No job related to my special interest: Anyone else?

Post Reply New Topic

I've always done artwork. I've painted some, now I am doing sculpture (as well). I can make money at it, but the money is sporadic, and not enough to live off of. I enjoy it. It is my passion.

I need a second job in order to make a living, and that one generally does not pay very much.

My special interest is photography, in order to be a successful photog you need to have extremely high social skills, or a near bottomless supply of cash to get to the interesting landscape photography locations. so I guess Im sorely out of luck

Beyond getting funding to study I havn't been able to make a living out of what is a loosely defined 'special interest'. Now that I am just about making a living doing something that I largely enjoy (a lot more than alternative/previous job roles at least) and want to develop, I am free to enjoy my 'special interest' in my own way. I prefer it this way because it doesn't map that strongly onto jobs that are out there and I would ave to severely compromise my 'interest freedom' if I were to do it for a living. So, I agree with those that say that making a career out of special interest is perhaps idealised and in reality less common and less viable than is made out by generic vocational advice. What I would say, though, is that I deploy some of the same attributes to both my earning a living interest and my personal interest. This is probably more common and more realistic than working in your special interest. Having said that, it is by no means straightforward as I have struggled with this for a long time. Probably the best advice is not really advice at all. It's actually just wanting to try things out and from there naturally finding something that can earn money and is do-able/sustainable in the medium to long-term. I think there has to be a 'want' there first.

All my intrests seem impossible to make a living out of...

I make a living out of my special interests all the time. My next special interest is rock star.

Phew! I thought I was the only one with the problem! Every site that gives "jobs for aspies", tells them to get a job related to their special interest. It works well if your special interest is something like computers, but if it is something like a book or a musical group.......well, what are you supposed to do?

Temple Grandin made a list of jobs for aspies:

Computer programming -- Wide-open field with many jobs available especially in industrial automation, software design, business computers, communications and network systems-Too much math

Drafting -- Engineering drawings and computer aided drafting. This job can offer many opportunities. Drafting is an excellent portal of entry for many interesting technical jobs. I know people who started out at a company doing drafting and then moved into designing and laying out entire factories. To become really skilled at drafting, one needs to learn how to draw by hand first. I have observed that most of the people who draw beautiful drawings on a computer learned to draw by hand first. People who never learn to draw by hand first tend to leave important details out of their drawings.-Not a good drawer

Commercial art -- Advertising and magazine layout can be done as freelance work-This could be OK, but I am not good at this type of stuff

Photography -- Still and video, TV cameraman can be done as freelance work-Sounds cool, but I wouldn't like freelance work

Equipment designing -- Many industries, often a person starts as a draftsman and then moves into designing factory equipment-Not my style

Animal trainer or veterinary technician -- Dog obedience trainer, behavior problem consultant-I am not really an animal lover

Automobile mechanic -- Can visualize how the entire car works-Dislike cars

Computer-troubleshooter and repair -- Can visualize problems in computers and networks-Not good with techie stuff

Small appliance and lawnmower repair -- Can make a nice local business-I don't like repairing things

Handcrafts of many different types such as wood carving, jewelry making, ceramics, etc.-I don't like crafty stuff

Laboratory technician -- Who modifies and builds specialized lab equipment-Again, TOO MUCH TECHIE STUFF

Web page design -- Find a good niche market can be done as freelance work-This is all right, but a little technical

Building trades -- Carpenter or welder. These jobs make good use of visual skills but some people will not be able to do them well due to motor and coordination problems-Too techie

Video game designer -- Stay out of this field. Jobs are scarce and the field is overcrowded. There are many more jobs in industrial, communications business and software design computer programming. Another bad thing about this job is exposure to violent images.-Not really

Computer animation -- Visual thinkers would be very good at this field, but there is more competition in this field than in business or industrial computer programming. Businesses are recruiting immigrants from overseas because there is a shortage of good programmers in business and industrial fields.-A bit better, but still there are probably better jobs out there

Building maintenance -- Fixes broken pipes, windows and other things in an apartment complex, hotel or office building-I am not a fixer

Factory maintenance -- Repairs and fixes factory equipment-Not a fixer

Accounting -- Get very good in a specialized field such as income taxes-Too much math

Library science -- reference librarian. Help people find information in the library or on the Internet.-This could be OK and I would be able to do it, but I probably wouldn't enjoy it at all

Computer programming -- Less visual types can be done as freelance work-I already said, I do not like

Engineering -- Electrical, electronic and chemical engineering-I dislike math

Journalist -- Very accurate facts, can be done as freelance-This is probably my favourite job on the list

Copy editor -- Corrects manuscripts. Many people freelance for larger publishers-I would find this boring

Taxi driver -- Knows where every street is-I don't think I would like driving and I am not very good at remembering streets, my sense of direction is horrible

Inventory control -- Keeps track of merchandise stocked in a store-I would get information overload

Tuning pianos and other musical instruments, can be done as freelance work-As far as instruments go, I'm not really a guitar person

Laboratory technician -- Running laboratory equipment-Too techie

Bank Teller -- Very accurate money counting, much less demand on short-term working memory than a busy cashier who mostly makes change quickly-I don't think this job would go good with my OCD

Clerk and filing jobs -- knows where every file is-I am not good at remembering details like that

Telemarketing -- Get to repeat the same thing over and over, selling on the telephone. Noisy environment may be a problem. Telephone sales avoids many social problems.-I am worse socially on the phone, than in real life and I wouldn't like hanging up on me all day and it would bore me to death

Statistician -- Work in many different fields such as research, census bureau, industrial quality control, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, etc.-Too much math

Physicist or mathematician -- There are very few jobs in these fields. Only the very brilliant can get and keep jobs. Jobs are much more plentiful in
computer programming and accounting.-Well, math again

"Handcrafts of many different types such as wood carving, jewelry making, ceramics, etc."

I've thought of doing that but I don't know what to do or how to get into doing it.

A lot of the stuff I looked into seems like it would be too hard and it might be difficult for me to actually sell the stuff after I make it.

I picked that because I wouldn't have to leave the house much but even if I sold stuff on Ebay I'd have to go to the post office all the time.

Add me to the list of people whose special interest doesn't line up with any useful job prospect.

I actually really like handicrafts [especially knitting... some yarn textures are really soothing for me], but i am very slow and methodical, so I can't work fast enough to make money at it...
I want to start my own business, but reality is always the tricky part.
[i.e. input costs versus market value of final product, not making a 'living wage' and other things]

Also, I don't have a lot of skills that can be used in a job. My skills in English and Media Arts (video/photography). I also have skills in computers, but there is a lot of competition in that field. I am out of luck for jobs.