Should young Aspies consider unskilled jobs instead?

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I'm the moderator of a messageboard for Norwegian Aspies.
There are some of the members who have gone to College, but the majority of the adult members have either dropped out of college and some have not even completed junior high. I personally only need Math and Science to go to College, but because I came to my senses and accepting that I'd get a gigantic breakdown if I didn't quit trying to get into College and because I realized that I only wanted to go to College to please my father, I decieded that for the rest of my life, I'll stick with easy unskilled jobs.
Both I amd many of the Aspies I know here are in what is called a "Lasting Supported Work" program that disabled and mentally disabled people who have no chance of getting a "normal" job, and I do copying for the town council and I scan slides and pictures for a museum and archive them.
I once tried to become a graphic designer through a program that trained disabled people to such jobs, but I was almost thrown out of the program because my kind of hyperfocus meant that I went ballistic when people disturbed me and I could often get one little detail right and absoluteley everything else completely wrong.

The unskilled labor market can be a hit or miss thing. Out of high school I ended up working for a temp agency since I had no real chance myself of getting a "real" job myself.

I found unskilled labor to be horribly repetitive and unfulfilling. I need a creative outlet for my energies which is why I choose the college route.

But if I can't make it through my final year, I have no idea what I'll do then.

Various attempts at working inskilled jobs have been pretty disasterous for me. I think aspies do better when we specialize.

"Should young Aspies consider unskilled jobs instead?"

I think they should consider it.
The pressure to achieve academic excellence *can* be just one more expectation to conform to the norm, or compete in a never-ending status race.

But an unskilled job can be frustrating, boring and leave one with little control.
That may be the trade-off with a lower level of stress.

I hold a degree and professional qualifications, but on a bad day I think I'd enjoy a job pushing the trolleys around the local supermarket car-park. (I'd know what I was trying to do, there wouldn't be so much interaction with the unthinking and unreasonable public and it would probably be healthier. )

Can we say particular people people do best in particular jobs and careers?
For NT's and Aspies, squeezing people into the mould of corporate human resources fodder is unlikely to be in their ideal interest, but who of us is in an ideal work environment? The world is rarely that kind, though occasionally people do report they have found or achieved their perfect niche or pinnacle.

Personally, I feel like an idiot for believing I could get a job working with graphic design, printing, etc. I have so bad social skills and I don't dare to go to a school again so I just don't want to attempt getting into this kind of work again.

It's always something to consider, but if you're talented in something else or really aren't (or wouldn't be) satisfied in working an unskilled job, I wouldn't completely rule out whatever you really want to do. In my opinion, people should at least enjoy what they do to some extent.

But if you don't think that working at another job will work out, there's nothing wrong with working unskilled jobs.

I've had a much better time with unskilled jobs because the requirements are clear cut - where I work now is paramillitary and I love it because the rules are so obvious . . .
It is sort of depressing, though, because being asocial I will always be fairly poor . . . you need two incomes with this sort of job to really live . . .

With menial jobs you don't get out of making contact with people and you don't get paid so you get it from both ends.

Anyway, all jobs require social contact with both collegues and customers wich can be total utter hell for us Aspies.

It might be possible to cut the contact down drastically.

Author?

Lighthousekeeper was something that appealed when I was younger, but they were rapidly being automated out of existence in my early teens.

And exactly how is it possible to cut down that contact drastically?
There are basically no jobs that are easy to get that don't require a lot of social contact.

No Fair! You didn't specify "easy to get" in the original formulation.

eBay dealer?

Would dentistry count? Or nightclub bouncer?
They might be considered antisocial contact.

My father is a dentist, and he's somewhere between Aspie and normal, but more normal, I'm afraid.
I remember this Scottish guy from old Aspergia who both collected Lego and sold it on a huge Lego website, (www.bricklink.com). This guy had to have someone to remind him to eat, but he actually earned cash on his "Rainman interest"! His parents tried to choke his interest in Lego by denying him to collect it when he was 14, but this did appearantly not work!

All I'm good at is computer graphics, painting and drawing, but I'm not good enough to make it a job and I have to pass math I can't do to get into college in Norway. I've tried to take jobs translating stuff from English and German to Norwegian and scanning photos for people, but I can't just do it, I just loose interest in it. I would have to have an office, so i just don't spend all the time surfing for porn instead of working.

I've even tried to get a lawn mowing job, just to bury all hope and get rid of all illusions that I can really get an education or a job in what I'm good at or interested in.

Last edited by Lonermutant on 07 Jan 2006, 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm about to get the boot from an unskilled job because I couldn't pick it up quickly enough... be wary of such things.

At this stage in my life, whatever helps me pay my uni fees is good enough for me.

I think it's good to start working once you're of legal age. Those menial jobs aren't just unsatisfying for us, they're that way for NTs as well. It's a good way to get in the habit of showing up when expected, dealing with people, and figuring out what's expected of you. If you screw up it generally doesn't come back to haunt you later on. Best to get those mistakes out of the way when it doesn't really matter.

The ultimate goal is to find the ideal way to make a living given your abilities but there's usually a lot of trial and error involved before you get there. I had to try a number of things before I got to where I am now. I wouldn't have been able to get my current job by just showing up and telling them I'd be good at it if given a chance. I got it because of a steady job history and good references. I learned the language needed to give a good impression in an interview. I'm also better at my job because of the work patterns I developed over time.

Many people bypass a lot of this by waiting until they're finished with college to find a job, but for me I don't think that would have been a good path.

I aways wandeted to be a drawbrigde operator. I think sometimes mindless work isn't that bad I'll fall into a pattern and my mind is off thinking about what ever I want as I work. the best type of job skilled or unskilled is one your interested in its not always amtter of going to collage One of the reasons I work construction is I have an intense interest in the way things are built.