Let me underscore that word. "Chance"
I studied coding for the sole explicit purpose of WFH permanently. It took fifteen years to get there. Fifteen.....God.... _DAMNED_ fucking years. The worst part of it is that it could change at a moment's notice if I were to lose my current job.
It could be an artifact of the general area that I live in, but I just couldn't find a place that would allow it. I did also have a couple jobs at places that did allow it, but was blocked by shitty managers who shouldn't have been allowed to manage people. Or garbage bag clients that didn't allow it (I am a software consultant).
Then along came COVID, which bitch slapped those rat fuckers right across their dirty mouths. Been 100% remote ever since.
Facts. I was a Call Center Supervisor/Interim Manager (loosely) for a technical support and customer service call center for what used to be a good sized educational company. It was an absolute shit show. I had an awesome manager that believed in me and went to bat for me more than a couple of times (until she left) but the resources simply were not there. Despite my role supposedly being off the phones for the most part, I was right there taking inbound and outbound level one, two, internal calls with the rest of the staff, unable to perform any supervisory duties to any beneficial extent. The best I could do was answer questions for my folks over our instant messaging system because there was literally no time to do audits, coaching, etc.
Then my manager left and we were outsourced to this garbage ass company that let us keep our jobs but under their name instead. And the expectations tripled. I probably lasted a year at most at that point and had complete burnout and handed in my resignation. The company went under not too long after.
The employees under me I tried to treat as well as I could. But I could tell they were burnt out too. Most call centers are not friendly to humans in general.
Truth of the matter is I was coping with binge drinking. It's a wonder I didn't unalive myself for those 6 years.
I made a mistake by not disclosing my diagnosis, it may have gotten me more money at the time but it wasn't worth my health.
If I could go back in time to that job and disclose my diagnosis I would have. Perhaps my anxiety and depression would not be as bad as they are now, and my fear of employment would not be as severe as it is.
I am starting my own business, and researched msp’s (managed service provider). Sounds like that what this job may have been. Medium msps profit ratio is 8%+. Larger ones can hit around 18-20%. Mostly cheap idiots run them.
You still have to do this crap wfh, it'll just be over Teams meetings. Database management, clean up is relatively low human interaction. Go look at a list for the top used corporate programs, Zoho, Sage, etc. Learn a couple and add that to your resume.
That is very true. It is painful to throw yourself out there in a position like that. I had a class with a lot of presentations, and it hurt every time I had to get up there. Even more unfortunate is how we have to do what we have to do. Best of luck to you.
I can’t seem to hold a job for the life of me :( I always get way to overwhelmed all the time that I eventually burst and quit during a meltdown, and then regret quitting the next day
My last two jobs I’ve cried / let people get to me and it ultimately lead to me quitting without going back. I don’t recommend ugh. I don’t understand people as much as I thought I do. It’s so hard for me to tell why people are saying things or if their tone is off toward me. Once had a coworker talk to me like a child (even told me at least once a week I looked like one / backing up why) I told her that the tone she uses felt like I was a child and she told me to ignore the tone.
I remember when I was younger before I would mask I would always get made fun of for how I dressed / acted. In public I would always smile at others, and get sad when people didn’t smile back.
I’m so sorry. It’s so frustrating. Just know that there’s nothing wrong with you, or any of us, for having meltdowns. One of the best experiences I’ve had professionally was when I had a meltdown at work and a coworker just shrugged it off later and said “nah, it’s fine, it happens” and let me do my job like normal. A supportive environment is possible. I just hope for the day that more people understand that meltdowns don’t have any bearing on our competency, and that we just need to create structures to help avoid them.
I used to be like that too. Now I'm back to school to study another degree and hopefully make my life better. I hope you can find something too to get out of constant misery.
I really hope that works for you. Unfortunately some of us just aren't built to live under capitalism. I'm only working two days a week this year. I love my job when I have the energy to, but I'm in a perpetual state of fluctuating AuDHD burnout because of it. I think the answer for me would be to not work, but I'm worried I would get bored and fall into clinical depression because of lack of routine.
This is me, but I also suffer when I’m not working. I want to contribute. I have many talents and excellent focus on projects, but I need to take breaks flexibly and need something part time. Why is so much part time work considered low value and low pay?
It really is. Especially considering the fact that, if you let me loose on something that actually interests me, I’m getting more done in an hour than your average NT in the entire day. On the other hand I wish my performance were a bit more stable and predictible though. This all or nothing situation can be so exhausting
This is really validating. I really don't want to work currently I'm at 40hrs a week and I'm absolutely miserable. I would much rather live in a random little cottage, and my job be tending to my home and things like a garden, maybe some chickens.
I have a feeling that lifestyle would be nice and something I could maintain.
I am very lucky to have a special interest that I can study. Almost all my studies feel super interesting because of this. I wish everyone could have that.
Don’t settle! Find a job you enjoy, around your special interests. I promise they are out there. I’ve worked a lot of jobs I’ve liked. I loved laser tag so I worked as a laser tag technician for a while after figuring out how to get certified. Then I worked at a big art instillation cuz I love art. Now I make art for a living because I wanted to learn how to 3D print and I did and I am obsessed with it. I promise work can be so much fun.
It's not like a life changing think, but life *is* suffering according to Buddhism, it's also very present on nearly all philosophist books, at least with the great ones. A line by Nietzsche that helps me a lot is "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.". Personally I've had to look for that Why to live constantly and have realized that it's constantly fluctuating, evolving or just changing entirely .
I've had to go on a few intervals that last from months to years of looking for that meaning, but when I catch it, I almost forget all the tragedies and suffering of life, and I feel happy in those moments that, luckily, do last much longer than happiness, which is truly a very dodgy btch hahaha. All in all, I truly enjoy life when I have a Why to live, I guess the magic of life lies in looking for that and holding on to it for (literally) dear life.
Not necessarily. Suffering is a part of life - so is joy and other pleasant emotions. You can reach a point where suffering is its own kind of positive because you’re alive to experience it.
I haven't tried to look for a job yet because I don't know what I could and wouldn't be able to handle at a job. I don't like socializing, and I have anxiety as well as autism. I also haven't completed my 40 hours of volunteer work (which you need to graduate in Ontario) because most of the volunteer work they offer requires you to socialise, and I'm not too fond of socializing. My largest problem could be that I'm not trying but I'm also probably too scared to try.
I really liked housekeeping! (AuDHD, major social anxiety) If you start before busy season, you get the feel for it while it's a little slower, and then when busy season starts nobody expects you to pitter around being social with coworkers at all because you gotta smash those rooms out! There's a rhythm to it that doesn't require much thought and getting the end result of a nice clean room is satisfying, and we would work in groups of 1-3 people so working alone was great and eventually working with a small group I'd become comfortable with was manageable and even nice sometimes. Worked at a resort though in a wooded area and got to walk outside to get between cabins. Saw so many cool bugs. Would have stayed forever if my manager didn't quit, leading to our whole team quitting cause the new manager was kind of a jerk.
I did waitressing, which had a script to it. That could be too social for you though?
You could try a back of house role like cooking or dishwashing (can work quite well with productivity once you know what you're doing).
These are jobs often in high demand so maybe start there?
I have anxiety and autism, but knowing what's expected in the role really helps me, maybe it'll be similar for you?
I enjoy prep work in kitchens. It can get boring, but it doesn't take much socializing. And it does leave room for growth.
What sorts of volunteer work do they offer? I don't like sales work as I'm not good at convincing people to buy something unless I'm genuinely passionate about it.
"Back of house" or Backstock (for retail) is always where it's at for people with social issues, but no high income skills to WFH. Easier to quit those jobs as well if you need to. If you're just the dishwasher person, or the bus boy that clears the table, there's much less guilt in bailing if you burnout.
What kind of growth can you get from a prep kitchen? I’ve been looking for some work recently because being alone all day is starting to take a toll on my mental health
There’s a shelter in Toronto called “Redemption Paws” that offers a ton of remote volunteering options. You don’t have to be local for them either, only if you actually go hands on and foster/adopt a dog. Maybe that would work, if you could do it from home and mostly through email?
Also AuDHD... I've been in tech most of my career, once it got going.. but I drifted form Job to Job till my late 20's. I ended up working in Cybersecurity which is one crisis after another which I am weirdly suited to. It's really hard to find a job that fits the way we are, I realize how lucky I am to make really good money at something I'm uniquely built to work in.
This is what I want to do!!! I’m 28 and I’ve been drifting from job to job in customer garbage (lol typo but it fits how I feel about customer service 😂) call centres the past few years. I last 2 years TOPS before I lose it from burnout and end up losing my job because I just can’t keep up anymore or go out on disability or something until I can’t financially handle it anymore and have to go back to work and then I’m usually not better and end up getting laid off anyways. I want to go back to school for cybersecurity. Though, I wanted to go for software development for the longest time bc I thought I was best suited to that with my current tech skills (self taught since approx 10 years old… was building/ coding fan sites on freewebs at 11/12 years old haha & taught myself how to take apart and build computers, and then more advance stuff like networking/ servers/ etc..,creating backdoor programs made a very basic remote access Trojan and sent to my brother at 13 😂) anyways. I’m ranting. Point is, anything tech related, I e always loved and it’s one of my biggest regrets, is not going to school for it when I was younger. I went for fucking cosmetic management…. Because it was a special interest at the time. Obv dropped out after a year… hated it. Also, my friends at the time kind of pushed me into it and I also just wanted to be a hot girlie girl or something stupid along those lines at that age lol.
But yeah, I want to go back to school for tech- cybersecurity bc 1) seems to be the most stable option in the field right now especially bc base coders coming out of soft dev are not getting jobs and the ones already working are losing their jobs to AI now a days - AI can easily do those jobs, along with so many other options in tech but cybersecurity? There will ALWAYS be a human element to it and they will always want it to be that way & then 2) it is super super interesting to me.
But yeah- I KNOW that if I went back to school for tech and started working in the field, all of my job woes would end. It wouldn’t feel like work. I wouldn’t have to mask 24/7… I wouldn’t have the customer service burnout, I could work alone most of the time besides what? Some meetings and collaborations with coworkers? I wouldn’t have to ever really deal with the public, at least mundane things. Behind the scenes, you know?
I just, I need money to do so lol. I need to be able to stick it out for a while in the customer service field and save as much money as I can so I can do so… which is so difficult because I do have such bad burnout in this field and I end up having at least one sick day a paycheck, and then to make myself feel better after hating most of my day bc of my job, I spend my extra money on chasing dopamine rushes, videos games, etc.
Hang in there.. I didn't get my undergrad until I was 33.. it took forever. But then I ended up with two masters after.. I used my ability to obsess about something to push through school.. sometimes I think my coping skills derive from how to "jedi mind trick" myself into doing what I have to.
37, my fourth attempt at college and I'm about to have my bachelor's in February. I am still in shock and questioning if I'm smart or these have all been easy A's. Less than 40 credits to go!
**Idk how masters got in there I must have been reading your reply as I typed 😅
congratulations!! It's damn hard to do, you got the A's because you are smart. the very brain that made the classes easy now is the same brain that caused the speedbumps to begin with-- we take the upside with the down :)
I used to be a tour guide (lasted 5 shifts), and some dude asked me about something in the distance. When I asked him to describe what he wanted me to look at, he just grabbed my face with both hands and physically turned my head towards it. It took everything in me to stay calm. I don't know why the fuck people think this is an ok thing to do.
I know it's not normal, but some people have zero respect for workers, and it's not like my shitty employer would have told him off. Customer is always right and all that jazz
Nah. It’s okay no harm no foul now, but if something like that happens again in the future, you bring that up to your manager. Weirdo behavior by that guy to do some shit like that. Just bringing it up may have helped with you understanding that that guy was weird and an anomaly for tour guiding, and may have helped you cope with staying with the job.
Believe me, it would have done nothing. That company is a dumpster fire, there was no manager to speak of. And as I said, I did know it wasn't normal behavior. I was fired for unrelated reasons (basically not given a reason)
Yeah that's not normal period. Maybe if it's your brother/sister and you're both young but for a full grown adult, and a stranger to do that.. rude as hell if you ask me
I have worked in different workplaces in healthcare. I always end up so burnt out that I have to quit. For some reason the patients usually like me but it takes all I have and a lot more for me to interact well with them. I also pretty much always get bullied by some coworker and end up doing some of their work too.
So now I went back to school hoping to find a better job in the future, one where I can work from home I think.
I dealt with this in animal medicine and it broke my heart because I did the schooling and was great with the animals but it was the other techs that made an already hard job unbearable 😭
I loved working with animals and worked so hard to get the degree and licensing, but the politics and social nonsense was too much for me. I was actually called into the office by the veterinarian practice owner and practice manager to be told, "I'm not social enough with my co-workers." I was written up for that. I never lost an animal when I was in charge of anesthesia, I never messed up a drug calculation (the practice manager had), I was great at ani.al behavior, and clients lived me. I left shortly after and they were mad at me for leaving. Now I work from home full time in a different career. It's a struggle, but at least I don’t get written up for not being social enough with my coworkers.
I'm AuDHD too and just got a job working in a boutique hotel and restaurant. The lighting is nice and low and it's a quiet space for fine dining, so there aren't many sensory issues for my autism. And the job is varied enough that I don't get bored. I'm aware that I got lucky in this instance.
I’ve struggled as well - seem to go from a high performer to below average.. fluctuated my whole life.
As I get older, I realize it’s burnout from the consistent masking - masking takes precious energy us NDs seem to possess less of… nature does seem to balance itself out in some ways - hence our ability to go super deep on a subject and retain information like an encyclopedia, vs your standard NT is capable of handling themselves with a handful of actions and subjects while simultaneously juggling the social aspect… NTs can go wider, and operate better around others, NDs go deeper, and tend to operate better alone - both were necessary in the tribal days when we needed people to be able visualize and fix things, and retain deep swaths of information (like an encyclopedia), and work the night shift watch when everybody else was asleep (usually done in a smaller group, less environmental stimuli, light, interaction, noises, but more sensitive to this stimuli at the same time in case something decided to attack at night - but I digress…)
So take a page out of our ancestors books - and find an environment with less light and noise stimuli, including social interaction, so you can use your heightened awareness and deep dive skills to contribute to the whole..
And take care of yourself... Try and work on your taste and texture preferences to benefit your health, get on a sustainable workout schedule, try and establish a pre-sleep routine so your mind and body are calm enough to get good rest, try therapy, medication even.
