Aspie women: how is your workforce experience?

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I have struggled with being employed all of my life. I am currently in an administrative position and have been for about a year, my second time around at a job like this. I don't follow office politics and also have learned through bad experiences to keep to myself even more so than I normally do. I struggle with losing "status" at work because I don't hang out at other people's door's and I'm not a fan of gossiping. I spend a good amount of time at my computer which is good but supervision meetings are hard because I don't know what the expectation is. I'd say my job is medium contact, and the meeting people/that side of my job is always awkward but at this point where I work is so understaffed they would have a nightmare if they let me go in terms of coverage. I feel thankful for that some days. I have an advanced degree but I don't know how to go about using it because I get overwhelmed too quickly.

By sheer luck/strength I have lasted/tolerated 13 years in the same job!! But I think that might change next year when I finish my degree and take the initiative to try and find a new job elsewhere. I just get the sense that they don't see me as someone with 'normal' career aspirations, so they don't really have much planned for the future for me that actually involves utilizing the degree once I get it. Atm I'm filling in for a lady who is away and I'm doing really great at it but once she comes back I'll be struggling to find productive things to do; A heap of clients have been taken off me over the last 12 months, leaving me with not much tax and accounting work to do. Instead I have to fill in the time with menial admin tasks. Meanwhile all my peers in the office get to be actual accountants.
My main issues at work are with communication, on the phone, face to face with clients and with co-workers. If I could communicate with everybody via email all the time I would.

I am no longer working due to a bunch of health issues, and I am on disability because of it, but I did work off and on for several decades. I had several "permanent" jobs, but none for more than 2 years. Most of my work history was in temping, so I was often out of work between assignments. I think that gave me a needed break from the stress. I had no heavy job skills, so I did general clerical, light industrial/warehouse/factory, and a little bit of retail. Although none of the jobs paid well, I was glad to have any work at all, as I was never the sort of person to easily get hired. Didn't know about my Asperger's back then, so I didn't know what was wrong with me, just knew that I was very out of step with the rest of the world. Knowing what is wrong with me has helped me deal with it, as it was very stressful when I didn't know why I was the way I am.

Temping was a big help for me, as I was not the sort of person to be kept on long in a permanent job. With temp assignments, I would stay the length of the assignment, and then be off work for a while, or off to another assignment. You can sign up with all the agencies in your area too, so you have access to more temp assignments. I worked at some places several times, as they would send for temps whenever they had too much work. I think I liked temping more than all but my first job, which was as a "page" in the library in the next town over. Unfortunately, because they were a non-profit organization, they didn't have to pay minimum wage, so I eventually left for a job that paid the regular rate.

If anyone on the spectrum is just starting out in the work force and needs a foot in the door, I definitely recommend temping, as a good starting point.

Most of my problems have come from female coworkers. I just don't know how to spot someone who is trouble. I have spent most of my life self-employed, and my work life took up a great deal of energy. After I divorced, I went back to school to finish my degree. I graduated and now have been offered an assistantship as a grad student. In order to get tuition and a stipend, I'll be responsible for teaching two classes a semester. I did disclose that I am ASD in my personal statement when I applied, so it's no secret. I am going to study creative writing and my ASD factors very large in my work. I am very nervous about teaching, but I am also optimistic. I don't know what I am ultimately going to do to earn a living, but I sort of like the idea of being a maid in a hotel. It's physical, and therefore will keep me in shape. It's fast paced, and therefore will keep me engaged, and most importantly, I don't think I'd have to deal with a whole lot of people. I don't need a lot of money as long as I can make a modest living, I should be ok.

