Questions About Work

[Pondering]

I can understand why this question might be uncomfortable for some to answer, while others are more than happy to discuss it at length. So, I have some questions for those who feel comfortable answering, as follows:

1) What do you do for work? What do you do for a career?
2) Is it a temporary position or long-term?
3) Did you have to go to college or a trade school for it/additional education to be accepted for that job position?
4) How did you get the job? Did you have prior experience with it before?
5) Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? How do you feel about it?
6) Unexpected circumstances often result in individuals taking on a secular role that differs from the one they initially had in mind for themselves. Has this happened to you? If so, what kind of work did you initially see yourself doing?
7) Is your current job/work your ideal career? If not, what would have been your ideal career?
8) For those who are on the autism spectrum, how do you think being on the spectrum influences your job performance in the work environment? What do you think are some of the challenges you face in the workplace as a result of being on the spectrum? What are the advantages?
9) On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is your job? How do you manage your stress at work?
10) Would you recommend your job to someone else? Why or why not?
11) How would you describe your work relationships?

Thanks for your time and input. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Richelle-H]

1) Well, when I was working, I usually worked towards a better position with better pay. I made a Career out of things I became good at, mostly through practice and tapping into certain skills that cannot be taught.

2) Most of my jobs lasted for the perfect amount of time (i.e. I usually left for a better job before they let me go.) My final position lasted 21 years, at which point I retired.

3) I did go to college but did not graduate. I believe all my jobs came from previous positions, and my abilities. Furthermore, I grew up in a time when experience and skills counted over mere education.

4) All my jobs came from interviews (sometimes more than one for the same position), and I somehow had the right stuff at the right time.

5) I did enjoy it and I was spectacularly good at what I did. I was rather indifferent about everywhere I worked because I am inherently lazy not to mention a tad arrogant. However, I found I could work at my own pace (slow) and still finish most assignments ahead of time.

6) Never!

7) My retirement is certainly ideal and while I was still working, I had the best career I could have ever expected, given my mind set.

8) I was not diagnosed until I was well into my 40s. My diagnosis never entered into consideration until well through my final job, and it did save it although I worked for years on a somewhat probationary basis.

9) I never had so much stress that I had problems dealing. I was just always too busy to let it bother me.

10) I would definitely recommend programming to those who have the skills. I was self taught, never took more than a Fortran 4 class for one semester in my first year of college. Totally useless skill by the time I began working, because computing was moving on. I was at the right place, at the right time, with a strong work ethic and the motivation to always do more than was expected of me. Of course, that was then and getting hired as a programmer nowadays requires some proof that you have what it takes.

11) Pleasant enough, and I still have a person I worked with for more than 20 years that still keeps in touch even though we live some 700 miles (approx. 1,127 Km) apart?

 

[Thinx]

I can understand why this question might be uncomfortable for some to answer, while others are more than happy to discuss it at length. So, I have some questions for those who feel comfortable answering, as follows:

1) What do you do for work? What do you do for a career?
2) Is it a temporary position or long-term?
3) Did you have to go to college or a trade school for it/additional education to be accepted for that job position?
4) How did you get the job? Did you have prior experience with it before?
5) Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? How do you feel about it?
6) Unexpected circumstances often result in individuals taking on a secular role that differs from the one they initially had in mind for themselves. Has this happened to you? If so, what kind of work did you initially see yourself doing?
7) Is your current job/work your ideal career? If not, what would have been your ideal career?
8) For those who are on the autism spectrum, how do you think being on the spectrum influences your job performance in the work environment? What do you think are some of the challenges you face in the workplace as a result of being on the spectrum? What are the advantages?
9) On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is your job? How do you manage your stress at work?
10) Would you recommend your job to someone else? Why or why not?
11) How would you describe your work relationships?

Thanks for your time and input. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Why do you ask? Some context would be useful.

 

[Pondering]

Why do you ask? Some context would be useful.

I find it interesting. Also gives me a deeper insight into what other people's 'normal' is. To quote Morticia Addams: "What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly."

Working a secular job is an enormous part of many people's lives and routines. So, understanding what their jobs are, how their jobs are, and how they go about it, how they process it . . . helps me to understand people, to empathize with them, and understand how the world works for practical application. You also never know who might benefit from similar kinds of insights, for similar reasons. Hope that answers your question?

 

[unperson]

Not really, is this research for a financial/professional/academic gain?