It’s tough, and it can be a rough journey at times.. just be sure to be kind to yourself along the way - we know all too well the world can be a cruel place. Don’t be part of the cruelty.
This ‘energy we have less of’ is a direct result of a difference in synaptic density.
Every stimulus fires many more nerves, and this results in more effort and chemical churn. This causes mental exhaustion that can progress to seizures or headaches.
We have more mental horsepower but far less mental endurance.
Be careful with how you invest your mental and emotional energy. Being in loud, brightly lit places and interacting with stressful people costs you greatly.
Don’t engage in social conflicts of endurance. You are weak here.
Here's something to get you started, I'll link a more comprehensive analysis when I'm ready.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843767/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843767/)
I'm a forever student because I struggle to find anything work from home. I've never found a job, office or retail, that is accommodating enough that I don't get burnt out immediately. Just perpetually living in poverty.
I can't stand authority, so I never last long. Jobs ask too much of me and I can't keep up. My longest full-time employment to date has been 5 months long, and then they fired me because I couldn't keep up with them. That was a WFH position, too.
I don't think I'm capable of working full-time, honestly. I've been living on savings, student loans and help from my boyfriend until now. I'm trying to go the freelance route instead now.
I worked as a cashier once in high school, it was HORRIBLE. I'm not professionally diagnosed so I don't get any disability checks. I'm 20 now and still living with my parents. I was very depressed and burnt out for a while but I'm feeling better since starting antidepressants. I tried to learn a freelance WFH job from my dad before but I was still depressed and didn't have enough dopamine so it didn't work out. Now I'm trying to learn that same job again and I'm actually making progress. It's a great job. I can work from home, choose my own hours, choose my own workload, and the pay is ok. It is pretty boring and complicated though. Once I get hired I will use the money to save up for a tiny house. So, I'm actually doing kind of good for once.
It's called being a "Title Searcher". It's also a type of paralegal. But you don't have to go to school for it. Basically I look people and properties up on government websites, and then give what I found to an attorney.
I’ll give you the same advice I give every autistic : work at Starbucks. It sucks, it’s hard, it’s draining, and physically taxing. But also over half of my coworkers are neurodivergent. Most of my managers have been. There is one (1) not queer person at my store. Every time I’ve worked at a different store, it’s been a similar experience. Additionally, they offer free therapy separate from their health insurance.
This but don’t be a supervisor. At least for me it feed my rejection sensitivity too much. I’m about to step down after being one for 5 years but a barista is a pretty good time. Free school is the only reason I’m not quitting lol.
Fuck jobs, work for yourself.
Any company saying they're inclusive is lying, reasonable adjustments don't exist and AuDHD folx tend to annoy coworkers because we make them look like utter dog-shite in their performance.
I worked for a start up, did purchasing along with a load of other stuff. On 3 components, for a product that consisted of hundreds, I saved £60k. Their thanks?
Hire a senior purchase nonce (not the actual title) who got paid more than me. Man did fk all, annoyed and creeped everyone out & eventually got himself fired.
I got purchasing back, no raise, no thanks just "be grateful you get to do this again".
I waited til the right moment came up then just fked off.
Now I train dogs, much better and actually rewarding
I worked for myself for the past 7 years and I called it quits this week. I am in major burnout because I had to do absolutely everything all of the time and never fully could take time off because I was the business and the business was me.
There was a lot of great freedoms and benefits for me, but it honestly took a major toll on my physical and mental health. I’m literally in the process of packing up and moving out of my apartment in a big city to move cross country into a tiny house in the middle of nowhere northern country with my dad… going to try to recoup, salvage the brain cells that I have left and then go back to the drawing board…
I’m 32 with no degree, going back to the absolute basics and trying to heal from this burnout and then start all over…
I got a part time because I was just coming out of a year long burnout unemployed. Once I got used to the new routine of my four hour shifts four days a week, same days, I got another part-time. It’s more a casual position where I only have to work four shifts total in a six week scheduling period.
My thought process was that if I get start getting burned out again I can always quit one position and still have income. It’s a very new strategy approach to employment that’s very different from how I’ve ever approached things before.
For anyone who is curious the casual position is a healthcare position. There are entry level healthcare jobs that are posted as casual or PRN(as needed) and you generally get to pick your schedule. You can commit to more than just a few shifts in a 6 week period or you can simply pickup more shifts when there are call offs or requests by full-time employees to use PTO or whatever. But it’s a lot less of a commitment which allows you to be more in control of your schedule.
My casual position is 12 hour shifts but it’s only once a week four out of six weeks minimum and it pays $23 per hour because I’ll be doing nightshifts. Nightshifts in healthcare usually have a shift difference in pay because it’s a less desirable shift. Days pays $20 per hour.
It feels like people bond and seethe against you because they sense that you're different, and that is instantly taken as being "against them" or something. Talk and they don't like you because you don't "think" the right way, don't talk, do your work, and keep to yourself and you're a bad employee because you're quiet and weird. It's like they can't hit you, so they try to take you down emotionally, mentally, and spiritually instead.
I currently work in retail but trying to find another job (hopefully a remote job to help with my mental health issues and burnout from dealing with the general public) as I'm about to get my associates later this month.
I have been REALLY struggling since my diagnosis (autism/severe ADHD) a year ago. This past year also happens to have been the fastest/ramp up of responsibilities/over reliance on my skillset by basically every department.
I feel like the extreme over reliance on me, my struggle with processing/understanding my diagnosis and the loooooooong Seattle commute everyday has made full time work feel unsustainable for me, even though I'm really really good at my job and genuinely enjoy the work (field engineer/control system programmer in the commercial AV industry).
I have considered asking for accomodations but I have no idea what they would be. The trades aren't exactly the most accomodation-friendly industry which is discouraging.
Love the way you worded this. Because really, unregulated, corporately controlled Capitalism is helping destroy the world so we can conveniently enjoy some crap in the short term that's slowly killing us and devastating the environment, the human condition, and opportunities and quality of life for people in the future. We all know its wrong, but we are so collectively wrought and entangled in the web of consumption, that we allow these robber barons to continue to decimate the natural world to make themselves rich and powerful.
Mental Dissabilitu
Many people have called me weird and said that something is wrong with me. People have also said that I will die a virgin because I'm some kind of mentally disabled person. At first, when people said those things to me, I would just think they're talking bullshit and just forget about. But as the years have gone by, I look back and see that they have predicted my life. Does this mean there is something wrong with me? And what syndrome could it be?
There's nothing wrong with you. You are you and there's no other you.
Those people that said those things are assholes.
That being said, from your post I can tell you are probably a bit different than most people.
I am too, and it can take a long time to get to grips with how you are different and learn to manage and survive in the world.
Have you investigated the possibility of autism since you are in this sub?
Again, never, ever let nasty people tell you those kind of things and believe them.
I was a school teacher for 3 years and it was awful for my autism. I didn't know I had it then.
Now I have a hybrid job where I WFH half the time and go onsite the other half (one week on, one week off). It helps the autism to be at home and helps the ADHD to be at work! It still is hard to work full-time but it's an ideal situation for me to support myself.
Currently employed in retail.
I'm a cashier, and I work at a register. Despite that being the worst nightmare of many autistic folk, It's not too bad for me personally. I like my co workers, and the work is fairly easy going. However, it can get really repetitive, and I don't ever really feel like I'm achieving anything by just scanning customers stuff and tidying the front area all day. Having the same conversations and same interactions over and over can really wear me thin, and often I'm so zoned out from what I'm doing since it is almost all muscle memory at this point that when someone asks me something off script, even if it's something simple, I have to think about it for a while which makes me feel a little stupid lmao.
Anyway yeah, It's not too bad, but I know other autistic folk in my situation would find it a living hell.
I just sort of fail at every job😂 hate being told what to do, terrible at sucking up to the right people and half the time a cucumber can concentrate better than me.
I enjoy working *to an extent*…..but the standard 5 day work week baffles me. I would be much happier with 4 days on, 3 days off. I find that to be much more rational and balanced. Work is good for me though, because I thrive in structure. I fell into a deep pit of depression and anxiety during COVID because I had nothing productive and routine to tend to
ADHD and autistic, as well as a chronic illness, I work from home, I do research. I work on different projects so it keeps things interesting and I try to just get through my social interactions with folks as best I can.
If you don't mind sharing, what exactly is your job? I'm also AuDHD & disabled/chronic illness and that sounds like my dream job. Doing that kind of research is already my top skill set (and my favorite!) thanks to the career I'm desperately trying to escape (academic librarian - if anyone ever tries to tell you what a great job it must be for neurodivergent folks, DON'T BELIEVE THEM! Toxic neurotypical privilege and bullying everywhere. the vibe is overall progressive, but very much a conformity-culture masquerading as an accepting one, and any intersectionality is mostly just lip service)
I used to get “laid off” due to some lame excuse of not “meshing with the team.” I have two bachelor’s degrees and got straight As through both degrees. I was a graphic designer and marketing director for years. It started to get waring getting laid off every 2-3 years and having to interview for new jobs over again. There was only so much masking I could do, and I didn’t even know I was autistic. I thought that there was just something defective about me. I’m 43 now and just got newly diagnosed in March with ASD Level 1 (low support needs). I have CPTSD as well and don’t trust people a whole lot. I’m fortunate I’m married to a successful engineer, so there’s wiggle room for me to get laid off or go back to school again.
I finally found a career in my forties that fits me and I won’t get let go or burnt out. I work 100% remotely as a medical coder (I went back to school and got certified in my forties during the pandemic). I have never been able to say I like a job ever, but I’m a huge nerd with anatomy and physiology and medical stuff and love to continuously learn new things. I’m also extremely focused and detail oriented, so this job fit me like a glove. I now can say I have a career and LOVE what I do. It also helps that my employer is one of the top rated places to work in my state.
I work in libraries. If you're more social and willing to study it's pretty good fun - you get to do a lot of research for client reference/readers advisory requests, running of community programs, cataloguing, and organising. They're also very queer and neurodivergent workplaces. It's something I'm interested in enough to keep my autism happy and enough variation and social interaction to keep my ADHD happy.
Some of my friends who are less social are considering archive work, which is far more focused on organisation and preservation and has less public social contact, so that's an option as well.
Dude, you don't know how lucky you are. My 20 year library career has been a never-ending cycle of masking and burnout. Queer friendly, yes - thank goodness - but intersectionality is still a struggle, the pay extremely variable/unreliable, and there so much petty, passive-aggressive nonsense, plus the office politics...
I've worked in 7 states, in alllll kinds of libraries, in jobs ranging from tech services to public services to outreach to web stuff to archives... and I'm finally so thoroughly burnout that I'm looking for an entirely new career. I've worked my ass off from coast to coast for 2 decades, have 2 Masters degrees, written papers, given conference presentations, taught classes, revived broken websites, I'm on my 2nd new-ILS implementation project, but my career has mostly just given me is a "Low income" pay bracket (despite reaching the admin/managent tier) that keeps me living paycheck to paycheck, so much debt from moving for every new "career advancement" job that I had to declare bankruptcy a few years back, chronic insomnia & anxiety dreams, higher Covid risk, and most recently, stress-induced alopecia!
It's a career that may jive for some flavors of neurodivergence - if the workplace is favored by the library gods - but let's just say that YMMV
I’ve never been able to keep a job for longer than 2 years. I just get completely burnt out by then, and the stress overwhelms me.☹️
Currently, due to a shit ton of long Covid issues, I’m essentially disabled at this point (I pass out of if I even stand or walk for too long, insanely low blood pressure and blood sugar, muscle and joint pain and I’m only 27, severe fatigue, memory loss, etc). I’m waiting for my disability claim to be REevaluated and approved so I don’t become homeless.
My goal is to be a writer, and just survive on disability for the time being. Luckily I have a very supportive and helping mother, or I just may not even be alive at this point…
If you have any writing, art skills that could earn you money, try those, but know that you’ll have to get other, likely menial, jobs until you (hopefully) find success. If you’re a craft kind of person you could create a small business and sell your creations. I will say, the best job I had was Walmart shelf stocking, and a pharmaceutical job where I just inspected, labeled and packed ivs and syringes that went out to hospitals. That one paid pretty decently too, and was not difficult. Obviously those aren’t forever jobs in your case, but they’re a start until you find your groove.
Currently I work for myself as a gig worker with all of the gig apps. I'll be trying out transcription by doing a general transcription course that by the end, depending on my grade, will give me an internship to start with.
But as someone replied to a comment about my gig hustling ability being obviously ADHD like, I have hands in many ways to earn money, not just the gig apps.
I do tech support from home and I LOVE it. I have fun with the problem solving and have one meeting a week. Used to teach and it’s made a worlds difference in my mental health.
I recently found a job with my city.
It doesn’t pay the greatest, but the community is good and my bills are taken care of.
There’s always plenty going on so I’m not bored, and there’s always a million things that need worked on so any progress anywhere is usually worth it.
That said, not all city jobs are like this, so be careful where you look.
My job caters to my skills and interests, and I am close to home so I can take care of my family in emergencies.
The biggest thing however, is I am working for the people, not some profit-maxing jerk who has to pad investor pocketbooks.
It adds a level of relaxation and satisfaction.
People need roads, water, and sewer services to function, and city workers are pretty much the unsung heroes of society that way.
Without that… we’re just a third world country with smartphones, and I’m proud to be a part of keeping things running on a fundamental level.
Right now, I am working with my independent living advisor/support lady on gaining employment. I attend my local disability center for assistance with this and other things involved in adult living.
Hopefully, I will be able to find a job that includes the following: limited interaction with the public, repetitive tasks, an opportunity to categorize things, and in line with my interest. My dream job is in medical records. We are setting up a meeting with a hospital HR person soon to discuss the potential. This hospital is part of an employment program with the center. I am excited.
Bad. Ngl. I’m functional enough to do a good job, but not enough to do all the socializing that seems so unnecessary or to do the fake customer service acting. Truly, being good at what you do is not enough. You have to be likable, you have to kiss up, it’s all so dumb to me, but, seriously. That is the way up. It really is. Or some margin of that aspect. Clearly, I don’t really get it. Humans are…so emotionally needy and they don’t even think so.
Bosses will hate you for being quiet. The projection onto me is cruel. Very frustrating, it’s like the the work world is just adult high school. No, not even college. College was more chill for me. You can definitely mind your own business in college and do the work and get by. Though you are suppose to network to death and make friends for life or something. Anyway. I only work at my job, and the shit I get for that can make me pretty upset, but then I get more scary to people. Really.
