Turning special interests into success

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You can do better than name-calling.

You have misunderstood the OP. The OP argues for fostering the "special interest" into a career. You argument is akin to "My special interest is playing slot machines at the casino, therefore, I am building a career in a casino occupation". Casino jobs don't care if you have a lot of experience playing slots. Just like gaming jobs don't care if you have a lot of experience playing games. "Game playing" is not skill employers want , because it is assumed anyone can play a game.

As you can see from Gamasutra ( http://jobs.gamasutra.com/ )

even QA/Tester is a programming jobs the employer wants usable skills, not experience playing computer games ..

http://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/quality-a ... rnia-25881
http://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/quality-a ... rnia-25772
http://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/experienc ... rnia-25814

my skills at making pizza

I had fair success in identifying my special interests, and then how they can be generalized into something marketable.

Another thing that helped me was working through my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Once assessed, there seems to be a lot of career counseling materials that take one's MBTI as a starting point.

Taken together, knowing my special interests and then considering them in light of my MBTI was a big help.

I only wish I had known of my ASD at the time because it would have made things even better. Unfortunately, at the time Asperger's was not even in the DSM-IV.

It's interesting and telling that you believe I was name calling. You may want to reread that. If I was name calling I would've flat out called you an ass. I have not so therefore I am not name calling. There is a difference.

Also I find it interesting that you are putting words in my mouth that I never said. How convenient to your argument that was.

What I would love to know is what is your problem if I want to encourage people to feel good about something they do anyway? How does it hurt you or anyone else to gain confidence in their abilities and to make something good come from it?

You want to assume a LOT. Maybe you should try asking before assuming that you know. You may find that it isn't what you think.

Oh and thank you for finding job postings that show there are careers for people who play games all day. I like when I don't have to do the work.

not aspergan but have turned special interests of mine into bigger things- some of them paying jobs! leo kanner said it himself to turn interests into strengths as it can help us progress.
one of mine is equestrianism,have done it since ten years old,became an RDA competitor winning a trophy for bareback stirrupless jumping and am now a special olympics athlete in dressage and jumping.

Your wrote: "because you lack knowledge, it makes you look like an a***". This is something I expect to hear from a ten year old. I reread, and it sounds like you are saying I am an ass.



You don't explain how I am doing that , so this is just empty words.



Your motives are irrelevant to the factuality of your statements.



Your condescension is boring. Please don't say someone assumes too much - that is not necessary to say. Just say what the person assumes. You fail to do that here, so it comes across as a blind insult without meaning.



More boring condescension.

No. The jobs I cited were not for people who play games.

I cited them specifically because they are game testing jobs, and list many required skills, however, "playing games" is not on them. I think employers would look down on anyone who confessed to a special interest in playing games, so I think it is actually a negative. You appear to want to believe that playing computer games, or merely using the internet leads to some kind of career employment, despite my contrary evidence, and no evidence provided of your own.

Would you really stand in front of people and tell people that playing computer games and/or using the internet as an engaging special interest could be fostered into a career?

How many hours sunk into World of Warcraft does it take to get an employer to notice me? What should I focus on in an interview -the items I collected in World of Warcraft or the monsters I killed?

I actually knew a guy who worked in a pizza place that was autistic on the moderate end and he loved making pizzas and was quite good at it. He even helped come up with the shops specialty pizza and they loved having him there. He has been there for years. He started out by having an interest in pizza toppings of all things.

His dad saw that as a way to help him and started teaching him how to make pizzas. The kid could toss a pizza. I was actually quite amazed when I first saw it. He wasn't that graceful walking or eating which is why it surprised me.

@loveNothate

UMM how do they test the games without playing them? Man they must be awesome to know what is going on with the games without ever playing them.





Yup, why wouldn't I? You need an interest in gaming to become a game tester, game programmer, etc otherwise how boring would that be. You need an interest in the internet to become a web designer again how boring would it be if you weren't interested in the internet. The happiest people are the ones doing something they have a passion for as a career.



I would sell your charming wit. I'm sure it will go over just as well with them as it does with me. BTW you did look into those players that charge people to build up their characters before making that statement right? No! Well, that wasn't very diligent to your argument.



What fallacy are you referring to? Please by all means enlighten me as to what falsehood I have presented. You're the one crying that I am telling people lies, but yet you are the one saying that an interest in something doesn't mean diddly.

Who are you to think that it isn't a success to use one's special interest to get out of the house a couple of hours a week to volunteer with kids playing video games or going on the internet without having a meltdown? I 've been careful with my words because some people here don't believe they are capable of even that. Didn't bother to think about that did you? You probably think that it isn't your problem.




