How old is too old to not have a career yet?

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That's been on my mind as well recently. 32 and somewhat in the same position. And even my high school diploma I got by attending only exams and essentially turned it into homeschooling myself.

Now I do have an appointment soon to see if I could get into any programmes to see if any of my issues can be resolved/fixed/treated.

By now I kinda figured out what I need to get my stuff sorted out; and that firstly is some kind of qualification so I'm less shafted on the jobmarket. Yet with my meager income and the refusal of the government to offer any support, any form of education is out of the window already; aside from if I actually thrive on standardized courses (but probably would need one that caters to me and the aspie mind in general).

Let's face it, no education (for whatever reason), past your mid 20's with no job experience and it's nigh impossible to compete on the jobmarket; even moreso if you also deal with issues that might require some workplace adjustments.

I am on SSI too, our ages are sort of close and I have the same credentials as you. The only job I can really think of myself possibly being able to thrive in would be a vet assistant or something with animals (NOT ANIMAL CONTROL). I'm considering trying to go to school again but I really don't know if its even worth trying. I'm really depressed over it.

I tried the military too and got sent home, bootcamp made me worse in terms of my mental illnesses I have.

TO ALL OF YOU POSSIBLY CONSIDERING THE MILITARY (any branch): If you have stuff like tics, stemming etc I would stay far away. People with aspergers do join, but they tend to be far more functional and while they do struggle in bootcamp initially (everyone does) they turn out well. If you have ANY kind of severe mental illness, like depression, bipolar, borderline etc the military will only be a nightmare for you. If you're someone who has trouble getting up to speed you'll get a lot of tough love but it reaches a point where you hinder everyone else in bootcamp because of your screw ups so people will start resenting and isolating you, even hating you, because in bootcamp when ONE person screws up everyone is punished and the eyes have walls, literally.

Every drill sergeant/RDC/whatever the airforce has, is watching you, taking notes on a card and swapping em with their other buddies. Expect endless mind games while you're constantly under the eye of scrutiny.

Its sink or swim, literally. If you screw up and struggle so much the RDC/drill guy (mean guy in charge of your group) is going to put you in special courses that may or may not help you (stuff like handling stress, how to cope etc) but this will also push back your graduation and mean you have to be in boot camp longer and bootcamp is hell, literally. I was in that exact same position and realized how much I missed home, how I was screwing up at everything, my entire ship hated me, bullied me and I was not showing any improvement. I finally came forward to my RDC and told him I had tried to kill myself before and lied about my medical record to get in at the recommendation of my recruiter and I started cutting myself with my razor. I was sent home. I couldn't take it anymore, I was and still am weak.

Yes, you can manage and survive if you have just aspergers. Aspergers and asd are often coupled with other mental illnesses, however.

Contrary to what people may say, the military is NOT for everyone. Yes you will get disciplined heavily but a lot of people I notice are under the false notion that discipline fixes everything, I was this way and thought with my myriad of problems I could be fixed with cold hard discipline. It didn't work.

I am 60 and seriously ill. I am also in the midst of a new career change.[ actually, a couple] It is NEVER too late as long as you are breathing. No one should ever feel that they have to make a career choice when they are young and stick with it for a lifetime.

hopefully I have something together before i'm 35 definetley

You are not alone. I am close to your age and I relate to what you're saying, with regards to career, motivation, relationships, etc. I have been a student since two years before Kindergarten! I am extremely scared and stressed out about joining the "real world" after I graduate from law school. I have never had a career, just two short term jobs and some internships. My legal internships have been excellent experiences, but an internship isn't a career!

Here's the good news: you have a clean slate to start with, education wise. You have been working at a job and it doesn't matter that it's minimum wage--you already have a story. Having a good story is crucial. I'm sure you're a smart guy. I suggest going back to college. What type of career do you want? That will determine what you major in and whether you go to graduate or professional school. I recommend going for something in science or technology, if that is what you are good at AND enjoy. When you obtain the education you want and are interviewing for jobs in your new career you will have a great story about overcoming adversity, improving yourself, etc. If you have any questions about college, feel free to PM me. We both face similar challenges, except that I never had a long term job and it is not to late for you to not go to law school!

17: And I still don't have a job and am over the legal age (Mom decided to put Disability Income)
Now that makes me feel stupid and even more trapped at home
I totally hate Disability. Can't they do anything more strict to make sure that the person who gets it actually wants it? Like a sheriff?
I think my Mom's trying to discriminate against me. Yuck.

I've never had a job, and although I am studying accounting, I have no idea if I'll even be good at it (given the fact I'd rather be alone then talk to people.) It's mostly because I've never gotten an internship.
Although, who knows? Maybe I will LOVE accounting.

Thinking about this question I guess it's time for a more positive perspective as well;

I have a career; I'm a freelancer, but I just don't have a lot of jobs going at the moment. And I have a lot of sabbaticals.

And in a way it's not even a lie. Even the freelance thing. I mean, I did a few things here and there to help friends out; I once collaborated to design the book cover of a friend of mine, and that book is on sale. I've applied for a handful of translation jobs and did a few of those. I've helped out friends in the music scene... and I was compensated for it. Technically, that's the defintion of a job, right?

yeah, that this does not warrant a steady income, that by itself might be a different thing, but they are all jobs of some sort. Besides; a steady income is laughable nowadays. Companies rarely hire someone on payroll anymore and the moment you work through a temp agency you can be let go on a whim anyway (but that might depend on the country). If anything I think this age is among ones with the biggest job insecurities you can imagine. Getting a job is one thing, keeping a job and actually get hired directly is a totally different thing and quite rare as it seems.