They don’t think I’m autistic at all, they think I’m the most likely to bring a gun and shoot up the place. I’ve never even…It really perplexes me, I smile and say hi, I’m on time, I don’t fight with customers, I don’t argue, I don’t even complain unless it’s a big thing that’s been going on too long. Then I’m a bitch. Sigh. It hurts a bit. To be innocent and be the bad guy. Doesn’t matter where I am, where I go. Today I am more bitter than mad or depressed about it. How will I ever be successful…
I just mask, but I was forced to. There really isn’t much protection for anyone in at will states which is pretty much most of them in the United States. They only have to reasonably accommodate you which means mental health issues or disabilities tend to get no coverage. I can keep jobs, but I’m fake nice or sociable.
I have on occasion been taken way too seriously or my words minced by upper management. Nothing overly harmful, but it’s a bit annoying to deal with.
Very bad. I am diagnosed with BPD. I cannot hold down a job and once I'm to my breaking point I don't care about anything. I stop going to work and stop paying bills. I've been homeless numerous times and have had to move towns frequently. I have three days off in a row, but once I am done with that I never want to be in public again. Not to mention the chronic pain... The job before this I was working 50-70 hours a week and making good money. I am working half those hours at far less pay and still can't handle it. It's terrible.
I usually start off really great at a job and they try to promote me quickly. I give it my all until I can only focus on what everyone else isn't doing for the same or even more pay. My relationship with the working world is not a good one. I will also allow myself to be manipulated into doing things I don't want to or know I shouldn't do. I didn't know we could have boundaries in the working world. My first job was Waffle House and it gave me a bad impression and I still can't shake the things I learned.
I can barely get myself motivated to go to work anymore. I like most of my coworkers with the exception of like 2 or 3 people and the job itself isn’t difficult per say, I clean operating rooms, but we aren’t allowed to sit and decompress after a really busy rush unless it’s break while other departments get to if there’s some down time after a rush of 4 rooms coming out at once. It’s horrible and I feel like I’m being lazy when I know I’m not. You can only mask so much until it isn’t able to happen ya know?
I work at a day centre with autistic adults and its fantastic, its never repetitive, in maintaining constant routine for our guys, I get to have one. Because the management is all trained in working with autism, theyre pretty open to accommodations, 90% of the staff are autistic and the ones that aren't are neurodivergent. Everyone has a whole bag of trauma so we all understand eachother really well and so far it's one of the only jobs I've never gotten bored at. It definitely has its struggles but I truly love it.
I've worked in a fulfillment center for the last three years and the reason being is because I was able to jump around to learn different areas, I was always moving around.
I have been going to school for marketing and just graduated with my associates. I'm now pursuing my bachelor's in Business Administration and concentrations in Health Administration and Marketing. This gives me the flexibility to explore new things daily.
i get overstimulated and overwhelmed. not having food for long periods of time makes it worse too. i’ve also been in and out of my current job that i’ve somehow managed to keep.
Same experience until I trained as an RN and started working in an ER. It’s chaotic and I never know what my day is going to be like. I also don’t have to talk to my coworkers too much because I’m always busy. It’s taken me a long time to find something that works for me. I’m also autistic & ADHD.
My job is kind of a golden goose, except I do NOT get paid nearly enough. I get maybe 1/2-2/3 what I should. But the hours fit my sleep needs (I need evening work), and a lot of the time I can go into a laboratory with headphones and work on my task without too much distraction, and the instructions are very precise and clearly written (usually). Yay science! The people directly around me are also a godsend in that I can stim and say “I need to be in a dark quiet space” or “I don’t have anymore words” and they respect it. My boss is also autistic and understands struggles too so she is accommodating.
Edit: going outside, commuting, and being around people 40 hours a week is so totally exhausting though, and my weekends are 80% sleep to the point a friend comes in to help do chores with me… so there is a big downside. I could handle 4 day workweeks better I think, because I need 2 days of rest just to get back to baseline level, and then I’d have a day to do cleaning and errands. But sadly I do not have that.
I stay unemployed for months on end, applying for more jobs than I can keep track of, not getting responses from ANYONE, until I get one interview. Usually ace the interview cause I’m really good at masking, and then only end up doing a handful of shifts until I completely burn out and quit. This has happened with literally every single job I’ve ever had and it’s so exhausting. I genuinely just wanna build a community of neurodivergent ppl, crowdfund to buy a few acres of land and just live off the land, but that’s wishful thinking lmao. I just don’t wanna participate in capitalism at all but I know I just have to
I used to "save up" interesting ponderances for my job (USPS mail carrier). Like, ooooh, interesting idea/thought! -no no, save that for work. Goddamn the mind numbingness of that job (10 years). Then I tried Amazon delivery. I lost 2 toenails and got a bum knee and back from that (only lasted a year, that job is BRUTAL). BUT I wasn't bored, because I was so busy working 10- 12 hours daily. I'd collapse in exhaustion every day. On the side I did DoorDash for 9 years (OG af, was one of the 1st 10k drivers), and it was shittier pay by far compared to the other 2, yet! So much better. No one telling me when/ how high to jump. I also did food service from age 14 to 20; customers suck but coworkers were fun. Currently a caretaker for old folks trying to stay independent in their homes; another job where only I get to decide when and how high to jump. I CANNOT stand people trying to have "authority" over me; I'll take monotony and wildly varying pay over a steady slave job any day. Also, monetizing what you love seems to destroy the love, for me anyway.
I'm 42, and the longest I've had a job was 2 years.
I was late diagnosed (4 years ago) and have been granted a flexjob now. So I work part-time, but I'm paid for full time.
I work 50% from home and I book my own hours, so I decide how much I'm able to work.
I don't have one. I day trade, I live frugally, and I make most of my own stuff. If you think differently than normal, it stands to reason that you'll be happier if you aren't living normally either. There's no template that will fit your brain. Mine either. We're clinically eccentric people. I for one have been given advice suited for neurotypical people my whole life, when it comes to lifestyle choices. So when I got my diagnoses, it suddenly made all the sense in the world that I wasn't happy with where I was. I had built a life suited for a neurotypical person. So I went back to the drawing board. I figured out my basic needs, and how I can fulfill them my own way, with as little outside interference as possible. It helps to have other neurodivergent people in your life, too. People who are used to weird, crooked, unique lines of thought, and want to help you see your ideas through, instead of just telling you why things won't work.
You're a human being. You are the most advanced form of life known to exist, unless you believe in aliens or gods or some monodeity or holy Trinity or something. No judgements there, I'm agnostic about all of that stuff, and I find it all fascinating. The point is you're capable of wonderful flights of imagination. Being as you're on this subreddit, you're probably capable of some particularly brilliant flights of imagination. Use that capacity. Try to do something no one has ever done before. Not necessarily something impressive or spectacular, unless you feel up to that sort of thing, but something unique. Make something. Make everything. Make content. Feed people. Fix stuff. Clean stuff. Teach someone something. Provide service to your community, and it will support you. The difference between a hobby and a career is mostly sweat.
I also have both and I do gotta say that without my adhs-meds I wouldn't be able to keep a job at all. Study programming rn because office life was an impossible environment for me.
Life is good right now
I feel so fortunate as I’ve worked for the same organisation for 24 years. The first 10 years with one department, I was in my 20’s, masking and drinking etc. I had no idea I was autistic and had no support from management/hr despite having several mental breakdowns and lots of time off. The department I’m in now have been much more supportive and it seems about 30-40% of my colleagues are ND and/or have ND kids (as do I) so that really helps as we’re all quite open with each other so we have the support there too. I’m definitely one of those autistics who beds down in a familiar environment and hates the idea of change and fear of progression.
Edited to change a word
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I have job in techsupport callcenter, but i was allowed to work from home, it is not the job i want but what i had available for me at the time. slowly learning skills to leave that annoying thing in the past.
Juggling part time (2 days a week) at a tiny charity that keeps bits of the church I belong to talking to each other around the world, doing website and database management, and the rest of the time freelance translation WFH. But a very steady translation client for the last seven years has recently stopped sending me anything like as much work as usual, and my marketing skills are dreadful, so I'm currently panicking and looking for a new line of work before my 2 days a week temporary contract ends and drops to a permanent but 4 hour a week thing.
I studied Spanish, linguistics and education, and a master's in information management. Looking for things that won't need too much technical skill in particular fields, because I am NOT maths-inclined, and can handle MS Office and design and manage basic websites but not much more IT-wise, something ideally with writing/editing but I'm not creative enough to pull off actual writing regularly and not too deadline driven (ruling out most publishing - I meet tight deadlines routinely in translation but get very samey genres of text and know what I'm doing), and I am terrible, of course, at interpersonal skills. I've been doing my current things for nine years, since graduating. I'd probably need retraining to go into most things.
I burned out near fatally hard from just going to community college like 12 hours a week (there were other factors that ultimately precipitated it getting as bad as it did but in hindsight before any of that happened I had already been in a full on state of burnout for at least a year) and 4 or 5 years later I'm still barely recovered enough to take care of myself on a daily basis so unfortunately it's not looking like any kind of serious employment is something that's in my future barring some kind of incredible miracle
I like jobs where i assist (vet assistant) there is a lot of independence which i enjoy and you have to find the right team (took me 6 clinics lol) and i love my frw coworkers their communication is great and they are very patient because we practice fear free it is low stress for literally everyone involved. I like doing tasks and having thingd to do and figuring out what to prioritize first vs least important. I have a very demanding needing dr but despite her little hissy fits of being overwhelmed i like working with and for her. We respect each other
I've always been intetested in being an assistant like personal assistant but idk how i would get a job like that. I always picture a rich woman or family who needs tasks done likes groceries, appts etc i could drive around and do for them for decent money
I’m currently pretty young and relatively new to the work industry so all the jobs I get are service industry and minimum wage. There have been times where I’ve gotten physically ill due to burnout and physical work I’ve had to do during work. I’m trying to get office jobs but I’m just not quite there yet in credentials and experience yet.
I actually had the opposite situation with my previous job. I worked food service and the repetetiveness of making the stuff was really calming for some reason. I also only had to talk with like 2 people so that was a plus. Definitely not a universal experience and i totally understand why some ppl would find it annoying
I’m autistic as well - it’s been hard for me to hold down a job for the past few years due to mental health issues. I ended up being let go from a couple of jobs due to low productivity. My current job is actually the longest one I’ve ever worked in, but I think that’s only because my boss is really understanding.
God I hate my job! I work as a cashier and I really can’t do more than about 10 hours a week before going insane. The other day I was just explaining to a new employee the procedure when a clients wants to withdraw money with their receipt and the client went “oh my god that’s just a bunch of bullshit!” And started getting mad at me because I asked him to sign *one paper*. Also people regularly think I would charge them more money on items just for fun? It’s not gonna give me anything to do that I will literally be paid the same amount which is the minimum wage I don’t know what makes you think I would maliciously charge you 50 cent extra
I used to work at a grocery store where we'd have people who were millionaires/billionaires (because the neighborhood they lived in was that ballin') complain about getting charged 10 cents per paper grocery bag. They whined and moaned all the way back to their Rolls Royces and Landrovers with their drivers waiting for them.
It's interesting how some people who have nothing will tip fat and be very accommodating, and people with everything will harp at service workers who are basically treated like inanimate objects to scream at and expect discounts or free everything while being as difficult and entitled as possible. I may be a peasant, but I'm not your slave, you old crone woman!
I love the job that I do since it's one of my special interests. I don't get along with my manager because she is always trying to boss me around, but she doesn't do her own job. She thinks yelling at me will fix the issue, but it won't. I've learned to cope for now, but it's exhausting.
I'm between jobs at the moment. It sucks! We're about to close on a house, no pressure! I have my first video interview Tuesday and I am not anticipating it. I bought a poster board to stand up behind the camera so I don't miss any topics. I'm just scared of getting camera shy and sounding stupid. I keep getting taken advantage of at work. My work ethic is unstoppable. I NEED to fill every second of my work day to pass the time AND avoid socializing. People take it as a challenge to just pile on more. I lost my job because I finally said no to working 7 days a week, needed 2 for me. I'm just scared this will be a perpetual cycle. I'm also getting my realtor's license and brushing up on my hardly used Spanish in the meantime. I have always understood but I'm shy about making mistakes so I just stopped speaking.
I'm currently working at a small independently owned grocery store ... this type of business is one that I typically fit into, it's nice that they value my work and don't expect me to stand around making a bunch of small talk.
I have a job as a web developer (mainly working from home), I find it's the best job for me personally since I don't have to have much contact with people and if I do, it's normally over Slack or something like that. It took me a while to find what works for me and my work has been pretty accomidating. If you're not happy just keep trying and I am sure you'll find something you like.
Recently I wrote down every job I've had since I've started working 13 years ago. Found out I've had 16 jobs in that time. I find work really difficult and draining, and even burnout inducing. I'm hoping to go into academia now, though, so hopefully pursuing my special interest will make it easier to work.
i used to be a serious job hopper but i’ve been at my company for almost a year now 🥹 i started as a physical therapy aide and now i’m a receptionist. it’s not too energy consuming but everyday is different so i love it
I’m weird, but I’m also the shit. I forget shit yet I am flawless when I’m in the zone. You can’t fuck with me, but you’re criticizing might get me in my feelings. I am a god!! But useless when I’m burnt out. Anyways. This message was brought to you by a contradicting paradoxical enigma.
I've been in employment for the past 7 years, 4 of them at my current job. There have been many tough times, especially at my last job, and then when I was working 2 jobs until I got offered a permanent full-time contract at my current role.
For me, my 9 to 5 office job is paramount to my overall well-being. The structure it gives me is incredibly good. I work in a supportive environment, and I've learned a lot from my manager, who does her best to encourage growth but also not pushing me too hard. She tries to get me familiar with how to deal with certain situations or the best way to respond. It really has helped me be more confident in dealing with things.
But, even with a great workplace and coworkers, I still find the full-time work exhausting. Mentally draining. It can get too much, and I can get overwhelmed. I take an antidepressant and a betablocker to control the severe physical anxiety responses I have. Sometimes, I just want to STOP and everything to STOP.
I'm grateful that I can manage to work and that I lucked out to find a great work environment that enables me to cope.
