Autism and The Job Market

Post Reply New Topic

In purely practical terms, a STEM degree IS much better than a liberal arts degree. Especially at the Bachelor's level.

A comparative listing of HASS and STEM degrees:

HASS (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences)

o Anthropology
o Archaeology
o Classics
o Geography
o History
o Jurisprudence/Law
o Linguistics/Languages
o Literature
o Performing Arts
o Philosophy
o Political Science
o Psychology
o Religion/Religious Studies
o Sociology
o Visual Arts

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)

Sciences
o Formal Sciences
   • Actuarial Science
   • Logic
   • Mathematics
   • Statistics
o Natural Sciences
   • Astronomy
   • Astrophysics
   • Atmospherics
   • Biochemistry
   • Biology
   • Chemistry
   • Computer Science
   • Condensed-Matter Physics
   • High-Energy Physics
   • Medicine
   • Nuclear Physics
   • Optics
   • Quantum Physics

Technology/Engineering
o Acoustical Engineering
o Aerospace Engineering
o Bioinformatics
o Biomechanics
o Chemical Engineering,
o Civil Engineering
o Computer Engineering
o Educational Research
o Educational/Instructional Technology
o Electrical Engineering
o Electronics
o Geographic Information Systems
o Industrial Engineering
o Information Science
o Information Technology
o Mechanical Engineering
o Nanotechnology,
o Operations Research
o Robotics
o Software Engineering

Mathematics
o Algebra
o Applied Mathematics
o Calculus
o Geometry
o Mathematical Biology
o Trigonometry

NOTE: These lists are by no means exhaustive.

If you want to just teach, and your field is basic science or a humanity, there are actually a TON of jobs out there to be had at universities. With a higher demand for college educated people in the job market, there is a higher demand for high-level educators to prepare them. The highly competitive jobs are, in my experience, the university positions that involve less teaching and more research. To snag one of those, and to hold onto it, you need a track record of high productivity and you need skills in securing grants. Personally, I'm currently searching for teaching / research positions that have a 50/50 balance between the two.

As for my personal experiences with my career thus far, I'd be glad to share those too. Keep in mind that I am speaking from experience as a biologist living in the USA. Experiences in other fields and countries will assuredly vary.

First, let me just say, people like us make for IDEAL grad students. Are you intensely focused on your research? Could you just go on talking endlessly about it? Grad school programs want YOU! After college I got approached by a professor at another university who saw my undergraduate research. I applied to the program at his university, was interviewed, and was accepted. This is atypical though. Usually a student goes out and applies to programs on their own. It does help to get to know a professor (or professors) you might want to work with as soon as possible in the process though. Either way though, it's pretty easy to get into a PhD program if you have good grades. The trick at this stage is just not to get stuck in one that pays terribly, or one that doesn't pay a stipend at all, since this can cause debt to accumulate. No PhD program will pay you well, but a livable wage is something you should shop around for. And by all means, do not accept an offer to a program that expects you to pay your own tuition. This is unfortunately the norm for bachelors and masters programs, but PhD programs should in the very least waive tuition, and really should also pay you a livable wage on top of that.

When I was almost done with my dissertation (though admittedly about a year earlier than I had expected), a really cool post-doc job ad came up. I applied, and I got it! This means I had to rush to finish up. The good news is my postdoc paid about double what I was paid to teach and do research in grad school (~50K). This was a big relief.

Now that I'm finishing up my postdoc, I'm applying for Tenure Track Assistant Professor jobs in my field. I got 4 skype interviews and will be doing my second on-campus interview next week. Fingers crossed. They say that once you are getting interviews it's just a matter of time before some university grabs you. Still, this part is really hard. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the United States (and this is true, especially in Liberal Arts).

People with Master's Degrees and who are published little----tend to be adjunct instructors, and have difficulty getting tenured positions.

It's much easier for people with PhD's and other doctoral degrees, and who have been published in journals a few times, to attain tenure.

The thing....is to attain tenure.

