What makes Aspies successful in their career?
23 Jun 2012, 6:33 am
To go back to the first OP question.
I suspect that having poor social skills (whoever you are) can really hold you back in some jobs but not others.
I also think it depends how much money you want to make.
If you want to be really really rich and have poor social skills
then I suspect you either
- need to have a completely brilliant original innovative idea and someone to help you fund the start of it eg Google
- need to be incredibly good at doing something other people want
- have a bit of luck or serendipty e.g. your family living in the right place early on in developing these skills helps (Bill Gates had access to some very advanced computers from an fairly early age)
- You need to have the time to practice getting really good at your skill - I think it's about 10,000 hours (there's a book about this I think by Malcolm Gladswell can't remember for sure) - so if you're struggling to survive day to day this is going to be very hard to do.
- coming from a well off background probably helps a lot too..
However if you want to just wbe comfortably off (rather than mega rich), but not take advantage others by mistreating them to get there, I think that is possible for lots of people with poor social skills.
However you probably need to identify what your particular talent is, and practice at using it; this may require advanced education or instruction so you get very good at it, then there is a good chance you can find paid employment or self employment doing this.
In my opinion this may mean you may need to do extra training later in life as you may not know what you're real strengths are at 18, it could take until your 30.
Again it takes a lot of perseverance and if you come from a relatively wealthy background that makes it a lot easier, assessing potential risks and benefits carefully (something people with very logical brains are good at) helps too.
23 Jun 2012, 3:26 pm
1 - Hard work (They are usually married to their jobs)
2 - Excellent social skills (They can negotiate, influence and persuade)
3 - They use their sexuality in a clever way (even if that means shagging the boss)
4 - They want what they are aiming for (They really want it)
5 - They take opportunities and are ready for them
6 - Their face fits
7 - They know who the right people to know are and they get in with them
8 - They are willing to be ruthless
9 - They play the game
10 - They are not out to make friends (unless it means getting a leg up)
There is probably more to add to the list but these people are nothing special, they just want to be succesful and devote all their efforts to that cause.
This is a good list. I've noticed these differences between people with a comfortable income (say ~$100K/yr) and those making much more. Being good technically and having great social skills is more important than having great technical skills and sucky social skills if you want to become rich. You can hire the guy with great technical skills and OK social skills for less than you bill him out (ie, my case) and profit on the spread.