I’m constantly changing jobs every few years. I haven’t stayed at a job for longer than 2 years before being so bored
I am going to try to go to school to be an ultrasound tech so I can work like 3 12 hour days and then have 4 days off to do other things like write my book and live life.
i have audhd and work at a fast casual food spot. i got lucky with fun coworkers and flexible, respectful bosses. it's minimum wage and part time so i dont burn myself out, but i can ask for more hours if i wanted to. ive hopped a ton of jobs, but i can see myself being here for a good while.
I'm 30, have both adhd and autism, longest I've had a job and still going is 6 years I love it everyday is different and I meet different people everyday I'm a train conductor, and I love it :)
It may have been the ethics instilled in me by my boomer parents, but I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had no problem acquiring and maintaining employment at most of the jobs/career I’ve been in. I also do pretty well under stress, and it was one of the things the clinician diagnosed who diagnosed me remarked about.
I was in the U.S. Navy for five years, a tow truck driver for twelve, and I’ve been in law enforcement communications (dispatching and supervising) for seventeen years. Strange occupation choices, because none of these ever had a set routine apart from the hours we worked. Go figure. 😃
I want a job but the problem is getting one I actually enjoy and want to pursue. The job I want isn't one that can be easily obtained, so finding smaller jobs in the meantime will be hard
In September I'm probably starting national service, basically volunteering somewhere. That's kind of like a job, it's meant to prepare you. The organization that coordinates that has a special track for disabled people where you volunteer for 6 instead of 8 hours and be more closely aided.
I was much more comfortable working in part-time pizza places than my current job full-time at a warehouse. It's torture, but it might keep paying the bills if the cost of everything would stop skyrocketing for 5 minutes lol
I have a job which I love but my colleagues are all kinda weird to me. Like everything I say is apparently super funny even tho I’m just saying I don’t know what they are talking about or I don’t understand and when they ask a question and I answer it’s apparently hilarious I guess because I don’t expand on my answer and just simply answer the question and move on. I do feel like they view and treat me like a child which does annoy me sometimes tho. They also stare at me a lot which makes me very uncomfortable and when I’m nervous I awkward smile and I’m pretty sure they just find it funny that’s why they do it but I want them to stop and they are always trying to talk to me even tho I clearly got me earphones in and am trying to focus on my work.
It’s a miserable cycle tbh.
Get a job. Mask as much as possible. Be the star employee. Burnout & lose my marbles.
Currently at the “star employee” stage (in the middle of training for a promotion I just got) but waiting for the burnout annnyyyyy day now 😩
I hate working with a passion, for the same reasons. But I need money and have no other support system, so alas I work full-time. I dislike it but it pays my bills and I’ve been here long enough to adjust to my workplace.
I work in a retail store right now and it’s hard when customers touch me or get in my personal space, and talking to people all day can be draining, sometimes it can be hard to read between the lines and understand what people are really trying to say. I also work part time right now but I feel like if I worked full time I’d get burnt out really easily. Even working now it takes a lot of energy to go in multiple days a week and I need a lot of time to recharge after every shift, and the job can put me in a negative mood almost every time I work and make me feel irritated and i’m AudHd.
And I have curly hair and I’m black and customers will just start touching my hair without asking (so violating) and if it’s not that then they’re touching my arm or how some people will give you a light smack on the arm when they say a joke. Even with my coworkers touching me sometimes it’s so uncomfortable 🥲
I have autism, cptsd and bpd and I just got promoted to assistant manager in a jewelry store. i love my job and the people I work with are lovely but my job is also draining as fuck and I get home most days overwhelmed, nonverbal and unable to do anything around the house cause Ive ran out of spoons.
recently I swapped to a store closer to home though so that's helped me a fuck ton. I was homeless last year and honestly the only thing keeping me going is the fear of being homeless again so there's that.
I’ve only held on to a couple jobs for a full year. It was from not being able to hold a job someone suggested I get tested.
Even knowing the diagnosis I still feel hopeless trying to hold a job. I try not to socialize and just do work. Then I’m told I need to socialize then I get in trouble. I get in trouble if I don’t socialize cause I know what will happen. I try to keep my head down and just do my work.
But communication from managers is always awful. Initial feed back at the start of a jobs “great you’re doing awesome”.
Then they’ll just find a problem for problem sake and give a bad feedback. It’s so confusing to me.
I work with people and get overload almost every day, may sometimes even start yelling at people. Also people tell me “why are you so depressed” as I lose my masking or even speaking skills after a few hours. I can’t work under pressure as when it is low-tempo and monotasking, that is fine, but multitasking, thinking about many things at once at a high tempo overwhelms me.
I have auDHD and work in metal, have my own department and I get weekly orders. Weekly so it gives me the structure I need for my autism but also weekly so that I have enough zoning out moments and playroom to let my ADHD have a chaotic day every now and then.
It took a lot of talking and lots of struggles from all the nt managers but since November I have a CEO who has worked with special brains (as he calls it) and he worked with all the nt people to give me more responsibility and more playroom so I won't clash all the time with everyone.
I work 7 to 16 at 5 days a week, which is a lot but right now I can't afford it to work less and at the end of the day I'm exhausted but I will soon try to lower my hours by trading in some days off.
I’m unemployed. I was never able to hold a job and the only job I had that I even enjoyed on top of that, was being a Starbucks barista. Outside of that one, most jobs I had I worked in really small teams with no interaction outside of it, OR I worked in a large team where everyone is still doing their stuff entirely independent. I didn’t mind that at all. But work got repetitive, I got bored. That, or I just couldn’t do 7am-3pm shifts anymore.
I’m on disability and I go to “day care”/ occupational therapy where I work with raptors. I could’ve made that my work, but I’m not able to due to circumstance. It’s fine doing this work and still being a client.
I'm still doing an apprenticeship in IT.
Now.. it's my third year.. and I don't really know what to think.. it's way more human contact than I'd have expected.. human contact is not inherently bad but it's a company with "regular folks" and scientists. With a shit ton of different accents and cultural behavior (multicultural company).
So it's not "one protocol fits all". Some don't know how to read and make it your problem, some don't know what they want, some want stuff they can't have and some are actually really pleasant to converse with. What I mean is you always have to figure out what the hell people want before even starting a task. Once someone came in and wanted a "Pepsi Cable".
Almost every day I have to retreat to the bathroom at least once and cry a little. No one is actively mean to me, it's just everything is overwhelming and loud and everyone wants to phonecall when we'd have a messenger.
I figured the issue isn't my work or workplace, the issue is mainly "other people" (or rather, !recognizing and compensating our differences!) and to a certain extent my degree.
I observed people being more tolerant, understanding and accepting of "weird" people as long as they had a higher education.
(For example I got scolded for wearing an "unprofessional attire" and not 10min later some dude walked past me in socks, shorts and a tank top lmao) (I was wearing cargo pants and a hoodie)
I work three jobs (THPO in Tribal Government, assistant/gofer work for a nonprofit, and various art things here and there like illustrating for a comic or creating shadow puppets for a local theatre group or animating for a PSA about safety in rural communities) on top of working towards my general education at community college.
I come from a low income family and now, living on my own, I would not be able to survive without multiple jobs (I barely make it by as is, Im ashamed to admit that I still rely on allowance from my slightly higher class grandparents). I was lucky on account that I never had to apply to these jobs, as living in the same small-town community all my life everybody just knows me and offered me the jobs since they thought I’d be best for the position.
That said, I have been burnt out since November of last year. My mental health has been at its lowest point in all my life and I’ve already made one attempt on my life due to stress. I can’t quit my job or else I wouldn’t be able to support myself, and I can’t just stop going to college because the education would get my different, *better* opportunities in the future—but I swear to god I don’t know how long I can keep this up.
It doesn’t help that I can’t afford a diagnosis and this can’t get any sort of accommodations or benefits or whatever the hell might possibly be an option. I’m just stuck living like this until I either finish college or die in the process.
Jumping from one sh\*tty entry level low paying job to another, of which at most I have only been able to last just under three years before getting completely burned out. I have two college degrees that no employers care about and a bunch of job experience that only makes me applicable to other entry level, low paying jobs of different insidious varieties.
Currently a waitress, just got hired at a hotel, and going in to be interviewed for a government job tomorrow. I think I am woefully unsuited for any of these jobs, also being ASD and ADHD. My coworkers treat me like a social leper and I have developed an aversion to conversation because social rejection chronically has destroyed my self-esteem.
I only am doing such jobs in an attempt at basic survival, for which at this point, it would seem I poorly suited to survive the world of inner workplace politics. People for some reason decide that when they go into work, they're going to make it like high school, but not the one where you have youthful optimism and healthy body, but the sh\*ttiest parts, where people mercilessly taunt one another for superfluous reasons to elevate themselves within a hypothetical social hierarchy.
If there is a God, may the Giant Spaghetti Monster bestow his omnipotent noodles a blessing of a WFH job. Cruel coworkers and days saturated with banal meaningless work to feed a system hellbent on destroying its occupants is not an ideal way to pass one's life.
I absolutely love my job. Work as a software engineer. Work 4 days a week, 2 at home, 2 in office. They accept me as I am and I don't have to mask. I even wear a cap since it helps against those annoying office lights, and all my colleagues are fine with it.
Was working for my dad prior to his death. Before that it's been years since I had a job in my desired field (tech) despite trying, hundreds of apps sent. One or two interviews. 0 offers.
I don’t have many skills so I’ve only had like 3 jobs that all involved customer service. The customers are always super rude to me and I hate it and sometimes it makes me cry, so I end up quitting after a few months because I can’t take it anymore. I’ve been working at my current receptionist job for a year until I gave birth, now maternity leave is almost over and I really don’t want to go back so I’ve been trying to find a work from home position or at least something where I’m not face to face with rude assholes all day
I have worked in a library part-time for about 7 -8 years now. It's not bad, but you will have to get used to dealing with the public and with staff. Sometimes you luck out and find a place with low circulation, but my place tends to have higher circulation.
im still in school (as a minor) but I have a pretty stable job at a fast food joint- sometimes my "autisticness" is tough to deal W on shift but it's enough for me rn
I’ve had many jobs but most have been temporary contracts. My current contract ends at the end of July and I am so unsure about my future. I’m unable to do certain jobs due to my ADHD, autism and severe dyspraxia.
It's pretty common to struggle with getting and keeping a job I think. I'm autistic and have ADHD, and it's part of the reason why I'm currently on disability. I have been on disability since I was 25, but before that I attempted to do what any other young adult does: find a job and become financially independent.
I always struggled in getting a job though. I was always a bit too honest, so I rarely even got to the interview phase. When I did, I was always anxious, and it showed. When I get nervous, my mask slips and I tend to say things that are awkward, and I tend to forget what the "right" answer to their questions should be. I always forgot what questions I should ask.
Occasionally I did manage to get a job, although rarely on my own merit. My last job was as an inclusion teacher; it was a part of a teacher certification program, so technically I was assigned to that position. I didn't do well, but I think most people would've struggled to be honest. The workload was completely unreasonable, and my vice principal kept piling on more and more. I didn't even have a teacher's aide for the first couple of months. It's really not surprising that my health absolutely tanked by that spring. Stress does funny things to the body. I went on medical leave and later resigned.
I always get bullied out of jobs. I recently got laid off because I’m “too much”. I wanted better training, they said no, so I found my own way. Ended up doing an amazing job. Found myself enjoying being ostracized as I could focus. But because I stuck out like a sore thumb I was picked to go. Now I’m struggling with finding another job so we don’t end up homeless. I’m dying to find a career and stop working minimum wage.
AuDHD here… jobs are pain in the bumm. But not impossible because I’m a female, I learned to mask myself so much nobody would able to see/ tell. That was back in the days tho.
Since I got my official diagnosis(Surprise, Surprise a late diagnosis after 30) I started to be more myself and taking the mask off. People will might not like me but I’m done pleasing people (I had enough as I have PTSD as well )
Another thing what was useful for my neurospicy brain
1 accept the fact I can’t settle down and I’m looking for different jobs all the time but it doesn’t mean you can’t find something that fits. Right now my current job is a part time sales job and it’s wonderful for my brain. OR
2 try to have a conversation with yourself and see what you want to do. Want to build a career or just looking for a job to pay your bills.
Don’t be afraid to accept who you are and if society has a problem with that… is their problem not yours. ❤️
What other people think of you is non of your business! 🥰
Job hopping. I get overstimulated or bored with it. I did major in social work and I was already burnt out before I went into the field. College was exhausting.
I really wanna go back to school for musuem studies.
I'm a software engineer. When I'm stable and my environment's stable, I do amazing work that impresses everyone. This has happened two or three times in my eleven-year career (this figure includes the 3 years I spent recovering from autistic burnout).
I think I'd be fine with the jobs if I could get a WFH situation. It's the ring-kissing and marketing myself I struggle with because it's so painful.
I'm currently studying coding to have more of a chance of getting a WFH job.
Let me underscore that word. "Chance" I studied coding for the sole explicit purpose of WFH permanently. It took fifteen years to get there. Fifteen.....God.... _DAMNED_ fucking years. The worst part of it is that it could change at a moment's notice if I were to lose my current job.
Why did it take 15 years?
It could be an artifact of the general area that I live in, but I just couldn't find a place that would allow it. I did also have a couple jobs at places that did allow it, but was blocked by shitty managers who shouldn't have been allowed to manage people. Or garbage bag clients that didn't allow it (I am a software consultant). Then along came COVID, which bitch slapped those rat fuckers right across their dirty mouths. Been 100% remote ever since.
I doing the exact same thing right now.
Can confirm that WFH is really, REALLY helpful with having ASD and ADHD
Customer service WFH is a nightmare btw
Facts. I was a Call Center Supervisor/Interim Manager (loosely) for a technical support and customer service call center for what used to be a good sized educational company. It was an absolute shit show. I had an awesome manager that believed in me and went to bat for me more than a couple of times (until she left) but the resources simply were not there. Despite my role supposedly being off the phones for the most part, I was right there taking inbound and outbound level one, two, internal calls with the rest of the staff, unable to perform any supervisory duties to any beneficial extent. The best I could do was answer questions for my folks over our instant messaging system because there was literally no time to do audits, coaching, etc. Then my manager left and we were outsourced to this garbage ass company that let us keep our jobs but under their name instead. And the expectations tripled. I probably lasted a year at most at that point and had complete burnout and handed in my resignation. The company went under not too long after. The employees under me I tried to treat as well as I could. But I could tell they were burnt out too. Most call centers are not friendly to humans in general. Truth of the matter is I was coping with binge drinking. It's a wonder I didn't unalive myself for those 6 years. I made a mistake by not disclosing my diagnosis, it may have gotten me more money at the time but it wasn't worth my health. If I could go back in time to that job and disclose my diagnosis I would have. Perhaps my anxiety and depression would not be as bad as they are now, and my fear of employment would not be as severe as it is.