Actually I wrote:


Which if you paid attention in English class it is a totally different statement than "because you lack knowledge, it makes you look like an ass." So let me make it simple for you, Just because you lack knowledge in how an interest in the internet or gaming could be a career doesn't mean you get to demean them for their interest, that ( the act of demeaning) makes you look like an ass. ETA: LOOK and ARE aren't the same thing nor have the same definition. So if you decided that they are the same, then that is your fault. Not mine. People tell me that I look like a Young Frank Sinatra doesn't mean I am a young Frank Sinatra.



By saying that what I am saying is akin to and I quote, "My special interest is playing slot machines at the casino, therefore, I am building a career in a casino occupation" I never made any such argument. You ASSUMED I was. I said you can use your special interest to have a career. I never once said it didn't take work. Therefore you are putting words in my mouth by expressing what my argument is.


And finally, I may be a little condescending I will give you that. Yet you haven't really given me any reason not to be.

Last edited by kicker on 24 Jan 2014, 9:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

That is awesome! I really like horses, they are very majestic animals. Bareback riding is tough, I tried it once, ended up falling off. The horse took off before I had a good hold. Luckily it was into mud so I didn't get hurt. Might of helped too if I was paying attention rather than seeing where everyone was. lol.

What is your special interest if you don't mind me asking?

I did a lot of video game research for a novel. Some of that involved playing games and that was pretty fun but I learned a lot at the same time. Gamasutra has been a helpful site in learning about 'game theory.'

I've been doing band photography for 10 years and though making money is hard because of the amount of competition you come up against I've had a lot of free access to shows. I've even shot alongside Tony Mott which was pretty awesome. I forgot how to speak or look at people during that time.

I'm reading a lot of comic books and want to start illustrating my own. Now I am just sketching as many characters as I can so I get a feel for it.

My many years of being a science fiction fan makes me want to write a novel or screenplay.

So, not many success stories yet. I'm known by a lot of popular musicians as a band photographer and I have somewhat of a social life because of it.

Although I usually like to spend time doing something practical I don't mind if my special interests don't turn into a career, however, I am unemployed so I would like make some money in some way.

My special interests:

1. Writing poetry (This has been my main interest for the last 3 years)- I am good at this.

2. Card Magic - I am ok at this.

3. Rubiks Cube - I am ok at this. (Best time around 25 seconds.)


Now to turn these into a job haha

Turning - I work at a Factory doing just that.
Not rich, but comfortable income.

I've tried to turn my special interests into income, but I always get overwhelmed, panic, and abandon my projects. I had a great jewelry store going and then I forgot to send one thing, it snowballed into a disaster and I abandoned the whole thing altogether. I have trouble managing everything on my own. Maybe if I sold it to boutiques or something? But that would involve me being social and winning people over...

I used to make wigs for a living. I worked for a great studio on Broadway. It was like stimming and making money at the same time because it was so repetitive. I loved it. But now I've moved and I don't know where to go do this job again. It scares me to go looking for someone to work for.

Another of my special interests is my job, but it works for me because I only have to do it a few days at a time and I get paid well for it. This is the part of me that can act NT very well, but as you all know, it takes its toll, and I have to decompress for a few days/weeks afterward.

This is a very important topic that is typically neglected. There are no guarantees that having special interests will generate a successful career. It's all up to the person having them to steer his/her interests in a favorable way. It is at least partly possible to select what to get hyperfocused and hooked on, and that can be used to create a career.

I had no idea about AS when I grew up, but I did have strong interests very early. I used them to first get an MSc in electronics 1987 (I had computers and electronics as a special interest). Then, in 1988, I started my operating system project, which I did in my spare time while also working as a programmer professionally. Later, when I had switched job and got a position as an embedded programmer, I used my OS project for debugging the embedded system. Since some years back we use it for the PC-platform, and it is out in some 500 installations, and will be in even more during this year. This is an example of an project I did as a special interest, in my spare time, which eventually went commercial. Another example is Aspie Quiz, which I did as a special interest project, and that now is published, and with two follow-up studies on peer-review. I'm pretty sure this project will also turn into something professional in the end. In fact, my ambition from the start was a professional project, not another silly home-brew test. I think this is important for success in a variety of situations. If you want to do something, do it with the highest ambitions from the start, but expect a lot of hard work before you reach your goals.

But I have a hard time figuring out how excessive gaming could ever lead to a career. This does seem to qualify as "useless" in most cases. As does addictions to sports.