In another perspective; I see a lot of people mention education, internships and getting a job. I think I mentioned it a few times; among the courses I took was journalism. Yes; I was actually intending on becoming a journalist. And quite sure not that local reporter or newsreader; I'm not the type for that. If I finished this at university, I probably would've had a degree and still be a freelancer. And probably been in prison or fined for "slander" and other things people can't deal with with it comes to truth... all things considering; I think I'm quite content not having thát career, lol.

I'm 24, female. I can make my appearance look very professional, sassy, in style...but my social skills are horrible and I cannot find a job...can't even make a good impression for interviews. I mean my looks can make a good impression, but once I start talking it's like "fugedaboudit"

Also I don't have money for college or better education cause my parents don't want to help out and I don't want to get myself into debt.

ya I've been at my current grocery store job for close to 2 years now, next month marks 2 years since I was hired there, and highest level of education completed is just a high school diploma

There is no age limit per say, though there is societal expectations (those they are changing finally).

My grandfather was in his late 30s when started his career, this was due to my grandmother forcing him to stay at GM as a engineer (Which he retired from).
This was in the 1950s.

My career is IT, I have the degrees, projects, and internships under my belt, but I've been told it's not enough IT experience between them...

I'm not too worried, though it is quite hard to constantly interview and find out you are just shy enough.
My last interview, this past Thursday had the head of IT at the company I was interviewing at, wanting a recent college graduate with enterprise software experience. This is near impossible while in college and while doing internships. Still nerved up over it and am waiting to hear back sometime this week or next (I was one of the first to be interviewed).

Though what is different now is internships and entry level jobs require a minimum of 3 years + whatever else they want (this has been the case for a lot of us).

There is nothing like getting told you aren't experienced enough to get an internship.
This impacted a lot of my fellow classmates and I, including the Masters of IT Management program I was in (classes counted from undergrad).

I'm sort of stuck in the IT industry even though I haven't got a job in it yet, i have retail experience, but thats experience not a job, and retail isn't even the industry I want to work in. I have 2 or maybe 3 options or pathways if you like; these include IT or Construction (which might branch off into the architecture area or the physical building or maintenance sector). I've done a college course in IT specialising in software development which has given me knowledge of basic programming, databases and all sorts of technical stuff. However I want to scratch all that and move into the construction industry, however there are a few problems with that idea, firstly I don't have any experience nor qualifications to move into it, secondly, I am not that well versed in carrying heavy things on top of having a slim and weak physique, thus heavy lifting is not an option. The noisy environment that comes with the territory of the industry won't bode well with my communication issues, I can process the noises as I am used to it by now but I lack the social communication required to voice your opinions or problems you might have in the workplace.

My interests are but not limited to IT (I would like jobs that make use of typing alot every day, using Microsoft Office suite) , architecture (varied between interior design, construction, large projects etc), and computer games. So you can see my interests are quite small, so nothing on the side like other hobbies other people like music or videos (where I absolutely hate to record myself or others to take pictures of me).

I am finding it difficult to make a decision whether to abandon my interests and just work wherever I can to make money, or follow my interests and make my decision based on them. The former has more chance of yielding a job at the end of it than the latter.

In America, few people work in exactly one job (or even same industry/job duties) for their entire adult life. It is the exception these days that someone might work 30+ years with the same employer. Even if you are a great employee, they will eventually nudge you out the door at most places.

Worry less about having a career and more about what skills you have and what you can do with them. I've worked in the information/computer security field for most of the past 15 years, but I was certain I wanted to get out of it about halfway through and spent a few years working in a related IT field before getting back into security work again. A lot of the most successful people in the world have done lots of different things during their life, so don't feel like you should be on one path.

ya I know it's best to ignore societies expectations but it's not like you can make yourself deaf to them

I had the same deal. My parents actually wanted to charge me rent, so I was homeless off and on again during my AS (I refused to stay with them, obviously, their rules + my money? Nope.).
I went to the community college, because I could pay cash for classes there. The only bad part was sometimes the textbooks cost more than the classes, so, my grades suffered and the teachers chewed me out in front of the class multiple times... but, ~shrugs~ I just kept my head down and plugged away until I got through it. Graduated debt-free. (okay, granted, I had to work multiple jobs that paid barely above the minimum wage to pull this off and it wasn't without it's effects on my health, but, that time would've passed, whether I'd made good use of it or not)

Not that I'm biased, but, I'd check out Facilities. Post-construction, post-occupancy, whichever you want to call it. Lots of tolerance for weirdos and low-turnover so you can get to know people. And, no offense to my esteemed colleagues, but, there aren't too many of us really good with computers.

The construction industry as a whole (building, interior design, architecture) has contracted a lot since the recession and there are still more people than jobs, though many (like my spouse) have left the industry because they couldn't find work.

Check out your hospitals, universities, large corporate headquarters, etc and see what facilities postings they have available.

first time back here in a while, I will admit, me being born a guy(as in human male), it gets annoying, and often enrages me, on how it seems we are judged, valued, defined by our job, career, occupation, stability, income, what we are doing with our life or where we are headed in life.