I am starting my own business, and researched msp’s (managed service provider). Sounds like that what this job may have been. Medium msps profit ratio is 8%+. Larger ones can hit around 18-20%. Mostly cheap idiots run them.
yeah this is what i need as well
You still have to do this crap wfh, it'll just be over Teams meetings. Database management, clean up is relatively low human interaction. Go look at a list for the top used corporate programs, Zoho, Sage, etc. Learn a couple and add that to your resume.
That is very true. It is painful to throw yourself out there in a position like that. I had a class with a lot of presentations, and it hurt every time I had to get up there. Even more unfortunate is how we have to do what we have to do. Best of luck to you.
I can’t seem to hold a job for the life of me :( I always get way to overwhelmed all the time that I eventually burst and quit during a meltdown, and then regret quitting the next day
So relatable. But I embarrass myself during the meltdown so I never want to go back and pretend that it never happened at all.
I slammed 3 doors on my way out. I didn't mean to but yes, the meltdown is always the end. I let them push and push.
My last two jobs I’ve cried / let people get to me and it ultimately lead to me quitting without going back. I don’t recommend ugh. I don’t understand people as much as I thought I do. It’s so hard for me to tell why people are saying things or if their tone is off toward me. Once had a coworker talk to me like a child (even told me at least once a week I looked like one / backing up why) I told her that the tone she uses felt like I was a child and she told me to ignore the tone. I remember when I was younger before I would mask I would always get made fun of for how I dressed / acted. In public I would always smile at others, and get sad when people didn’t smile back.
I always get overwhelmed too. I get agitated and always feel like I want to cry from frustration.
I’m so sorry. It’s so frustrating. Just know that there’s nothing wrong with you, or any of us, for having meltdowns. One of the best experiences I’ve had professionally was when I had a meltdown at work and a coworker just shrugged it off later and said “nah, it’s fine, it happens” and let me do my job like normal. A supportive environment is possible. I just hope for the day that more people understand that meltdowns don’t have any bearing on our competency, and that we just need to create structures to help avoid them.
I have a job, but it makes me constantly miserable. I've just come to accept that suffering is part of life.
I used to be like that too. Now I'm back to school to study another degree and hopefully make my life better. I hope you can find something too to get out of constant misery.
I really hope that works for you. Unfortunately some of us just aren't built to live under capitalism. I'm only working two days a week this year. I love my job when I have the energy to, but I'm in a perpetual state of fluctuating AuDHD burnout because of it. I think the answer for me would be to not work, but I'm worried I would get bored and fall into clinical depression because of lack of routine.
This is me, but I also suffer when I’m not working. I want to contribute. I have many talents and excellent focus on projects, but I need to take breaks flexibly and need something part time. Why is so much part time work considered low value and low pay?
Capitalism is inherently ableist. If you aren't able to contribute full time you are considered unproductive/worthless to society. It's bullshit.
It really is. Especially considering the fact that, if you let me loose on something that actually interests me, I’m getting more done in an hour than your average NT in the entire day. On the other hand I wish my performance were a bit more stable and predictible though. This all or nothing situation can be so exhausting
This is really validating. I really don't want to work currently I'm at 40hrs a week and I'm absolutely miserable. I would much rather live in a random little cottage, and my job be tending to my home and things like a garden, maybe some chickens. I have a feeling that lifestyle would be nice and something I could maintain.
This is the way
You’re describing the dream right there 😭 I want to be a full time artist as well!
Let’s start a commune 😅
I can't study. There are subjects that I would passionately follow and others that I simply cannot keep up.
I am very lucky to have a special interest that I can study. Almost all my studies feel super interesting because of this. I wish everyone could have that.
Don’t settle! Find a job you enjoy, around your special interests. I promise they are out there. I’ve worked a lot of jobs I’ve liked. I loved laser tag so I worked as a laser tag technician for a while after figuring out how to get certified. Then I worked at a big art instillation cuz I love art. Now I make art for a living because I wanted to learn how to 3D print and I did and I am obsessed with it. I promise work can be so much fun.
I'm not going to get into any of those jobs without a degree unfortunately. I'm 30 and broke so I can't exactly afford to start school now.
It's not like a life changing think, but life *is* suffering according to Buddhism, it's also very present on nearly all philosophist books, at least with the great ones. A line by Nietzsche that helps me a lot is "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.". Personally I've had to look for that Why to live constantly and have realized that it's constantly fluctuating, evolving or just changing entirely . I've had to go on a few intervals that last from months to years of looking for that meaning, but when I catch it, I almost forget all the tragedies and suffering of life, and I feel happy in those moments that, luckily, do last much longer than happiness, which is truly a very dodgy btch hahaha. All in all, I truly enjoy life when I have a Why to live, I guess the magic of life lies in looking for that and holding on to it for (literally) dear life.
That's how I see it. You can't enjoy the beauty and the luxuries of life without suffering
Mood kindred
Life IS suffering.
Not necessarily. Suffering is a part of life - so is joy and other pleasant emotions. You can reach a point where suffering is its own kind of positive because you’re alive to experience it.
I love this positive attitude thank you
NP! DBT and CBT have helped a LOT.
I like saving positive things that make me feel better to my phone notepad. This is going on there.
("...your Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something." Though it's actually"pain", I couldn't help but think of that lol)
I haven't tried to look for a job yet because I don't know what I could and wouldn't be able to handle at a job. I don't like socializing, and I have anxiety as well as autism. I also haven't completed my 40 hours of volunteer work (which you need to graduate in Ontario) because most of the volunteer work they offer requires you to socialise, and I'm not too fond of socializing. My largest problem could be that I'm not trying but I'm also probably too scared to try.
I really liked housekeeping! (AuDHD, major social anxiety) If you start before busy season, you get the feel for it while it's a little slower, and then when busy season starts nobody expects you to pitter around being social with coworkers at all because you gotta smash those rooms out! There's a rhythm to it that doesn't require much thought and getting the end result of a nice clean room is satisfying, and we would work in groups of 1-3 people so working alone was great and eventually working with a small group I'd become comfortable with was manageable and even nice sometimes. Worked at a resort though in a wooded area and got to walk outside to get between cabins. Saw so many cool bugs. Would have stayed forever if my manager didn't quit, leading to our whole team quitting cause the new manager was kind of a jerk.
I did waitressing, which had a script to it. That could be too social for you though? You could try a back of house role like cooking or dishwashing (can work quite well with productivity once you know what you're doing). These are jobs often in high demand so maybe start there? I have anxiety and autism, but knowing what's expected in the role really helps me, maybe it'll be similar for you?
dishwashing can be fun, you can just get into a groove and lose yourself in it. it can be fast paced though.
I enjoy prep work in kitchens. It can get boring, but it doesn't take much socializing. And it does leave room for growth. What sorts of volunteer work do they offer? I don't like sales work as I'm not good at convincing people to buy something unless I'm genuinely passionate about it.
"Back of house" or Backstock (for retail) is always where it's at for people with social issues, but no high income skills to WFH. Easier to quit those jobs as well if you need to. If you're just the dishwasher person, or the bus boy that clears the table, there's much less guilt in bailing if you burnout.
What kind of growth can you get from a prep kitchen? I’ve been looking for some work recently because being alone all day is starting to take a toll on my mental health
Volunteer work to graduate? With what degree?
high school diploma
There’s a shelter in Toronto called “Redemption Paws” that offers a ton of remote volunteering options. You don’t have to be local for them either, only if you actually go hands on and foster/adopt a dog. Maybe that would work, if you could do it from home and mostly through email?
Also AuDHD... I've been in tech most of my career, once it got going.. but I drifted form Job to Job till my late 20's. I ended up working in Cybersecurity which is one crisis after another which I am weirdly suited to. It's really hard to find a job that fits the way we are, I realize how lucky I am to make really good money at something I'm uniquely built to work in.
This is what I want to do!!! I’m 28 and I’ve been drifting from job to job in customer garbage (lol typo but it fits how I feel about customer service 😂) call centres the past few years. I last 2 years TOPS before I lose it from burnout and end up losing my job because I just can’t keep up anymore or go out on disability or something until I can’t financially handle it anymore and have to go back to work and then I’m usually not better and end up getting laid off anyways. I want to go back to school for cybersecurity. Though, I wanted to go for software development for the longest time bc I thought I was best suited to that with my current tech skills (self taught since approx 10 years old… was building/ coding fan sites on freewebs at 11/12 years old haha & taught myself how to take apart and build computers, and then more advance stuff like networking/ servers/ etc..,creating backdoor programs made a very basic remote access Trojan and sent to my brother at 13 😂) anyways. I’m ranting. Point is, anything tech related, I e always loved and it’s one of my biggest regrets, is not going to school for it when I was younger. I went for fucking cosmetic management…. Because it was a special interest at the time. Obv dropped out after a year… hated it. Also, my friends at the time kind of pushed me into it and I also just wanted to be a hot girlie girl or something stupid along those lines at that age lol. But yeah, I want to go back to school for tech- cybersecurity bc 1) seems to be the most stable option in the field right now especially bc base coders coming out of soft dev are not getting jobs and the ones already working are losing their jobs to AI now a days - AI can easily do those jobs, along with so many other options in tech but cybersecurity? There will ALWAYS be a human element to it and they will always want it to be that way & then 2) it is super super interesting to me. But yeah- I KNOW that if I went back to school for tech and started working in the field, all of my job woes would end. It wouldn’t feel like work. I wouldn’t have to mask 24/7… I wouldn’t have the customer service burnout, I could work alone most of the time besides what? Some meetings and collaborations with coworkers? I wouldn’t have to ever really deal with the public, at least mundane things. Behind the scenes, you know? I just, I need money to do so lol. I need to be able to stick it out for a while in the customer service field and save as much money as I can so I can do so… which is so difficult because I do have such bad burnout in this field and I end up having at least one sick day a paycheck, and then to make myself feel better after hating most of my day bc of my job, I spend my extra money on chasing dopamine rushes, videos games, etc.
Hang in there.. I didn't get my undergrad until I was 33.. it took forever. But then I ended up with two masters after.. I used my ability to obsess about something to push through school.. sometimes I think my coping skills derive from how to "jedi mind trick" myself into doing what I have to.
37, my fourth attempt at college and I'm about to have my bachelor's in February. I am still in shock and questioning if I'm smart or these have all been easy A's. Less than 40 credits to go! **Idk how masters got in there I must have been reading your reply as I typed 😅
congratulations!! It's damn hard to do, you got the A's because you are smart. the very brain that made the classes easy now is the same brain that caused the speedbumps to begin with-- we take the upside with the down :)
Thank you, this is so nice I'll keep it in my pocket when I have doubts!
Also when they touch you while talking to you i could rip their hands off
I used to be a tour guide (lasted 5 shifts), and some dude asked me about something in the distance. When I asked him to describe what he wanted me to look at, he just grabbed my face with both hands and physically turned my head towards it. It took everything in me to stay calm. I don't know why the fuck people think this is an ok thing to do.
Okay but that is LITERALLY not normal for NTs to even do to each other, I'm surprised the man had the audacity to do that.
I know it's not normal, but some people have zero respect for workers, and it's not like my shitty employer would have told him off. Customer is always right and all that jazz
Nah. It’s okay no harm no foul now, but if something like that happens again in the future, you bring that up to your manager. Weirdo behavior by that guy to do some shit like that. Just bringing it up may have helped with you understanding that that guy was weird and an anomaly for tour guiding, and may have helped you cope with staying with the job.
Believe me, it would have done nothing. That company is a dumpster fire, there was no manager to speak of. And as I said, I did know it wasn't normal behavior. I was fired for unrelated reasons (basically not given a reason)
In pur country we have a saying that customer is king But the servant is empire Implieing that both should be respected mutually
I could have a meltdown for something like this
Yeah that's not normal period. Maybe if it's your brother/sister and you're both young but for a full grown adult, and a stranger to do that.. rude as hell if you ask me
I hate this so much! I don't do hugs either.
I have worked in different workplaces in healthcare. I always end up so burnt out that I have to quit. For some reason the patients usually like me but it takes all I have and a lot more for me to interact well with them. I also pretty much always get bullied by some coworker and end up doing some of their work too. So now I went back to school hoping to find a better job in the future, one where I can work from home I think.
I dealt with this in animal medicine and it broke my heart because I did the schooling and was great with the animals but it was the other techs that made an already hard job unbearable 😭
I loved working with animals and worked so hard to get the degree and licensing, but the politics and social nonsense was too much for me. I was actually called into the office by the veterinarian practice owner and practice manager to be told, "I'm not social enough with my co-workers." I was written up for that. I never lost an animal when I was in charge of anesthesia, I never messed up a drug calculation (the practice manager had), I was great at ani.al behavior, and clients lived me. I left shortly after and they were mad at me for leaving. Now I work from home full time in a different career. It's a struggle, but at least I don’t get written up for not being social enough with my coworkers.
That's so sad! I wish they had been nicer to you
I'm sorry that happened to you! I also feel bad that I studied for 6 years only to realize I can't do my job. But it is what it is.
I'm AuDHD too and just got a job working in a boutique hotel and restaurant. The lighting is nice and low and it's a quiet space for fine dining, so there aren't many sensory issues for my autism. And the job is varied enough that I don't get bored. I'm aware that I got lucky in this instance.
I’ve struggled as well - seem to go from a high performer to below average.. fluctuated my whole life. As I get older, I realize it’s burnout from the consistent masking - masking takes precious energy us NDs seem to possess less of… nature does seem to balance itself out in some ways - hence our ability to go super deep on a subject and retain information like an encyclopedia, vs your standard NT is capable of handling themselves with a handful of actions and subjects while simultaneously juggling the social aspect… NTs can go wider, and operate better around others, NDs go deeper, and tend to operate better alone - both were necessary in the tribal days when we needed people to be able visualize and fix things, and retain deep swaths of information (like an encyclopedia), and work the night shift watch when everybody else was asleep (usually done in a smaller group, less environmental stimuli, light, interaction, noises, but more sensitive to this stimuli at the same time in case something decided to attack at night - but I digress…) So take a page out of our ancestors books - and find an environment with less light and noise stimuli, including social interaction, so you can use your heightened awareness and deep dive skills to contribute to the whole.. And take care of yourself... Try and work on your taste and texture preferences to benefit your health, get on a sustainable workout schedule, try and establish a pre-sleep routine so your mind and body are calm enough to get good rest, try therapy, medication even. It’s tough, and it can be a rough journey at times.. just be sure to be kind to yourself along the way - we know all too well the world can be a cruel place. Don’t be part of the cruelty.