 

[Pondering]

Not really, is this research for a financial/professional/academic gain?

This is not for research or financial/academic gain. I just find the subject interesting.

 

[ForestGumpett]

@Pondering ;

YOU GO FIRST!

Please answer the questions you have posed for us yourself, then maybe others would be more willing to follow. For myself, naw my spidy senses went up - this thread looks too much like all these students trying to come up with a college paper about something they know noting about written by strangers on a web site lol.

 

[Misery]

I can understand why this question might be uncomfortable for some to answer, while others are more than happy to discuss it at length. So, I have some questions for those who feel comfortable answering, as follows:

1) What do you do for work? What do you do for a career?
2) Is it a temporary position or long-term?
3) Did you have to go to college or a trade school for it/additional education to be accepted for that job position?
4) How did you get the job? Did you have prior experience with it before?
5) Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? How do you feel about it?
6) Unexpected circumstances often result in individuals taking on a secular role that differs from the one they initially had in mind for themselves. Has this happened to you? If so, what kind of work did you initially see yourself doing?
7) Is your current job/work your ideal career? If not, what would have been your ideal career?
8) For those who are on the autism spectrum, how do you think being on the spectrum influences your job performance in the work environment? What do you think are some of the challenges you face in the workplace as a result of being on the spectrum? What are the advantages?
9) On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is your job? How do you manage your stress at work?
10) Would you recommend your job to someone else? Why or why not?
11) How would you describe your work relationships?

Thanks for your time and input. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

I'll bite... it's been a long time since I worked, about 10 years, but still, it's a subject I can tend to have a lot to say about.

1. What I WANTED to do was game design/development. And in fact, long after my "normal" job working was over, I was temporarily contracted to an indie developer to do exactly that (and it went well!). But when it came to the traditional working, it was almost always retail. I'd gone to college to learn the computer stuff to do dev work, but nooooo, you needed to graduate from SUPER COLLEGE or some utter nonsense to even START with that. So instead... retail. I never lasted all that long in any one of those hellish positions though. The only job I had that lasted more than a year was the exception to the retail rule and involved working at a bank arguing with the insane machines that sort incoming checks. It was chaos.

2. For the most part they were all just part-time garbage jobs.

3. Oh I went to college. A scammy waste of time, that's what that is. It had the WONDERFUL benefit of teaching me some stuff I'd already known for ages, and then a bunch of stuff that had no conceivable use. It had no practical purpose with any of those jobs. Even the proper indie dev work I did many years later... I never needed the freaking college degree for that (and indeed, the guy in charge of that team didnt care about it one bit).

4. Every job I ever had (except that contract) I got by getting interviews and then just saying whatever the interviewer wanted to hear... simple as that.

5. All of them (again, except the contract) were a freaking endless nightmare! I dont know how anyone handles having a job/career of any sort without eventually falling into utter despair. That contract work though, THAT was different. That showed me that not everything had to be what a lot of people think of as a "traditional" job. Nobody yelled at me, I made my own hours and just worked on it when I felt like it (and if I just wasnt feeling up to it on a particular day, nobody was going to get angry), and had total freedom. It was the opposite of what all those "traditional" jobs were.

6. I'm not 100% sure what this means.

7. Yes, because I dont have one. While I would gladly do the contract thing again, when it comes to a "normal" job.... *shudder*.

8. Well it sure made dealing with the neverending stream of irritating customers much tougher.

9. All those retail jobs, I dunno, I think they broke the scale.

10. Nobody in their right mind would ever recommend retail stuff to anyone else. Unless they were like, evil or something.

11. Nonexistent.



Well that was a wild trip down memory lane.

 

[Aspychata]

My last job was just sort of a whim. I started online bartending school during marriage chaos. Despite being a aging komodo dragon.

Short-term

Worked liquor store for experience in dealing with deadbeats in a very high-end tourist spot. Then l bartended in a retirement home for about 10 drinks a shift with sporadic events thrown in. Then l got hired for real bartending with pretty much no training. But l pulled it off in a high volume, very fast, totally dysfunctional place.

No l didn't like it. In the end. But made loads of money. I liked working as a paralegal. More detailed work.

Just interviewed for it.

My typing fingers just froze. Adios @Pondering.

 

[Kevin1968]

1) What do you do for work? What do you do for a career?
Trained as an electrician, have worked mainly in factory maintenance.

