Aspies and IT ?

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Hi

I have always been attracted to computers and I spend most of my time surfing the web. I seem to be matched personality wise to programming, and especially so being an Asp. I'm not so sure that it is right for me though, as I'm struggling to get it. I'm smart (visual thinker) and high IQ so theoretically it shouldn't be above me. Maybe my logic brain isn't up to scratch? I don't know. Is it just sometimes other areas of IT are better suite to some individuals (even Aspies)? Any thoughts? Thanks.

I'm an aspie who has a side job in IT, and my associates is in Wide area networking. Unfortunately, ther job market for IT in this area is kinda slow, so, full time, I'm stuck being a file clerk. (something's gotta pay the bills). I'm looking at going back for my bachelor's degree, and refocusing a bit. Those who have seen my work in IT have loved the results, it just has a very small market right now.

I love computers as well. It just depends on the job. There are many fields in the IT industry to go into. There is PC repair, Networking, and many areas of art and design and programming. Depends also on where you live or plan to live. Many of these jobs are spread around a good ways away from some people.

out of interest what parts of programming are you struggling with? Are you self teaching or doing a course?

What program(s) are you learning? Python's a good one to start with, says my husband, a coder. He's an abstract thinker, not a visual thinker. There is a lot of math in coding. Do you like algorithms? My husband says I'm a natural to be a coder because of various logical and organized aspects, but since I don't care about all the parts of a computer and zeroes and ones and transforming the data, I doubt it is for me. Lots of people surf the web and would never be coders. Go ahead and try it and you will find out if you take to it. That's the only way.

It is not math, it is logic.
logic != math

I took at least 4 programming courses. I earned a B in them. I didn't particularly enjoy it. Also, regardless of my letter grade I actually struggled with it. I saw a small percent of the class seem to really be good at it. I wasn't one of them. I started with Visual Basic and then the rest of the courses were C++. I can't tell you how frustrating it is.
Make changes....<cross fingers> ...compiling... compiler error/logic error. Crap!
I started my college journey thinking I wanted to major in C.S. because I like computers. That changed after my 2nd Calculus class and my last programming class. I wasn't enjoying it and the math was really stressing me out. My math tutors began to disappear.

You can either do it or you can't, it's a talent. I did it at university and I've spent 10 years working as a programmer. The 1st year at my university you were forced to take 2 extra modules in something that wasn't part of your degree. A lot of people took what was our 1st module because they liked computers. The class was huge in the first month or so, then it dwindled as these guys all just ignored it (you only had to use your grade in one exta module for you year grade) these were people that went on to get good degrees in maths, physics and chemistry etc. Despite very high IQ's they just didn't get If's and loops and object orientation.

You can either do it or you can't. You have to like it as well to do it properly. I love it and it's a special interest.

It's a great career choice (if you can do it) for aspie's because there in no networking required and limited non functional communication with others. Your success is based on ability. There is some office politics though, no job is safe from that. The smaller the company though the less that exists because they need you. If you're at a big company they can replace you with another team or employee and you have to have performance reviews which always include a bunch of crap. But at a small company they don't have that and if your good you can become invaluable to them. Once you hit this point they'll forgive anything unusual.

Best thing would be to start at a big company go through a grad programme and get some training and experience, put up with the BS and then quit and join a small place.

Websurfing is NOT programming. But it can be a first step.
When you are interested in sciences, logic, math programming could be a good thing. Another branche in IT is testing, it can be interesting for Aspies. It requires precise working. But still the personality determines more than the syndrome. For example, I hate testing while there are companies seeking specifically auties for testing.

I do different things in my work like programming, techical design and incident analysis. Since I am blessed with good analytical skills incident analysis is my strong point. When there is a problem I read it, look at logs and then I get a feeling where the problem could be, that hunch is right a lot of times. A disadvantage is the need for communication, but my communication skill improved a lot.