This ‘energy we have less of’ is a direct result of a difference in synaptic density. Every stimulus fires many more nerves, and this results in more effort and chemical churn. This causes mental exhaustion that can progress to seizures or headaches. We have more mental horsepower but far less mental endurance. Be careful with how you invest your mental and emotional energy. Being in loud, brightly lit places and interacting with stressful people costs you greatly. Don’t engage in social conflicts of endurance. You are weak here.
Do you have a study or something for this? How interesting.
Here's something to get you started, I'll link a more comprehensive analysis when I'm ready. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843767/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843767/)
I'm a forever student because I struggle to find anything work from home. I've never found a job, office or retail, that is accommodating enough that I don't get burnt out immediately. Just perpetually living in poverty.
I can't stand authority, so I never last long. Jobs ask too much of me and I can't keep up. My longest full-time employment to date has been 5 months long, and then they fired me because I couldn't keep up with them. That was a WFH position, too. I don't think I'm capable of working full-time, honestly. I've been living on savings, student loans and help from my boyfriend until now. I'm trying to go the freelance route instead now.
I worked as a cashier once in high school, it was HORRIBLE. I'm not professionally diagnosed so I don't get any disability checks. I'm 20 now and still living with my parents. I was very depressed and burnt out for a while but I'm feeling better since starting antidepressants. I tried to learn a freelance WFH job from my dad before but I was still depressed and didn't have enough dopamine so it didn't work out. Now I'm trying to learn that same job again and I'm actually making progress. It's a great job. I can work from home, choose my own hours, choose my own workload, and the pay is ok. It is pretty boring and complicated though. Once I get hired I will use the money to save up for a tiny house. So, I'm actually doing kind of good for once.
what job is that?
It's called being a "Title Searcher". It's also a type of paralegal. But you don't have to go to school for it. Basically I look people and properties up on government websites, and then give what I found to an attorney.
I’ll give you the same advice I give every autistic : work at Starbucks. It sucks, it’s hard, it’s draining, and physically taxing. But also over half of my coworkers are neurodivergent. Most of my managers have been. There is one (1) not queer person at my store. Every time I’ve worked at a different store, it’s been a similar experience. Additionally, they offer free therapy separate from their health insurance.
This but don’t be a supervisor. At least for me it feed my rejection sensitivity too much. I’m about to step down after being one for 5 years but a barista is a pretty good time. Free school is the only reason I’m not quitting lol.
Fuck jobs, work for yourself. Any company saying they're inclusive is lying, reasonable adjustments don't exist and AuDHD folx tend to annoy coworkers because we make them look like utter dog-shite in their performance. I worked for a start up, did purchasing along with a load of other stuff. On 3 components, for a product that consisted of hundreds, I saved £60k. Their thanks? Hire a senior purchase nonce (not the actual title) who got paid more than me. Man did fk all, annoyed and creeped everyone out & eventually got himself fired. I got purchasing back, no raise, no thanks just "be grateful you get to do this again". I waited til the right moment came up then just fked off. Now I train dogs, much better and actually rewarding
Not anyone can manage working for themselves....
I worked for myself for the past 7 years and I called it quits this week. I am in major burnout because I had to do absolutely everything all of the time and never fully could take time off because I was the business and the business was me. There was a lot of great freedoms and benefits for me, but it honestly took a major toll on my physical and mental health. I’m literally in the process of packing up and moving out of my apartment in a big city to move cross country into a tiny house in the middle of nowhere northern country with my dad… going to try to recoup, salvage the brain cells that I have left and then go back to the drawing board… I’m 32 with no degree, going back to the absolute basics and trying to heal from this burnout and then start all over…
I got a part time because I was just coming out of a year long burnout unemployed. Once I got used to the new routine of my four hour shifts four days a week, same days, I got another part-time. It’s more a casual position where I only have to work four shifts total in a six week scheduling period. My thought process was that if I get start getting burned out again I can always quit one position and still have income. It’s a very new strategy approach to employment that’s very different from how I’ve ever approached things before. For anyone who is curious the casual position is a healthcare position. There are entry level healthcare jobs that are posted as casual or PRN(as needed) and you generally get to pick your schedule. You can commit to more than just a few shifts in a 6 week period or you can simply pickup more shifts when there are call offs or requests by full-time employees to use PTO or whatever. But it’s a lot less of a commitment which allows you to be more in control of your schedule. My casual position is 12 hour shifts but it’s only once a week four out of six weeks minimum and it pays $23 per hour because I’ll be doing nightshifts. Nightshifts in healthcare usually have a shift difference in pay because it’s a less desirable shift. Days pays $20 per hour.
Constant gaslighting and bullying. Everyday I get up and I feel like quitting. Everyday
It feels like people bond and seethe against you because they sense that you're different, and that is instantly taken as being "against them" or something. Talk and they don't like you because you don't "think" the right way, don't talk, do your work, and keep to yourself and you're a bad employee because you're quiet and weird. It's like they can't hit you, so they try to take you down emotionally, mentally, and spiritually instead.
I currently work in retail but trying to find another job (hopefully a remote job to help with my mental health issues and burnout from dealing with the general public) as I'm about to get my associates later this month.
I have been REALLY struggling since my diagnosis (autism/severe ADHD) a year ago. This past year also happens to have been the fastest/ramp up of responsibilities/over reliance on my skillset by basically every department. I feel like the extreme over reliance on me, my struggle with processing/understanding my diagnosis and the loooooooong Seattle commute everyday has made full time work feel unsustainable for me, even though I'm really really good at my job and genuinely enjoy the work (field engineer/control system programmer in the commercial AV industry). I have considered asking for accomodations but I have no idea what they would be. The trades aren't exactly the most accomodation-friendly industry which is discouraging.
Start hustling my fellow neurodivergent peeps, we need to escape the matrix to not work a day in our lives from here on!
Hustling is still working and often more stressful for many reasons
I just can’t play the capitalism game. It’s not natural, it’s not right
Love the way you worded this. Because really, unregulated, corporately controlled Capitalism is helping destroy the world so we can conveniently enjoy some crap in the short term that's slowly killing us and devastating the environment, the human condition, and opportunities and quality of life for people in the future. We all know its wrong, but we are so collectively wrought and entangled in the web of consumption, that we allow these robber barons to continue to decimate the natural world to make themselves rich and powerful.
Mental Dissabilitu Many people have called me weird and said that something is wrong with me. People have also said that I will die a virgin because I'm some kind of mentally disabled person. At first, when people said those things to me, I would just think they're talking bullshit and just forget about. But as the years have gone by, I look back and see that they have predicted my life. Does this mean there is something wrong with me? And what syndrome could it be?
There's nothing wrong with you. You are you and there's no other you. Those people that said those things are assholes. That being said, from your post I can tell you are probably a bit different than most people. I am too, and it can take a long time to get to grips with how you are different and learn to manage and survive in the world. Have you investigated the possibility of autism since you are in this sub? Again, never, ever let nasty people tell you those kind of things and believe them.
Look at it like this. X-men rock. How did the world treat mutants?
I was a school teacher for 3 years and it was awful for my autism. I didn't know I had it then. Now I have a hybrid job where I WFH half the time and go onsite the other half (one week on, one week off). It helps the autism to be at home and helps the ADHD to be at work! It still is hard to work full-time but it's an ideal situation for me to support myself.
What kind of job is that, if I may ask?
Currently employed in retail. I'm a cashier, and I work at a register. Despite that being the worst nightmare of many autistic folk, It's not too bad for me personally. I like my co workers, and the work is fairly easy going. However, it can get really repetitive, and I don't ever really feel like I'm achieving anything by just scanning customers stuff and tidying the front area all day. Having the same conversations and same interactions over and over can really wear me thin, and often I'm so zoned out from what I'm doing since it is almost all muscle memory at this point that when someone asks me something off script, even if it's something simple, I have to think about it for a while which makes me feel a little stupid lmao. Anyway yeah, It's not too bad, but I know other autistic folk in my situation would find it a living hell.
Jobs suck, but I am not independently wealthy, can't afford to live off disability, and don't want to be homeless again, so what can I do?
I just sort of fail at every job😂 hate being told what to do, terrible at sucking up to the right people and half the time a cucumber can concentrate better than me.
I enjoy working *to an extent*…..but the standard 5 day work week baffles me. I would be much happier with 4 days on, 3 days off. I find that to be much more rational and balanced. Work is good for me though, because I thrive in structure. I fell into a deep pit of depression and anxiety during COVID because I had nothing productive and routine to tend to
ADHD and autistic, as well as a chronic illness, I work from home, I do research. I work on different projects so it keeps things interesting and I try to just get through my social interactions with folks as best I can.
If you don't mind sharing, what exactly is your job? I'm also AuDHD & disabled/chronic illness and that sounds like my dream job. Doing that kind of research is already my top skill set (and my favorite!) thanks to the career I'm desperately trying to escape (academic librarian - if anyone ever tries to tell you what a great job it must be for neurodivergent folks, DON'T BELIEVE THEM! Toxic neurotypical privilege and bullying everywhere. the vibe is overall progressive, but very much a conformity-culture masquerading as an accepting one, and any intersectionality is mostly just lip service)
I used to get “laid off” due to some lame excuse of not “meshing with the team.” I have two bachelor’s degrees and got straight As through both degrees. I was a graphic designer and marketing director for years. It started to get waring getting laid off every 2-3 years and having to interview for new jobs over again. There was only so much masking I could do, and I didn’t even know I was autistic. I thought that there was just something defective about me. I’m 43 now and just got newly diagnosed in March with ASD Level 1 (low support needs). I have CPTSD as well and don’t trust people a whole lot. I’m fortunate I’m married to a successful engineer, so there’s wiggle room for me to get laid off or go back to school again. I finally found a career in my forties that fits me and I won’t get let go or burnt out. I work 100% remotely as a medical coder (I went back to school and got certified in my forties during the pandemic). I have never been able to say I like a job ever, but I’m a huge nerd with anatomy and physiology and medical stuff and love to continuously learn new things. I’m also extremely focused and detail oriented, so this job fit me like a glove. I now can say I have a career and LOVE what I do. It also helps that my employer is one of the top rated places to work in my state.
What kind of education &/ certification do you need to be a medical coder? 🤔
I work in libraries. If you're more social and willing to study it's pretty good fun - you get to do a lot of research for client reference/readers advisory requests, running of community programs, cataloguing, and organising. They're also very queer and neurodivergent workplaces. It's something I'm interested in enough to keep my autism happy and enough variation and social interaction to keep my ADHD happy. Some of my friends who are less social are considering archive work, which is far more focused on organisation and preservation and has less public social contact, so that's an option as well.
Dude, you don't know how lucky you are. My 20 year library career has been a never-ending cycle of masking and burnout. Queer friendly, yes - thank goodness - but intersectionality is still a struggle, the pay extremely variable/unreliable, and there so much petty, passive-aggressive nonsense, plus the office politics... I've worked in 7 states, in alllll kinds of libraries, in jobs ranging from tech services to public services to outreach to web stuff to archives... and I'm finally so thoroughly burnout that I'm looking for an entirely new career. I've worked my ass off from coast to coast for 2 decades, have 2 Masters degrees, written papers, given conference presentations, taught classes, revived broken websites, I'm on my 2nd new-ILS implementation project, but my career has mostly just given me is a "Low income" pay bracket (despite reaching the admin/managent tier) that keeps me living paycheck to paycheck, so much debt from moving for every new "career advancement" job that I had to declare bankruptcy a few years back, chronic insomnia & anxiety dreams, higher Covid risk, and most recently, stress-induced alopecia! It's a career that may jive for some flavors of neurodivergence - if the workplace is favored by the library gods - but let's just say that YMMV
I’ve never been able to keep a job for longer than 2 years. I just get completely burnt out by then, and the stress overwhelms me.☹️ Currently, due to a shit ton of long Covid issues, I’m essentially disabled at this point (I pass out of if I even stand or walk for too long, insanely low blood pressure and blood sugar, muscle and joint pain and I’m only 27, severe fatigue, memory loss, etc). I’m waiting for my disability claim to be REevaluated and approved so I don’t become homeless. My goal is to be a writer, and just survive on disability for the time being. Luckily I have a very supportive and helping mother, or I just may not even be alive at this point… If you have any writing, art skills that could earn you money, try those, but know that you’ll have to get other, likely menial, jobs until you (hopefully) find success. If you’re a craft kind of person you could create a small business and sell your creations. I will say, the best job I had was Walmart shelf stocking, and a pharmaceutical job where I just inspected, labeled and packed ivs and syringes that went out to hospitals. That one paid pretty decently too, and was not difficult. Obviously those aren’t forever jobs in your case, but they’re a start until you find your groove.
No job right now but hoping to find one soon so I can support my girlfriend.
Currently I work for myself as a gig worker with all of the gig apps. I'll be trying out transcription by doing a general transcription course that by the end, depending on my grade, will give me an internship to start with. But as someone replied to a comment about my gig hustling ability being obviously ADHD like, I have hands in many ways to earn money, not just the gig apps.
I do tech support from home and I LOVE it. I have fun with the problem solving and have one meeting a week. Used to teach and it’s made a worlds difference in my mental health.
I recently found a job with my city. It doesn’t pay the greatest, but the community is good and my bills are taken care of. There’s always plenty going on so I’m not bored, and there’s always a million things that need worked on so any progress anywhere is usually worth it. That said, not all city jobs are like this, so be careful where you look. My job caters to my skills and interests, and I am close to home so I can take care of my family in emergencies. The biggest thing however, is I am working for the people, not some profit-maxing jerk who has to pad investor pocketbooks. It adds a level of relaxation and satisfaction. People need roads, water, and sewer services to function, and city workers are pretty much the unsung heroes of society that way. Without that… we’re just a third world country with smartphones, and I’m proud to be a part of keeping things running on a fundamental level.
