job: Placement with oil(!) company arranged by Prospects

 

I'd really like to work in renewable energy.

6th job: Placement with an investment bank arranged by AS Mentoring

 

For the record, I was referred for an AS diagnosis after losing my first job, and officially diagnosed just after starting the second.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Aeolienne

[Livelife]

An interesting topic but I've had so many jobs and problems with keeping them I find it to depressing to write everything down.

[Oman5]

I work as an HGV driver on artics. I had such a miserable time of it in school that college was never on the agenda much to my parents dismay. I just never seemed to fit in anywhere and find dealing with people very very difficult. A Job where I am alone for the whole day, know exactly what's expected of me and just get left to get on with it fits the bill nicely. I don't have a problem with my own company.