Aspieness can be a HUGE advantage!

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Underwater and Jacoby,

Yes, a head for language and systems is exactly what you need for IT! I'm actually pretty bad at math... but since I work in excel all day long it doesn't even matter. I'm certainly not going to calculate 4423x5/3.534 by hand. I need to be able to do a sanity check on the numbers I come up with (e.g. realize something is wrong if I get an answer of 6 or 6,000,000,000 or -6,000) but that's about it.The inner voice that was telling you that anything above algebra is useless in 95% of life was entirely correct. I can't speak for all IT positions, but I work with the IT folks almost as much as I work with HR and I've never seen them do any math past the 7th grade level. I'm sure there are IT fields where advanced math is useful, especially the top paying ones, but I'd be willing to bet $20 that those account for less than 15% of all IT/tech positions.

What the IT people I work with do need to be able to do is figure out how all the parts of our information systems interact with each other, and they also need to be able to write some SQL or whatever to communicate directly with those systems. In other words, they need to have, in your words, a head for systems and (computer) language.

This (business analyst/systems analyst) is my line of work and I it works for me as well. Fortunately, I don't really need to "socialize" with the users. I just need to ask them structured questions in order to come up with a solution -- which I consider much, much different than free-form socializing (which I am not adept at and don't enjoy whatsoever).

And a head for systems and (computer) language is not something I have...not good with that technical kind of stuff or filling out spreadsheet type documents with little bits of data and monitoring communication between computer systems or whatever. Also I don't think I can do math at a 7th grade level.....maybe a 5th grade level and even then It would just be better to get me a calculator, never even mastered algebra even the very basic stuff. I know how to use computer but I don't know any of the technical terms really or like how to explain how I do things or figure it out.

It doesn't really matter when companies still use the traditional interview process, despite it being proven inefficient. It's even worse now, because at least half of the time if an employer contacts you, you don't even get an interview right off the bat. It's either some BS "phone screening" or some questionnaire they should've just put on the application in the first place. I've failed two (possibly 3) of these "phone screenings" now, and I don't even know why.

This works... to an extent. However, I've never had an interview where they didn't ask me some curveball question I didn't have a prepared answer for. That, and sometimes I trip over my words really badly.

Yes, that is definitely my experience. The challenge is finding someone who is willing to pay you for doing it. In the publishing business, like in all culture related areas, connections mean a lot. I have a friend who is a translator. She can't find a decent paying translating job, and competes for the same crappy secretarial positions as everyone else.

The problem with secretarial work is that you are easily replaceable, which leads to outsourcing, short contracts, low pay, lack of autonomy, etc.. Instability, in short. That's why I think finding a special skill is important for an aspie, because we don't have the mental energy to deal with this s**t, and we perform poorly when we are being micromanaged.

That said, Sweetleaf, I think this kind of work is nice if you don't need to earn a normal wage.
Have you considered the social sciences? Large companies are increasingly using sociologists to study consumer behavior. Your can wander around giving people structured interviews. And statistics is significantly easier to learn by rote than other mathematics.

What Eurythmic is talking about is perhaps a good strategy for another kind of aspie. I don't like admitting this, but I really need help; I am often late, I talk a lot when I am tired, and I have health problems. I've only recently found out about executive dysfunction, which is really the story of my life. I remember being late for work because I was waiting for the wrong bus. I am really not conscious in the morning. I postpone leaving for somewhere because I am scared about standing around looking conspicuous and not keeping my mind busy with something.

I really need a part time job, because I don't think I have the energy for both full time work and taking care of my pre-schooler. My daughter will always need a lot of love and attention, she's just like that.

I really hope I can develop some analytical skills, land a decent job, get my mother-in-law to hold the fort for a while at home and then convince management to let me work part time.

Nathaniel, you live in North America, don't you? Where I live, a lot of people (particularly in engineering and it) would just consider a thank-you email brown nosing. When you are unemployed, people do not find it surprising that you want a job. My cv is all over the place; there is no central theme.

I probably expressed myself poorly earlier. I've spent my life so far learning all kinds of things because of a burning wish to learn. I chose my studies really badly, going into engineering, which I sucked at, and left without a diploma. So, when I apply for technical jobs, I am not properly qualified, when I apply for the jobs I am good at (having to do with writing and such) they think I'm a tech head, which I'm not. The fact that I have been learning other things is constantly being used against me to imply that I am just applying to any kind of job because I am desperate.

I have worked all kinds of jobs and have never been bored. I simply enjoy working, and find something interesting about every job. The stuff that gets me down has nothing to do with job tasks.

Like at the A+ level, I don't think there is really a reason why somebody who uses and maintenances their own computer every day couldn't learn it and there is no math really. A+ cert is supposedly a good way to get part time work, it just basically says you know the basic entry level PC service tech stuff. It get can get a lot more complicated beyond that obviously but on this level its pretty easy in my opinion.