Right now, I am working with my independent living advisor/support lady on gaining employment. I attend my local disability center for assistance with this and other things involved in adult living. Hopefully, I will be able to find a job that includes the following: limited interaction with the public, repetitive tasks, an opportunity to categorize things, and in line with my interest. My dream job is in medical records. We are setting up a meeting with a hospital HR person soon to discuss the potential. This hospital is part of an employment program with the center. I am excited.
Bad. Ngl. I’m functional enough to do a good job, but not enough to do all the socializing that seems so unnecessary or to do the fake customer service acting. Truly, being good at what you do is not enough. You have to be likable, you have to kiss up, it’s all so dumb to me, but, seriously. That is the way up. It really is. Or some margin of that aspect. Clearly, I don’t really get it. Humans are…so emotionally needy and they don’t even think so. Bosses will hate you for being quiet. The projection onto me is cruel. Very frustrating, it’s like the the work world is just adult high school. No, not even college. College was more chill for me. You can definitely mind your own business in college and do the work and get by. Though you are suppose to network to death and make friends for life or something. Anyway. I only work at my job, and the shit I get for that can make me pretty upset, but then I get more scary to people. Really. They don’t think I’m autistic at all, they think I’m the most likely to bring a gun and shoot up the place. I’ve never even…It really perplexes me, I smile and say hi, I’m on time, I don’t fight with customers, I don’t argue, I don’t even complain unless it’s a big thing that’s been going on too long. Then I’m a bitch. Sigh. It hurts a bit. To be innocent and be the bad guy. Doesn’t matter where I am, where I go. Today I am more bitter than mad or depressed about it. How will I ever be successful…
I just mask, but I was forced to. There really isn’t much protection for anyone in at will states which is pretty much most of them in the United States. They only have to reasonably accommodate you which means mental health issues or disabilities tend to get no coverage. I can keep jobs, but I’m fake nice or sociable. I have on occasion been taken way too seriously or my words minced by upper management. Nothing overly harmful, but it’s a bit annoying to deal with.
Very bad. I am diagnosed with BPD. I cannot hold down a job and once I'm to my breaking point I don't care about anything. I stop going to work and stop paying bills. I've been homeless numerous times and have had to move towns frequently. I have three days off in a row, but once I am done with that I never want to be in public again. Not to mention the chronic pain... The job before this I was working 50-70 hours a week and making good money. I am working half those hours at far less pay and still can't handle it. It's terrible. I usually start off really great at a job and they try to promote me quickly. I give it my all until I can only focus on what everyone else isn't doing for the same or even more pay. My relationship with the working world is not a good one. I will also allow myself to be manipulated into doing things I don't want to or know I shouldn't do. I didn't know we could have boundaries in the working world. My first job was Waffle House and it gave me a bad impression and I still can't shake the things I learned.
I can barely get myself motivated to go to work anymore. I like most of my coworkers with the exception of like 2 or 3 people and the job itself isn’t difficult per say, I clean operating rooms, but we aren’t allowed to sit and decompress after a really busy rush unless it’s break while other departments get to if there’s some down time after a rush of 4 rooms coming out at once. It’s horrible and I feel like I’m being lazy when I know I’m not. You can only mask so much until it isn’t able to happen ya know?
I work at a day centre with autistic adults and its fantastic, its never repetitive, in maintaining constant routine for our guys, I get to have one. Because the management is all trained in working with autism, theyre pretty open to accommodations, 90% of the staff are autistic and the ones that aren't are neurodivergent. Everyone has a whole bag of trauma so we all understand eachother really well and so far it's one of the only jobs I've never gotten bored at. It definitely has its struggles but I truly love it.
I've worked in a fulfillment center for the last three years and the reason being is because I was able to jump around to learn different areas, I was always moving around. I have been going to school for marketing and just graduated with my associates. I'm now pursuing my bachelor's in Business Administration and concentrations in Health Administration and Marketing. This gives me the flexibility to explore new things daily.
i get overstimulated and overwhelmed. not having food for long periods of time makes it worse too. i’ve also been in and out of my current job that i’ve somehow managed to keep.
currently unemployed 😬
Same experience until I trained as an RN and started working in an ER. It’s chaotic and I never know what my day is going to be like. I also don’t have to talk to my coworkers too much because I’m always busy. It’s taken me a long time to find something that works for me. I’m also autistic & ADHD.
My job is kind of a golden goose, except I do NOT get paid nearly enough. I get maybe 1/2-2/3 what I should. But the hours fit my sleep needs (I need evening work), and a lot of the time I can go into a laboratory with headphones and work on my task without too much distraction, and the instructions are very precise and clearly written (usually). Yay science! The people directly around me are also a godsend in that I can stim and say “I need to be in a dark quiet space” or “I don’t have anymore words” and they respect it. My boss is also autistic and understands struggles too so she is accommodating. Edit: going outside, commuting, and being around people 40 hours a week is so totally exhausting though, and my weekends are 80% sleep to the point a friend comes in to help do chores with me… so there is a big downside. I could handle 4 day workweeks better I think, because I need 2 days of rest just to get back to baseline level, and then I’d have a day to do cleaning and errands. But sadly I do not have that.
I stay unemployed for months on end, applying for more jobs than I can keep track of, not getting responses from ANYONE, until I get one interview. Usually ace the interview cause I’m really good at masking, and then only end up doing a handful of shifts until I completely burn out and quit. This has happened with literally every single job I’ve ever had and it’s so exhausting. I genuinely just wanna build a community of neurodivergent ppl, crowdfund to buy a few acres of land and just live off the land, but that’s wishful thinking lmao. I just don’t wanna participate in capitalism at all but I know I just have to
I used to "save up" interesting ponderances for my job (USPS mail carrier). Like, ooooh, interesting idea/thought! -no no, save that for work. Goddamn the mind numbingness of that job (10 years). Then I tried Amazon delivery. I lost 2 toenails and got a bum knee and back from that (only lasted a year, that job is BRUTAL). BUT I wasn't bored, because I was so busy working 10- 12 hours daily. I'd collapse in exhaustion every day. On the side I did DoorDash for 9 years (OG af, was one of the 1st 10k drivers), and it was shittier pay by far compared to the other 2, yet! So much better. No one telling me when/ how high to jump. I also did food service from age 14 to 20; customers suck but coworkers were fun. Currently a caretaker for old folks trying to stay independent in their homes; another job where only I get to decide when and how high to jump. I CANNOT stand people trying to have "authority" over me; I'll take monotony and wildly varying pay over a steady slave job any day. Also, monetizing what you love seems to destroy the love, for me anyway.
I'm 42, and the longest I've had a job was 2 years. I was late diagnosed (4 years ago) and have been granted a flexjob now. So I work part-time, but I'm paid for full time. I work 50% from home and I book my own hours, so I decide how much I'm able to work.
I don't have one. I day trade, I live frugally, and I make most of my own stuff. If you think differently than normal, it stands to reason that you'll be happier if you aren't living normally either. There's no template that will fit your brain. Mine either. We're clinically eccentric people. I for one have been given advice suited for neurotypical people my whole life, when it comes to lifestyle choices. So when I got my diagnoses, it suddenly made all the sense in the world that I wasn't happy with where I was. I had built a life suited for a neurotypical person. So I went back to the drawing board. I figured out my basic needs, and how I can fulfill them my own way, with as little outside interference as possible. It helps to have other neurodivergent people in your life, too. People who are used to weird, crooked, unique lines of thought, and want to help you see your ideas through, instead of just telling you why things won't work. You're a human being. You are the most advanced form of life known to exist, unless you believe in aliens or gods or some monodeity or holy Trinity or something. No judgements there, I'm agnostic about all of that stuff, and I find it all fascinating. The point is you're capable of wonderful flights of imagination. Being as you're on this subreddit, you're probably capable of some particularly brilliant flights of imagination. Use that capacity. Try to do something no one has ever done before. Not necessarily something impressive or spectacular, unless you feel up to that sort of thing, but something unique. Make something. Make everything. Make content. Feed people. Fix stuff. Clean stuff. Teach someone something. Provide service to your community, and it will support you. The difference between a hobby and a career is mostly sweat.
I also have both and I do gotta say that without my adhs-meds I wouldn't be able to keep a job at all. Study programming rn because office life was an impossible environment for me. Life is good right now
I feel so fortunate as I’ve worked for the same organisation for 24 years. The first 10 years with one department, I was in my 20’s, masking and drinking etc. I had no idea I was autistic and had no support from management/hr despite having several mental breakdowns and lots of time off. The department I’m in now have been much more supportive and it seems about 30-40% of my colleagues are ND and/or have ND kids (as do I) so that really helps as we’re all quite open with each other so we have the support there too. I’m definitely one of those autistics who beds down in a familiar environment and hates the idea of change and fear of progression. Edited to change a word
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I have job in techsupport callcenter, but i was allowed to work from home, it is not the job i want but what i had available for me at the time. slowly learning skills to leave that annoying thing in the past.
How is this experience for you?
Juggling part time (2 days a week) at a tiny charity that keeps bits of the church I belong to talking to each other around the world, doing website and database management, and the rest of the time freelance translation WFH. But a very steady translation client for the last seven years has recently stopped sending me anything like as much work as usual, and my marketing skills are dreadful, so I'm currently panicking and looking for a new line of work before my 2 days a week temporary contract ends and drops to a permanent but 4 hour a week thing. I studied Spanish, linguistics and education, and a master's in information management. Looking for things that won't need too much technical skill in particular fields, because I am NOT maths-inclined, and can handle MS Office and design and manage basic websites but not much more IT-wise, something ideally with writing/editing but I'm not creative enough to pull off actual writing regularly and not too deadline driven (ruling out most publishing - I meet tight deadlines routinely in translation but get very samey genres of text and know what I'm doing), and I am terrible, of course, at interpersonal skills. I've been doing my current things for nine years, since graduating. I'd probably need retraining to go into most things.
Heavy responsibility, low pay.
I burned out near fatally hard from just going to community college like 12 hours a week (there were other factors that ultimately precipitated it getting as bad as it did but in hindsight before any of that happened I had already been in a full on state of burnout for at least a year) and 4 or 5 years later I'm still barely recovered enough to take care of myself on a daily basis so unfortunately it's not looking like any kind of serious employment is something that's in my future barring some kind of incredible miracle
I like jobs where i assist (vet assistant) there is a lot of independence which i enjoy and you have to find the right team (took me 6 clinics lol) and i love my frw coworkers their communication is great and they are very patient because we practice fear free it is low stress for literally everyone involved. I like doing tasks and having thingd to do and figuring out what to prioritize first vs least important. I have a very demanding needing dr but despite her little hissy fits of being overwhelmed i like working with and for her. We respect each other I've always been intetested in being an assistant like personal assistant but idk how i would get a job like that. I always picture a rich woman or family who needs tasks done likes groceries, appts etc i could drive around and do for them for decent money
I’m currently pretty young and relatively new to the work industry so all the jobs I get are service industry and minimum wage. There have been times where I’ve gotten physically ill due to burnout and physical work I’ve had to do during work. I’m trying to get office jobs but I’m just not quite there yet in credentials and experience yet.
I actually had the opposite situation with my previous job. I worked food service and the repetetiveness of making the stuff was really calming for some reason. I also only had to talk with like 2 people so that was a plus. Definitely not a universal experience and i totally understand why some ppl would find it annoying
I wfh although it help immensely. There are other obstacles that will arise.
I’m autistic as well - it’s been hard for me to hold down a job for the past few years due to mental health issues. I ended up being let go from a couple of jobs due to low productivity. My current job is actually the longest one I’ve ever worked in, but I think that’s only because my boss is really understanding.
God I hate my job! I work as a cashier and I really can’t do more than about 10 hours a week before going insane. The other day I was just explaining to a new employee the procedure when a clients wants to withdraw money with their receipt and the client went “oh my god that’s just a bunch of bullshit!” And started getting mad at me because I asked him to sign *one paper*. Also people regularly think I would charge them more money on items just for fun? It’s not gonna give me anything to do that I will literally be paid the same amount which is the minimum wage I don’t know what makes you think I would maliciously charge you 50 cent extra
I used to work at a grocery store where we'd have people who were millionaires/billionaires (because the neighborhood they lived in was that ballin') complain about getting charged 10 cents per paper grocery bag. They whined and moaned all the way back to their Rolls Royces and Landrovers with their drivers waiting for them. It's interesting how some people who have nothing will tip fat and be very accommodating, and people with everything will harp at service workers who are basically treated like inanimate objects to scream at and expect discounts or free everything while being as difficult and entitled as possible. I may be a peasant, but I'm not your slave, you old crone woman!
I'm currently working at a kfc, and at first, it was kinda fun. Now I hate it and just wanna work at a Lego store, but that feels impossible.
dream bigger!
I love the job that I do since it's one of my special interests. I don't get along with my manager because she is always trying to boss me around, but she doesn't do her own job. She thinks yelling at me will fix the issue, but it won't. I've learned to cope for now, but it's exhausting.
I'm between jobs at the moment. It sucks! We're about to close on a house, no pressure! I have my first video interview Tuesday and I am not anticipating it. I bought a poster board to stand up behind the camera so I don't miss any topics. I'm just scared of getting camera shy and sounding stupid. I keep getting taken advantage of at work. My work ethic is unstoppable. I NEED to fill every second of my work day to pass the time AND avoid socializing. People take it as a challenge to just pile on more. I lost my job because I finally said no to working 7 days a week, needed 2 for me. I'm just scared this will be a perpetual cycle. I'm also getting my realtor's license and brushing up on my hardly used Spanish in the meantime. I have always understood but I'm shy about making mistakes so I just stopped speaking.
I'm currently working at a small independently owned grocery store ... this type of business is one that I typically fit into, it's nice that they value my work and don't expect me to stand around making a bunch of small talk.
I have a job as a web developer (mainly working from home), I find it's the best job for me personally since I don't have to have much contact with people and if I do, it's normally over Slack or something like that. It took me a while to find what works for me and my work has been pretty accomidating. If you're not happy just keep trying and I am sure you'll find something you like.