It's probably much easier for people in STEM, and who have "only" Master's Degrees, to get jobs teaching and to get tenure.

Engineering and IT degrees are far more employable than generic degrees in Maths or Science. There are plenty of teachers that have had to study extra years after completing a generic Maths or Science degree.

My friend used to work in lumber mills, and saw a lot of people looking for jobs. Those who had grown up on farms were almost always given a chance, because there is a lot of problem solving and safety around machinery in that background. My friend got promoted over a guy who had been waiting 20 years, because he paid attention, and saw ways to get more boards through in a day. The boss easily saw the difference.
One guy who had grown up in a large rural community had taught himself drywall work, and had everyone hiring him if they needed that. Then, he decided to move to the city, so he went around collecting many letters of reference from various people. The first ad he answered had said "bring tools" and he went in nervously with his sheaf of hand-written notes for support. The boss ignored the papers, and looked in his tool bag. There, he saw a nondescript grey lump with an electrical cord. "What's that?" he asked, pointing.
"Oh, that's just my radio" the lad answered.
The boss immediately started giving him directions to a job he wanted done.
"Don't you even want to see my references?" asked the astonished applicant.
"Anybody with a radio like that has the 2 years experience."

I graduated from college 10 years ago and have been on welfare ever since. I do not see anything wrong with claiming on my resume I have Aspergers and here is a long list of what I can and can not do. I do not like this and that and need a workplace that meets my needs. Having Aspergers means I am stuck in my own way and need fixed rigid routine and minimal interactions for people. I am an extreme introvert and I get upset by loud, mouthed, obnoxious extroverts.

There is not many employers that will employ extreme introverts with Aspergers. I do not have the finances to start my own business. Moving to another city will not change the fact that I am an extreme introvert with Aspergers. The inability to work in a team and being an extreme introvert makes me unsuitable for the workplace.

In general, a business can only afford to accommodate special needs if the government makes everyone share the load. They are pretty adamant about not even accommodating ordinary needs if they can find desperate workers.
Starting a business with an investment is the usual way, but "bootstrapping" is much less prone to failure. It takes a lot more work, but time is what we have. Lists of daily chores can help with the executive ability.
People make money by buying and selling, and ebay lets us do it from home. Handicrafts can be sold on-line, and some items get really easy to make with a few special tools. My friend Steve has dozens of "nickel generators" - one is a pay-per-view how-to article. Another guy puts his hobbies on YouTube and is astounded at the revenue.
A hundred years ago, people with jobs were still called wage slaves. Life is better when you own your job.

I've been in that situation for years before I got my first job and it was depressing as f*ck. It's being constantly smacked in the face with rejection and having to explain yourself to people who don't believe a word you say. Work is easier, even for us Aspies. You told them that you are a problem that if they employ you they will have to deal with. On the good side we now know why you got rejected and you can learn from it. The reason you don't see anything wrong with telling them you are an Asperger is because you have no experience of the workplace. Even the nicest, fairest, kindest person reading your CV will think 'I would love to give her a chance but I don't have time to deal with all this right now, maybe next time' and put your CV in the bin. They are not paid to take on problems, they are paid to avoid them. Right here is the bit you can't do anything about. Look for jobs that fit with these issues. It's more that no one is going to respond to what they see as a list of demands on their job application and the word Asperger that they almost certainly don't have a clue about or know all the wrong things about. Doesn't cost any money to start a business. It can be as simple as looking at adverts by people looking for a cleaner for two hours a week (they provide all products) and then another one or more likely they will recommend you to friends. You can be clear that you the hours need to be the same each week, no variation and that you like quiet and that you are an EXTREAM introvert. These are all GOOD things in a cleaner. They will not understand your level of introvert but by that time you are in the job and what will matter most to them is that you are honest and reliable. No, it just makes finding the right sort of job for you and getting the job much harder but there are huge variations of workplaces even jobs that have the same title. I've worked as a shop assistant in four shops and they varied a lot in how they crossed over with my Aspergers. Shop work wouldn't work for you, waitressing was a nightmare for me because it involves multitasking, which someone would only know if they were an Aspie and had tried it. I really think you would benifit from having a go at some of these lower skill jobs that are far easier to get. You don't have to put them on your CV latter if you don't want to.

