The Top 5 Worst Careers for people with Aspergers

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I would definitely disagree with the idea of a teaching job being a bad choice for an Aspie. There are many people with As who have gone on to acquire teaching positions, most notably, Temple Grandin. Also, I am 99% sure that one of my high school english teachers had AS. She was very eccentric, had a very disorganized teaching style, didn't establish any rapport with the other teachers or students, and spoke/wrote in complex language that boggled everyone (even me who had a penchant for vocabulary). Nevertheless, she has been teaching the same courses, in her unchanged unique manner, for years and years.

Teaching can be both a good and bad position, depending on the specifics.....I taught a college course for two years and, I can tell you, it was a good learning experience. The material itself was a little challenging, but I'm pretty good at relating complex concepts in simpler terms, so I really enjoyed helping the students to better understand it. It was only 50 minutes a day so it was the perfect length of time for me to go in, do my lecture, answer questions, then leave before I started to feel overwhelmed. One-on-one interaction with the students was a cinch, since neither of us were concerned with obeying all the social niceties, but we were strictly focused on making sense of the material. That made the experience a lot easier, since there was no BS going out and body language or anything.

I was completely responsible for teaching the class so I had total freedom in how to arrange the course. The only stipulation was the textbook, which I wasn't fond of but could handle. Because of this, I made great use out of the internet....a lot of interaction with my students took place via Blackboard and through email. I have a terrible short term memory so if a student mentioned something to me after class, I'd probably forget it by the time I got back to my apartment. I would tell them to drop me an email about it as soon as they got back to their dorm. This wouldn't be possible in in high school, so I can see this being another problem area.

I'm sure I came across as quirky or aloof during my lectures, but it didn't really matter since I wasn't there to be a social butterfly but to explain predicate logic. I'm sure this would be different in a regular school setting, since there's such an emphasis on mingling and relating to the students as an NT would, and you'd be required to do it for hours and hours, five days a week, and I can see how that would be exhausting. I could teach college again, no problem, but I think I'd explode if I had to do even a week of high school.

My mom always said I'd make the perfect judge. Though I just like being the boss and making others suffer for what they did wrong.

I don't think I could ever be a special ed teacher though. The stress would get to me really quickly. I will add that I have helped out with the lower-functioning kids a few years, though, but I don't think that's quite exactly the same.

Lets see the many low paying jobs I failed at

The Army 2 months of hell, never finished basic training
I was good at shooting, sargeant ranks, camping, but sucked at running and obstacles

Resteraunt employee 9 years of hell
I was good at the tasks handed to me but had a hard time interacting with miscreants that worked there with me. I have a lot messed up stories about those wasted years some funny but most sad.

Metal Finisher 9 good years
I was really good at metal finishing/polishing aluminum, steel, copper, and brass parts of different sizes. I had a lot of good years because I got to work by myself in a small room. With the recession my job changed so they wanted me to be a machine operator I could not stand it and was laid off because of it.

Horus, I am obssessed with staying at jobs for long periods of time because I hate starting new jobs and having to get to re4member new names. As for the Army they actually tried to work with me it was the other soldiers who hated me for being a know it all and they loved it when I had trouble with the physical stuff. Luckily I signed up when I was 17 and my they could not hold me to my signature. They were going to restart me in basic training until I passed the run. Yikes. So I took an entry level seperation which was a shock to my drill sargeants who thought I was obssessed with the military.

I disagree with the teaching bit. Maybe a bad high school teacher, but a college professor could be right up some AS people's alley. It's something I've thought about doing. Football...I'm actually not terrible at sports, but would not excel at them either. I don't know enough AS people to guess if others would really be that good at it. People tell me I would be a good lawyer because I can debate and argue them into a corner. I think a lawyer involves more reading people than a judge does.

I worked in retail (hourly, not commissioned) for many years, with some it being in food service. Most of the time,I did fairly well, although I tended to follow policies and procedures more closely than others, which did cause some trouble. On the other hand, I worked quickly. On the register, for example, I had customers ask me to slow down because the POS couldn't keep up. I even worked at the returns counter, but sometimes needed the help of others to stand behind my back when re-iterating the return policy to customers. The worst part of retail for me was pushing people to sign up for the store credit cards and the lack of appreciation. The unpredictable hours (as well as being forced to stay two hours after the schedule says to leave) didn't help either.

Sales - I cannot exaggerate claims or tell lies without feeling guilty and I don't like to pressure people
Teaching - I could probably teach, but not at the K-12 level. I'll look into upper level teaching if I get a Ph.D
Police - Police tend to get a fairly bad rap, especially locally. I wouldn't be able to put up with the abuse
Law/Politics - Although there can be logical and systematic procedures for interpreting laws, etc., it would not be for me

Bartender on a techno dance floor.

Do not do this. Trust me.

The teacher one is actually kind of interesting. I'm self diagnosed, but I plan on being a special ed teacher. Most people would think that's crazy (which is why I'm kind of afriad of getting a "real" diagnosis, and telling my boss about it). I think I have a gift when it comes to things like that. For example - my current job is being a respite provider for families of autistic children. One boy that I work with is pretty high functioning, but of course he has his communication issues. His brain moves 100mph so he has a hard time enunciating what he really wants to say. He withdrawls to avoid that. That is EXACTLY how I am. So most people who are really social and outgoing will probably have a hard time understanding kids like this and might get frustrated. I understand how he feels so I don't get frustrated so easily. Aspies might also have more sympathy for the kids who are bullied than say an average teacher who never had social issues.

I've been told that I would make a great special ed. teacher, and I understand what it's like to be on the social outskirts. My brother is going through the special/public school system so I understand his troubles as well. I think this will make me a better teacher.

For me I think the worst jobs would be:

1. Teaching children
2. Sales jobs.
3. Industrial jobs.
4. Customer support.
5. Service industry like waiter.


1. When they're small they're loud, when they're teenagers they're obnoxious. Adults I can see teaching, like university level. My father did that and his students loved him though he wasn't the most sociable person, he didn't try to use some cheap tricks to 'get' them. He used to say that he told them what they should learn, if they learned that then they'd done their job and he wasn't gonna try to spring some surprise out of a skipped chapter on them like some of the other professors would do. Also keep in mind your average kindergarten class where I live you are spending a significant portion of the time in an environment above danger limits in decibel levels according to a study they did.

2. Any sales job where it's not about knowing your product but pushing the most expensive item on the customer regardless of his/her needs or wants. Honesty and principles would keep me from some being able to be one of those guys who goes "If you really want to get the most out of your new home theater system you really should pick up these 100$ cables from Monster since you get so much better quality out of them than those 5 buck ones. Why, I have this exact model at home and I hear such a difference". Yeah, BS start to finish. I'm better at identifying people's needs and finding something that honestly suits them, making me a great person to go shopping for computers with, but based on how pushy (and ignorant) some of the guys selling them are I'd make a crappy salesman for them.

3. Any jobs that involve very heavy loud machines, often with strong smells. I couldn't deal with that.

4. Did you make sure it's properly plugged in? No? Idiot. I could not deal with customers, my patience isn't great with people who couldn't bother read the whole 5 pages of simple diagram instructions for something they bought. Most people call about stuff like that, the actual problem fixing is in vast minority.

5. Having to be friendly and nice to everyone while also getting the orders right and survive being in what will at times be a crowded noisy confusing environment and usually have music you absolutely hate blaring at you. I could not do this. A lot of places I can barely stand to be in long enough to eat in, having to spend an entire day in there I'd just snap.