Recently I wrote down every job I've had since I've started working 13 years ago. Found out I've had 16 jobs in that time. I find work really difficult and draining, and even burnout inducing. I'm hoping to go into academia now, though, so hopefully pursuing my special interest will make it easier to work.
i used to be a serious job hopper but i’ve been at my company for almost a year now 🥹 i started as a physical therapy aide and now i’m a receptionist. it’s not too energy consuming but everyday is different so i love it
Permanent imposter syndrome
I’m weird, but I’m also the shit. I forget shit yet I am flawless when I’m in the zone. You can’t fuck with me, but you’re criticizing might get me in my feelings. I am a god!! But useless when I’m burnt out. Anyways. This message was brought to you by a contradicting paradoxical enigma.
I've been in employment for the past 7 years, 4 of them at my current job. There have been many tough times, especially at my last job, and then when I was working 2 jobs until I got offered a permanent full-time contract at my current role. For me, my 9 to 5 office job is paramount to my overall well-being. The structure it gives me is incredibly good. I work in a supportive environment, and I've learned a lot from my manager, who does her best to encourage growth but also not pushing me too hard. She tries to get me familiar with how to deal with certain situations or the best way to respond. It really has helped me be more confident in dealing with things. But, even with a great workplace and coworkers, I still find the full-time work exhausting. Mentally draining. It can get too much, and I can get overwhelmed. I take an antidepressant and a betablocker to control the severe physical anxiety responses I have. Sometimes, I just want to STOP and everything to STOP. I'm grateful that I can manage to work and that I lucked out to find a great work environment that enables me to cope.
I’m constantly changing jobs every few years. I haven’t stayed at a job for longer than 2 years before being so bored I am going to try to go to school to be an ultrasound tech so I can work like 3 12 hour days and then have 4 days off to do other things like write my book and live life.
i have audhd and work at a fast casual food spot. i got lucky with fun coworkers and flexible, respectful bosses. it's minimum wage and part time so i dont burn myself out, but i can ask for more hours if i wanted to. ive hopped a ton of jobs, but i can see myself being here for a good while.
I'm 30, have both adhd and autism, longest I've had a job and still going is 6 years I love it everyday is different and I meet different people everyday I'm a train conductor, and I love it :)
I’ve been searching for 6 months nothing unfortunately 🙁
It may have been the ethics instilled in me by my boomer parents, but I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had no problem acquiring and maintaining employment at most of the jobs/career I’ve been in. I also do pretty well under stress, and it was one of the things the clinician diagnosed who diagnosed me remarked about. I was in the U.S. Navy for five years, a tow truck driver for twelve, and I’ve been in law enforcement communications (dispatching and supervising) for seventeen years. Strange occupation choices, because none of these ever had a set routine apart from the hours we worked. Go figure. 😃
I want a job but the problem is getting one I actually enjoy and want to pursue. The job I want isn't one that can be easily obtained, so finding smaller jobs in the meantime will be hard
In September I'm probably starting national service, basically volunteering somewhere. That's kind of like a job, it's meant to prepare you. The organization that coordinates that has a special track for disabled people where you volunteer for 6 instead of 8 hours and be more closely aided.
I was much more comfortable working in part-time pizza places than my current job full-time at a warehouse. It's torture, but it might keep paying the bills if the cost of everything would stop skyrocketing for 5 minutes lol
I have a job which I love but my colleagues are all kinda weird to me. Like everything I say is apparently super funny even tho I’m just saying I don’t know what they are talking about or I don’t understand and when they ask a question and I answer it’s apparently hilarious I guess because I don’t expand on my answer and just simply answer the question and move on. I do feel like they view and treat me like a child which does annoy me sometimes tho. They also stare at me a lot which makes me very uncomfortable and when I’m nervous I awkward smile and I’m pretty sure they just find it funny that’s why they do it but I want them to stop and they are always trying to talk to me even tho I clearly got me earphones in and am trying to focus on my work.
It’s a miserable cycle tbh. Get a job. Mask as much as possible. Be the star employee. Burnout & lose my marbles. Currently at the “star employee” stage (in the middle of training for a promotion I just got) but waiting for the burnout annnyyyyy day now 😩
I hate working with a passion, for the same reasons. But I need money and have no other support system, so alas I work full-time. I dislike it but it pays my bills and I’ve been here long enough to adjust to my workplace.
I work in a retail store right now and it’s hard when customers touch me or get in my personal space, and talking to people all day can be draining, sometimes it can be hard to read between the lines and understand what people are really trying to say. I also work part time right now but I feel like if I worked full time I’d get burnt out really easily. Even working now it takes a lot of energy to go in multiple days a week and I need a lot of time to recharge after every shift, and the job can put me in a negative mood almost every time I work and make me feel irritated and i’m AudHd.
And I have curly hair and I’m black and customers will just start touching my hair without asking (so violating) and if it’s not that then they’re touching my arm or how some people will give you a light smack on the arm when they say a joke. Even with my coworkers touching me sometimes it’s so uncomfortable 🥲
I have autism, cptsd and bpd and I just got promoted to assistant manager in a jewelry store. i love my job and the people I work with are lovely but my job is also draining as fuck and I get home most days overwhelmed, nonverbal and unable to do anything around the house cause Ive ran out of spoons. recently I swapped to a store closer to home though so that's helped me a fuck ton. I was homeless last year and honestly the only thing keeping me going is the fear of being homeless again so there's that.
AuDHD too. I'm ironically a disability support worker. I used to work a lot more but currently around 6 hours a week.
2.5 years into working and already changed 3 companies lol
Trying to find another job as my current wfh contract expires Wednesday
I’ve only held on to a couple jobs for a full year. It was from not being able to hold a job someone suggested I get tested. Even knowing the diagnosis I still feel hopeless trying to hold a job. I try not to socialize and just do work. Then I’m told I need to socialize then I get in trouble. I get in trouble if I don’t socialize cause I know what will happen. I try to keep my head down and just do my work. But communication from managers is always awful. Initial feed back at the start of a jobs “great you’re doing awesome”. Then they’ll just find a problem for problem sake and give a bad feedback. It’s so confusing to me.
I work with people and get overload almost every day, may sometimes even start yelling at people. Also people tell me “why are you so depressed” as I lose my masking or even speaking skills after a few hours. I can’t work under pressure as when it is low-tempo and monotasking, that is fine, but multitasking, thinking about many things at once at a high tempo overwhelms me.
I have auDHD and work in metal, have my own department and I get weekly orders. Weekly so it gives me the structure I need for my autism but also weekly so that I have enough zoning out moments and playroom to let my ADHD have a chaotic day every now and then. It took a lot of talking and lots of struggles from all the nt managers but since November I have a CEO who has worked with special brains (as he calls it) and he worked with all the nt people to give me more responsibility and more playroom so I won't clash all the time with everyone. I work 7 to 16 at 5 days a week, which is a lot but right now I can't afford it to work less and at the end of the day I'm exhausted but I will soon try to lower my hours by trading in some days off.
I’m unemployed. I was never able to hold a job and the only job I had that I even enjoyed on top of that, was being a Starbucks barista. Outside of that one, most jobs I had I worked in really small teams with no interaction outside of it, OR I worked in a large team where everyone is still doing their stuff entirely independent. I didn’t mind that at all. But work got repetitive, I got bored. That, or I just couldn’t do 7am-3pm shifts anymore. I’m on disability and I go to “day care”/ occupational therapy where I work with raptors. I could’ve made that my work, but I’m not able to due to circumstance. It’s fine doing this work and still being a client.
I'm still doing an apprenticeship in IT. Now.. it's my third year.. and I don't really know what to think.. it's way more human contact than I'd have expected.. human contact is not inherently bad but it's a company with "regular folks" and scientists. With a shit ton of different accents and cultural behavior (multicultural company). So it's not "one protocol fits all". Some don't know how to read and make it your problem, some don't know what they want, some want stuff they can't have and some are actually really pleasant to converse with. What I mean is you always have to figure out what the hell people want before even starting a task. Once someone came in and wanted a "Pepsi Cable". Almost every day I have to retreat to the bathroom at least once and cry a little. No one is actively mean to me, it's just everything is overwhelming and loud and everyone wants to phonecall when we'd have a messenger. I figured the issue isn't my work or workplace, the issue is mainly "other people" (or rather, !recognizing and compensating our differences!) and to a certain extent my degree. I observed people being more tolerant, understanding and accepting of "weird" people as long as they had a higher education. (For example I got scolded for wearing an "unprofessional attire" and not 10min later some dude walked past me in socks, shorts and a tank top lmao) (I was wearing cargo pants and a hoodie)
Got fired, applying everywhere, can’t get a job:(
I work three jobs (THPO in Tribal Government, assistant/gofer work for a nonprofit, and various art things here and there like illustrating for a comic or creating shadow puppets for a local theatre group or animating for a PSA about safety in rural communities) on top of working towards my general education at community college. I come from a low income family and now, living on my own, I would not be able to survive without multiple jobs (I barely make it by as is, Im ashamed to admit that I still rely on allowance from my slightly higher class grandparents). I was lucky on account that I never had to apply to these jobs, as living in the same small-town community all my life everybody just knows me and offered me the jobs since they thought I’d be best for the position. That said, I have been burnt out since November of last year. My mental health has been at its lowest point in all my life and I’ve already made one attempt on my life due to stress. I can’t quit my job or else I wouldn’t be able to support myself, and I can’t just stop going to college because the education would get my different, *better* opportunities in the future—but I swear to god I don’t know how long I can keep this up. It doesn’t help that I can’t afford a diagnosis and this can’t get any sort of accommodations or benefits or whatever the hell might possibly be an option. I’m just stuck living like this until I either finish college or die in the process.
Jumping from one sh\*tty entry level low paying job to another, of which at most I have only been able to last just under three years before getting completely burned out. I have two college degrees that no employers care about and a bunch of job experience that only makes me applicable to other entry level, low paying jobs of different insidious varieties. Currently a waitress, just got hired at a hotel, and going in to be interviewed for a government job tomorrow. I think I am woefully unsuited for any of these jobs, also being ASD and ADHD. My coworkers treat me like a social leper and I have developed an aversion to conversation because social rejection chronically has destroyed my self-esteem. I only am doing such jobs in an attempt at basic survival, for which at this point, it would seem I poorly suited to survive the world of inner workplace politics. People for some reason decide that when they go into work, they're going to make it like high school, but not the one where you have youthful optimism and healthy body, but the sh\*ttiest parts, where people mercilessly taunt one another for superfluous reasons to elevate themselves within a hypothetical social hierarchy. If there is a God, may the Giant Spaghetti Monster bestow his omnipotent noodles a blessing of a WFH job. Cruel coworkers and days saturated with banal meaningless work to feed a system hellbent on destroying its occupants is not an ideal way to pass one's life.
I absolutely love my job. Work as a software engineer. Work 4 days a week, 2 at home, 2 in office. They accept me as I am and I don't have to mask. I even wear a cap since it helps against those annoying office lights, and all my colleagues are fine with it.
I’m a teacher. The kids are great and easy to work with. The adults and the system are infuriating.
I struggle in the market despite having a degree and get burn out easily
Was working for my dad prior to his death. Before that it's been years since I had a job in my desired field (tech) despite trying, hundreds of apps sent. One or two interviews. 0 offers.
I don’t have many skills so I’ve only had like 3 jobs that all involved customer service. The customers are always super rude to me and I hate it and sometimes it makes me cry, so I end up quitting after a few months because I can’t take it anymore. I’ve been working at my current receptionist job for a year until I gave birth, now maternity leave is almost over and I really don’t want to go back so I’ve been trying to find a work from home position or at least something where I’m not face to face with rude assholes all day
i want a job that works like school, max hours 6hrs a day and i can take leaves with permission, sadly those kinds of jobs dont exist
I only see myself self-employed
I have worked in a library part-time for about 7 -8 years now. It's not bad, but you will have to get used to dealing with the public and with staff. Sometimes you luck out and find a place with low circulation, but my place tends to have higher circulation.
im still in school (as a minor) but I have a pretty stable job at a fast food joint- sometimes my "autisticness" is tough to deal W on shift but it's enough for me rn
I’ve had many jobs but most have been temporary contracts. My current contract ends at the end of July and I am so unsure about my future. I’m unable to do certain jobs due to my ADHD, autism and severe dyspraxia.
It's pretty common to struggle with getting and keeping a job I think. I'm autistic and have ADHD, and it's part of the reason why I'm currently on disability. I have been on disability since I was 25, but before that I attempted to do what any other young adult does: find a job and become financially independent. I always struggled in getting a job though. I was always a bit too honest, so I rarely even got to the interview phase. When I did, I was always anxious, and it showed. When I get nervous, my mask slips and I tend to say things that are awkward, and I tend to forget what the "right" answer to their questions should be. I always forgot what questions I should ask. Occasionally I did manage to get a job, although rarely on my own merit. My last job was as an inclusion teacher; it was a part of a teacher certification program, so technically I was assigned to that position. I didn't do well, but I think most people would've struggled to be honest. The workload was completely unreasonable, and my vice principal kept piling on more and more. I didn't even have a teacher's aide for the first couple of months. It's really not surprising that my health absolutely tanked by that spring. Stress does funny things to the body. I went on medical leave and later resigned.
I always get bullied out of jobs. I recently got laid off because I’m “too much”. I wanted better training, they said no, so I found my own way. Ended up doing an amazing job. Found myself enjoying being ostracized as I could focus. But because I stuck out like a sore thumb I was picked to go. Now I’m struggling with finding another job so we don’t end up homeless. I’m dying to find a career and stop working minimum wage.
AuDHD here… jobs are pain in the bumm. But not impossible because I’m a female, I learned to mask myself so much nobody would able to see/ tell. That was back in the days tho. Since I got my official diagnosis(Surprise, Surprise a late diagnosis after 30) I started to be more myself and taking the mask off. People will might not like me but I’m done pleasing people (I had enough as I have PTSD as well ) Another thing what was useful for my neurospicy brain 1 accept the fact I can’t settle down and I’m looking for different jobs all the time but it doesn’t mean you can’t find something that fits. Right now my current job is a part time sales job and it’s wonderful for my brain. OR 2 try to have a conversation with yourself and see what you want to do. Want to build a career or just looking for a job to pay your bills. Don’t be afraid to accept who you are and if society has a problem with that… is their problem not yours. ❤️ What other people think of you is non of your business! 🥰
Job hopping. I get overstimulated or bored with it. I did major in social work and I was already burnt out before I went into the field. College was exhausting. I really wanna go back to school for musuem studies.
I'm a software engineer. When I'm stable and my environment's stable, I do amazing work that impresses everyone. This has happened two or three times in my eleven-year career (this figure includes the 3 years I spent recovering from autistic burnout).