Some people deal with computers like I or I guess we in this thread do with math and especially the older people who didn't grow up with the technology, when I was doing WAT with VR they would have me help people from time to time learn basic computing skills and I think a lot of people probably underestimate the amount they know because there are people who have never used a computer in their lives that aren't stupid people who really do struggle with the basics of just moving the mouse around screen, emailing, searching google, but I imagine if some of these same people asked me about cars or something I would be clueless too so its just a question of putting in the time to familiarize yourself with it and hands on experience. Most things have a GUI especially in Windows and are totally self explanatory, most of this basic stuff is pretty easy I think but I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself either. The stuff I don't know I just google, somebody is almost always bound to have had the same problem as you so I look towards the solutions they've used.

One thing I wanted to be able to do when I started learning this stuff was the learn how to get, install, and use free open source Linux OS which was something I had no experience in at all and now I think I'm pretty good and even have a decent handle on basic command line stuff which is way easier imo in Linux than it is in Windows. Working and learning with computers has given me a new found hatred of Microsoft and particularly Windows 8, not rushing out to try Windows 10 that's for sure.

Computers or IT or whatever you want to call is probably could from the standpoint that it is pretty friendly to those on the spectrum and other assorted oddballs, it is mostly men however even still but I don't the reason for that is a hostile environment. My instructor is woman, kind of a tough rough around the edges type but I don't think anybody would say she doesn't belong with the wealth of experience that she has. Just observing my class I would venture to assume I'm not the only aspie there but its not like kumbaya either, some of them seem very cold and distant even borderline rude. I hope I don't come off that way. Like I said, out of all the students I get along with the older ones better who are there to for their education and don't care about all the social garbage that comes along with it. I think maybe the NTs in the tech world are probably friendly towards us just by more familiarity, it's an option. I dunno tho, is that my passion? Do I even have one? Even if I don't finish my degree or if I switch majors, I still will be able to get that certification which lasts for 3 years which will feel nice to finally have something to my name.

Nah, it can be pretty balanced, worse, or better than being neurotypical. Basically what I'm trying to say is it depends on the individual.

Even though they have a legal requirement to consider people with disabilities (both physical and mental) fairly against "normal" people, they don't. For example I was recently told I had missed out on a position to someone "with a little more experience" after an interview despite the fact the employer/interviewer said he was impressed with my experience, presumably because of a lack of eye contact during the interview. I get told by NTs to "just make eye contact" as though it's easy which, for them, it is but for me it's not

When you have enough interviews, they basically ask similar questions so it was easy to prepare answers for these as well. I feel like the curveball questions are also in line with the general questions that they will be asking. Other than that, those curveball questions sometimes have nothing to do with the job whatsoever. I had one interviewer ask me once, "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" What on Earth does that have to do with the job???? But, anyways, I answered and don't think it really affected their perception of me either way. As long as you have the core answers down, they are willing to overlook the dumb "personality" questions.

I've been told for curveball questions, the interviewer is looking for your reaction (verbal and nonverbal) and doesn't care what answer you give as long as you have the "proper" reaction to the question.

Yeah, the "proper reaction", why not just choose a number between 1 and 1000 and have them guess, because delivering the "proper reaction" is just a mind reading game.

Oh, to have an HR liaison on the spectrum! Our HR person (just one) is exceedingly socially adept & hangs out with the sales people. Luckily, everyone in our IT dept is probably AS and our HR person has learned how to work with us because the company needed each one of us during the downturn a few years ago. When we recently hired a new person to take some of my workload (very much appreciated!) HR weeded out applicants based on their resumes only. It was then up to us to work with her and schedule interviews and talk to the applicants. We could tell pretty quickly who would fit in with us and also knew their stuff*. This likely won't last forever as the company is finally growing again, and I've not seen it before in my career, but it's wonderful while it's lasting.

*ever hear of geek-flirting? It's not romantic. It's barely even social to outsiders. Rather, it's that awkward handshaking/negotiation protocol that happens when two techies first meet, where they determine what level of knowledge the other holds so they can converse.

I've seen applicants rejected b/c whoever was in charge thought they should've said they'd ask for help, while another was rejected for the same question b/c they would "give up too quickly and bother other people" rather than stick with it until they solved [the hypothetical problem with third party data]. It quickly became obvious that the person making the decision had a very specific type of "perfect" in mind, and it had to do more with their own insecurities than any attribute of the applicants.

You are quite right. Interview questions are often complete nonsense. Because of this, a very important skill for job hunting aspies is to turn off their "gag reflex" during interviews. If you can accept that interview questions are often complete BS and just smile and appear positive during interviews, you'll have a leg up on the competition.

Such good advice. I've seen some of our amazing sales people (its a gift, clearly, to never have a gag reflex) say just about anything to bond with a person & then afterwards when called on it (in a friendly way) they just shrug it off as if to say, "oh, everyone knows we were just shooting the breeze & didn't mean any of it".