I work full time in a cubicle. I get to do tasks that require a lot of analytical thinking (which I love) and spreadsheets (which apparently is my special interest). The things I hate about it are when people in other cubicles clip their nails at work (who does that??) and the fact that we have a small workout room on our floor of the building and when they pump up their music while I'm working (I have misophonia), I can't concentrate and I get really upset. There's also a LOT of office politics, like where I have to spend time writing and re-writing emails to make sure I don't use any "trigger words" or I write the email in a way that caters to that certain person. I'd rather just say what I need to say, ask that person to do what I need them to do, and get it over with. Ugh, just so much office drama and politics. But it's the best job I've had because I actually enjoy what I do for the most part and get paid a decent amount and am allowed to work from home two days a week (which helps with some of the office noise issues). I do feel miserable sometimes, like if I get bored, or I'm doing something I don't enjoy, or the office drama is just too much because drama NEVER made sense to me. People overreact to everything and it's honestly ridiculous.

I work part-time, only about 12-18 hours a week in a library. I'm usually sorting and shelving books or helping people find things they are looking for. Sometimes, I help out people who are using the computers too. I worked retail and food service before (specifically Kmart, Dairy Queen, Dunkin' Donuts, and a few other places) and was unsuccessful in all of those jobs. I like the library job, there isn't much drama, it is quiet, and there aren't bright lights or anything else to give me problems.

I have definitely struggled, but I am also very fortunate.

I took to IT like a fish to water, so I usually have a job, and because of my comp-sci experience people expect me to be a little eccentric. But I also have serious performance anxiety so I always apply to jobs I'm overqualified for. Deskwork and Admin jobs in IT centric organizations.

I can't interview for beans, always appearing overly awkward or strange. The only jobs I have ever had are ones where people hired me because I was strange in the interview, not because of any of my qualifications.

The social aspect is a nightmare. Even in basic admin IT jobs office politics are total horse turds. I had to admit I have a disability due to the student contract I was hired under. I get constantly talked down to, either because I'm just an admin in a tech field, a woman, or someone with a disability. People constantly speak for me without verifying my opinion or POV first, misrepresenting me and my goals to the people who will (hopefully) hire me as a full employee. And the one person I trusted enough to disclose my ASD to now treats me like a infantile incompetent and throws a hissy fit whenever I correct her on anything. It's infuriating and I'm hoping being a full employee will finally give me the right to stand up for myself.

Oh and my anger management issues don't help with any of the above.

Becomming an entrepreneur is definitely my end goal, but I need an income while I make my business plan.

Ive had lots of jobs, started part time work while in school and its something Im glad of because I had the experience of making most of my work related mistakes as a teenager. Now I work in education and have been fairly successful, but a secure position is something that still eludes me and Im getting tired of the pressure from contract work.

If you're applying to any job, really, the applicant doesn't cover the cost of the background checks, from my experience.

I've never had to cover any costs of that.

Bad. I've only had 2 jobs in my 28 years being alive. My last job sucked. The manager sexually harassed me constantly because I was quiet. It was in fast food so the sensory overload and constant forced socialization gave me migraines just about everyday. It was that job that made me become addicted to opiates to cope. I quit. Now slowly but surely I'm completing school so I can work by myself in a medical lab. I think it will be a good fit for me in the future.

Weirdly I do well in retail. I've been at the same store for almost a year now, started as a cake decorator which I hated, worked in fitting room which was a job I was fantastic at (the best one we had) and loved, and now I'm working produce which I would like more if my department manager didn't expect me to somehow be fast enough to make up for how many incompetent new people we have. I'm one of the fastest people in our area, f**k off.

I work self-employed as a personal trainer and I've found this experience to be both positive and negative. The good part is that it's in a field that I'm passionate about and being self-employed means that I can work less hours and I have more time to recoup when I do happen to get stressed out. The bad part is that I get extremely anxious when it comes to going out and marketing myself and, because of this, I find myself unable to expand my business as I would like to.

I've worked other part time jobs prior to this and never had too many issues except that I never really fit in that well with co-workers. I'm very lucky to have always been able to make enough money without having to rely on a full time job because I honestly don't know how well I would deal with the stress. I seem to need an excessive amount of time every day to destress and recharge in order to not go completely insane.