IsabellaLinton wrote:
I'm curious about your statement that mechanics is a horrible field for aspies? All of the men on my father's side of the family including my brother have been engineers including mechanical engineers, and they've all been excellent at auto mechanics. One even designed huge roller coasters throughout the UK. All of these men were autistic to the best of my understanding. My mother's father was also very aspie and he was an aeronautical engineer. Just piping in some food for thought, although I know you aren't a trained engineer.
I meant working as a mechanic which is what people who work on cars are called here not the field of mechanics.
Ones ina. Noisy dirty shop where everyone yells at you and rushes you to move faster faster faster. Do a 10 min job in 5 they say but don’t mess up or damage the car.
The other tends to be office jobs. My cousin is an engineer he works in a office drawing plans and makes good money.
Most aspies and I’m one are sensitive to sound and shops are full of loud air tools and people banging metal on metal. And we most don’t seem to care for being yelled at and everyone’s yelling at each other.
I’m not fast pace perso. I’m a detail person.
It takes me 5 mins to pull a car into a stall and properly position the mounts(otherwise you damage the car frame and total a car, or worse case it falls off the lift which happens far too much) so 1 I don’t want to damage the car as then I get fired, 2. I’m under the car and don’t want it falling in me.
So along with the above there’s tons of anxiety, I once did a job and then it turned out I got given wrong order which the boss got mad at me about even though it wasn’t my fault, and being an aspie I was like well he was due a oil change soon anyways so isn’t that good, wel no cause now he got a free one.
To do a proper oil change and inspection takes 15-20 mins but they want it done in 5 mins. Corners have to be cut, people are super impatient, as my teacher said people today want to pull their car in and have a total overhaul in 30 mins and be back to work. Repairs take time. Quality takes time.
It’s no wonder tired get on lose, bolts don’t get out back on etc.
and that is why it’s a terrible field for autistics
I wish I’d done a degree in some kind of office job. Maybe then I’d be middle class with a wife and kids

Like many, I rushed into going to college at a young age, before I had any realistic idea of the working world. I had no knowledge of the demands of the work market and a very poor understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses. So basically I was extremely ill-equipped to make decisions about my education. I ended up with a degree that's completely useless and a mountain of student loan debt, and even after 10 years I still cannot secure a decent job. I would love to go back to school to get a better degree now, but FASFA will only pay for an individual once. I would love the training/education to be either a mechanic or mechanical engineer, but it's too late. I'm screwed.