Engineer in your family?

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My grandfather is an engineer (retired); but how's this:

Older people with (potentially inheritable) Aspergers syndrome are rarely diagnosed, on account of old, but have traditionally been drawn towards engineering and engineering-adjacent professions.

It's a wild guess, but hey, seems to make sense on the face of it?

I have Asperger's Syndrome (diagnosed) and I am a Professional Engineer. My father was an engineer. My grandfather was an engineer. Going back further I come from a family of ship builders.

My dad has been working in the civil engineering industry for decades.

Both my grandparents.

My great-grandfather taught physics at Berkeley during the Cold War. My grandfather was dean of Environmental Sciences at UCSB. My grandmother is a civil engineer, now retired.

There does seem to be a high rate of descendents of engineers using this forum, even higher than Baron-Cohen's estimates. Perhaps those with higher functioning autism are more likely to use forums like this.

Me:

My Father:
- There is a long line of engineers on my father's side
- Father is an electrical engineer, now self-employed.
- Most of my father's siblings are engineers, financial analysts or doctors
- Most display aspie like traits (lack of friendships, aloofness, social naivete, etc.)

My mother:
- Most of my mother's siblings are in IT or programming
- Mother is a biology major (now obsessed with religion)
- Display aspie traits but to a milder degree.

In addition, a note not necessarily associated with autism
- Most of my family members eventually became or started as self-employed. I always wondered if entrepreneurs display autistic like traits, considering the high degree of numeracy associated with owning a business. This hasn't been studied at all, but considering that being self-employed requires a degree of risk and the ability to be flexible (and thus very tolerant of changes in routine), I would think not, but I would like to be wrong.

Aspie traits with myself:
- lack of friendships, despite wanting to make more
- the friends I do have are stereotypically geeky
- overly analytical and pedantic
- did not engage in play with other kids growing up
- talk at people, not with people
- abnormal cognitive profile (high verbal and block design, poor spatial memory and cognitive flexiblity)

Non-aspie traits:
- risk-tolerance
- don't mind changes in routine, although I do go to the same barbershop
- engaged in pretend play as a kid, but mostly with myself
- not too much trouble with imagination
- not incredibly neurotic now, was several years ago

Part of me wants to go to get myself genetically tested to unlock the mysteries of myself.

My grandparents all grew up very poor and none of them would have had the opportunity to become an engineer or anything of that nature.

My dad's parents were really slow and backwards and definitely wouldn't have had an aptitude for anything technical. My dad, however, has a great aptitude for almost anything technical or mechanical, other than computers. My mom's brother works in IT.

Outside of that, I don't know if anyone in my family has a career or aptitude particularly linked to autism. But I see strong autistic traits on both sides of the family.

One uncle

My father was unschooled, but a successful garage engineer. I think my mother was the aspie, though, and her dad was a specialized manufacturer.

Dad was a genius who was probably one of the best tax lawyers in the country. He knew the entire tax code inside and out. But Dad was kooky and a loner and hardly had any friends. I think he was an Aspie.

My father used to work in the computer industry building custom computers. This was back in the late 70's and early 80's when you needed a soldering iron, steady hands, and a lot of technical ability to build them. While not technically an engineer, I think it's along the same lines.

I'm an Aspie and currently work as an engineer. I also have a son with autism. I guess the trend continues on.

Have AS. Dad is petroleum engineer, I am studying civil engineering.

My dad was an engineer, I worked in IT, but most of my ancestors were farmers.

What do you mean by "risk-taking"? Physical risks like roller coasters or bunjee jumping, or more financial risks like gambling?

I guess both physical and financial (usually one correlates with other forms of risk). I'm not sure what the literature says of people with AS being risk-adverse, but I imagine they would run along the spectrum of risk-adverse to risk-seeking, with the average being closer to the risk-adverse side than the general population, but some being quite risk-tolerant or even sensation seekers.