It might sound like I am encouraging you to lower your standards, but if a step down is the way to get to the steps going up then you should be thinking of taking it. Not cleaning if you hate the idea but there are other similar things. At the moment it sounds like you might be stagnating (been there) and your possibly dismissing a whole lot of jobs because of assumptions about them that you have been given by an NT world. Routine in particular is not in their vocabularies.

At the moment I am concentrating on finishing and then selling (trad publishing) my novel but if I manage to get

a publisher then I plan to subsidise my advance by making things to sell on Folksy a Uk site like a smaller version

of Etsy. I don't expect to make much from it but every little bit helps and it's a whole new area to explore as when

I've been selfemployed before I was selling my services (cleaner, painter, artex remover, motorbike cleaner,

gardener) but I've never sold anything that I made. I'm thinking Christmas decorations, small, flat, and light

ones. I did a start your own business course once and it was unexpectedly enjoyable, but it was a long time

ago; computers and the internet didn't get a mention lol.

I'm thinking of subscribing to to skillshare in the hope it will help with both promoting my author platform when

the time comes (terrifying) and with the homemade things, anyone know how good they are?

I see plenty wrong with it: I would compare this resume to what I assume was an 18-19 year old male applicant. He was extremely cocky and arrogant in his application almost implying that he could do the CEOs job. After we had a good laugh, it went to the bottom of the pile. This guy only had part time/temp jobs and seemed to think that was worth a $40,000/yr job as a stepping stone to a $100,000/yr job. The better solution is to only apply to places that would meet such a criteria (i.e. not a call centre or busy retail store) and focus on your strengths. A resume is only to list skills, certifications/education and experience and not a psychological report.

You might be able to get away with such a resume if you are someone very famous like Tom Cruise or Michael Jordan but definitely not as someone without any proven experience. Sorry to tell you but yours would be the very first one to go into the trash right after the ones with blatant typos.

Fluffy didn’t say that.

Low-skilled jobs are not easier to get. This is a myth that keeps getting pushed. Everyone skilled or unskilled can apply for a low skilled job. Instead of 200 people competing for a skilled job you have 500+ people competing for the unskilled job. I have no skills, I can not work with people, I can not deal with customers, I have Aspergers. Employers rarely employ people with Aspergers. People without disabilities and people with other disabilities that are not Aspergers/Autism are far more likely to obtain jobs.

We need a movement that tries and change the system so more employers employ people with Autism/Aspergers. It is shocking that 80%+ of people with Autism/Aspergers are unemployed. Having this terrible condition makes us less employable than other people. Having a college degree rarely change the chances of employment for a person with Autism/Aspergers. Still got Aspergers/Autism and over qualified for unskilled jobs and employer still not willing to employ people with Aspergers/Autism..

Masters Degrees are not considered a terminal degree in STEM. Nearly all tenure track positions in STEM at 4-year accredited universities require a PhD. -and this is just to get a job that is tenure "track." What you would need to do in order to get tenure depends on the % split your position is with teaching / research / service / extension / etc. In my case though, the saying is "publish or perish."

I don't mind publishing a lot though. I feel like I am better understood in text. I like expressing myself this way.

Also, I do know two people who are adjunct bio instructors at community colleges with masters degrees, but neither of them are in tenure-track positions, and so neither of them have tenure.

Your current approach seems to be to wait to get a job until the world turns into a fairer and nicer place. This is your right but you will have a very miserable life and worse gives you no control over your own life.

I hope you don't feel we are all picking on you. the reason we are trying to help is because we don't feel you are a hopeless case.

How many low skilled manual jobs have you applied for?

Hi kraftie, if I had said that I'd still be looking for my first job.