Do you quit jobs because you don't feel competent?
I was just reading through the thread about reasons for losing your last job (here). I have never been fired, but I leave my jobs frequently. My reason doesn't seem to appear yet in that thread, but surely there are others who feel the same.
I suppose the main reason I leave a job is "stress", but the reason for the stress is that I don't feel competent. In my last job, there were parts of my role that I really enjoyed and was very good at (e.g. analysing data and proofreading), but there were other aspects where I always felt completely lost (e.g. researching something and writing up a document about my findings, or understanding the relationship between a project and its external stakeholders). After a while I developed severe hypersomnia and had to quit because I couldn't keep my eyes open. I would try to read the work material and my mind would just shut down. Even though I knew I had to get the work done, my subconscious brain had other ideas and would put me to sleep instead, because it was "all too hard".
Does anyone else experience this? I'm talking about trying to understand material that involves piecing things together, and working with concepts and terms that the corporate world loves but that I fail to comprehend. My managers have no problem with my work and say I am doing well, but I don't feel this way. I spend so much time feeling that I "just don't GET it". It feels sort of like when you are in a branch meeting as a new staff member and you have no idea what they are talking about, but it never goes away.
I have tried explaining this problem to my psychologist but I can't really describe it properly - even now I'm not really getting to the core of it. I'm hoping someone else out there gets where I'm coming from and can describe it more accurately, so I can explain this to my psych and hopefully work through it.
Sweetleaf
Veteran
Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 35,278
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
Does anyone else experience this? I'm talking about trying to understand material that involves piecing things together, and working with concepts and terms that the corporate world loves but that I fail to comprehend. My managers have no problem with my work and say I am doing well, but I don't feel this way. I spend so much time feeling that I "just don't GET it". It feels sort of like when you are in a branch meeting as a new staff member and you have no idea what they are talking about, but it never goes away.
I think I understand this. I never left a job for such a reason, but I've often felt inadequate in a similar way. I did get fired once, but usually I just ended up feeling like I wasn't giving the job the sort of attention I ought to give it. I'm finding it hard to describe. I understand it a bit better now than I did when I didn't know about AS and just thought I was lazy. I would stare at work that I ought to do, and sort of freeze. At the same time, I was usually ashamed of myself, as I was being paid to the job at that level, and wasn't succeeding - or even trying sometimes. I feel now that it was like a big picture problem - that I couldn't make out forests, only trees. Which I understand is a classic AS symptom.
I've never been professionally tested (currently awaiting diagnosis), but I've done enough casual IQ tests to know I'm bright, but it didn't seem to help. At the moment, I'm a language teacher. Once you're in the class, all you have to do is teach, and deal with questions. When the hour ends, it's all over. My problems now come when I have to plan a class, and a term or year. Can't seem to force myself to really get a grip on the big picture again! Fortunately, most of the kids I tutor already have a syllabus, and I have some resources I can rely on for adults. I've been offered a bigger project lately however, that requires me to put my own programme together, and I'm worried it'll be the same old story.
I've never been professionally tested (currently awaiting diagnosis), but I've done enough casual IQ tests to know I'm bright, but it didn't seem to help. At the moment, I'm a language teacher. Once you're in the class, all you have to do is teach, and deal with questions. When the hour ends, it's all over. My problems now come when I have to plan a class, and a term or year. Can't seem to force myself to really get a grip on the big picture again! Fortunately, most of the kids I tutor already have a syllabus, and I have some resources I can rely on for adults. I've been offered a bigger project lately however, that requires me to put my own programme together, and I'm worried it'll be the same old story.
Thanks Nascaireacht, there are some useful descriptions there...it is probably a "forest for the trees" issue. I too just thought I was lazy, disinterested, etc., before my diagnosis. It is a horrible feeling when you don't think you are working as effectively as you ought. I imagine a lot of NTs aren't as concerned about that, but I certainly need to feel like I am "earning" my wage.
In 88 I had an anxiety attack and quit. Over the next ten years I quit every job I had after two or three weeks. Had a job making pizzas that only lasted about three weeks. I quit because I couldn't work out the timing of the pizzas in the oven. Quit a job as a trade assistant for a tiler because I just wasn't 'getting it'.
As I look back, I think I just wasn't prepared to stick at it.
Eventually I got a job I could stick with, and have only been fired once since, and redundant a few times.
_________________
assumption makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'mption'.
Yes, I've never gotten fired from a job before but all of the jobs I left were due to feeling stressed out and incompetent in what I was doing. Working sucks the life out of me literally and I'm not saying that just because I'm lazy. When I work all I do when I come home is sleep and be stressed out until the next day.
| Similar Topics | |
|---|---|
| Feel really behind everyone else in my generation |
20 Jul 2026, 4:53 pm |
| Is it weird I feel I'm not meant to make friends? |
12 Jul 2026, 2:22 am |