2) Is it a temporary position or long-term?
Current position for almost 3 years, longest was 15, shortest 1 year (ignoring one I chose to leave)

3) Did you have to go to college or a trade school for it/additional education to be accepted for that job position?
Trade school, with on the job training 4 years (apprenticeship), some of it was college based too.

4) How did you get the job? Did you have prior experience with it before?
Current job, I think because I had dealings with the manager from my previous position.
Other jobs, I guess my similar experience/knowledge.

5) Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? How do you feel about it?
I enjoy most of it, yes I am good at it, don't really "feel" about it.

6) Unexpected circumstances often result in individuals taking on a secular role that differs from the one they initially had in mind for themselves. Has this happened to you? If so, what kind of work did you initially see yourself doing?


7) Is your current job/work your ideal career? If not, what would have been your ideal career?
No idea.

8) For those who are on the autism spectrum, how do you think being on the spectrum influences your job performance in the work environment? What do you think are some of the challenges you face in the workplace as a result of being on the spectrum? What are the advantages?
Challenges are communicating with others.
Advantage, focus on the problems calmly.


9) On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is your job? How do you manage your stress at work?
Stress isn't an issue in my current job, but I try not to worry about much anyway.

10) Would you recommend your job to someone else? Why or why not?
If they have similar skills yes.

11) How would you describe your work relationships?
Colleagues respect my skills, some others find me condescending or aloof I think.


I have had a couple of jobs that were less suitable for me, both of which I left, one after a few months, one lasted a few years while I searched for a more compatible position.
Almost got fired from one job but I was too useful, a couple of places closed/downsized, one ended my employment just at the end of year...I have no idea why!

 

[jleeb05]

1) What do you do for work? What do you do for a career?
I am an attorney. I work at a University where I investigate sexual misconduct, harassment, and other forms of discrimination. I also have a private practice that is mostly comprised of child welfare cases.

2) Is it a temporary position or long-term?
I have had my private practice for 6.5 years and have worked at the University for 4 years.

3) Did you have to go to college or a trade school for it/additional education to be accepted for that job position?
Yes. I had to get my Bachelor's and go to law school for Juris Doctorate.

4) How did you get the job? Did you have prior experience with it before?
My self-employment was because I had difficulty finding full-time work. It was my own source of income until I started at the University. Now I only do it part-time.

I did not have prior experience related to sexual misconduct investigations so I was lucky to get the position. My employer felt that I had the right temperament for the job. My previous experience in child welfare law, domestic violence, also helped.

5) Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? How do you feel about it?
I enjoy it to an extent but if I won the lottery my co-workers would never see me again! It can be tough work to deal with such emotionally charged topics all the time. I do feel I am good at what I do, though I'm not sure I want to do it much longer.

6) Unexpected circumstances often result in individuals taking on a secular role that differs from the one they initially had in mind for themselves. Has this happened to you? If so, what kind of work did you initially see yourself doing?
I went to law school because I was interested in being a prosecutor but the work I do now is more in line with my interests in psychology and social work.

7) Is your current job/work your ideal career? If not, what would have been your ideal career?
I don't know if I have an ideal job. I've always wanted to be a politician and careers in law can often lead to that. I've also considered being a Judge. I still see these positions as obtainable.

That said, I do question whether I should have gotten a degree in social work or clinical psychiatry. I am drawn to people and want to understand them. I've chosen areas of law that give me a lot of that but, in general, law takes all the emotions and people out of the equation.

8) For those who are on the autism spectrum, how do you think being on the spectrum influences your job performance in the work environment? What do you think are some of the challenges you face in the workplace as a result of being on the spectrum? What are the advantages?
I think it allows me to deal with such difficult topics as sexual assault and child abuse on a daily basis because I don't think it burdens me as much as it does some neurotypical people. That said, I think being on the spectrum allows me to have high empathy (not less as is stereotyped). Being able to have compassion and connect to people is important in my line of work.

I think it negatively impacts me in that I can get overwhelmed by all of the social contact. Sometimes I just want to disappear and not talk to anyone.

9) On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is your job? How do you manage your stress at work?
It varies but the stress level can reach a 9 or 10 at times. I have to make decisions that could impact someone for the rest of their lives. I manage the stress by doing the best I can so that I don't have regrets. I also, compartmentalize. I don't think much about work when I'm not actually working.

10) Would you recommend your job to someone else? Why or why not?
It depends on the person. This type of work is definitely not for everyone. Given the emotional intensity and high stakes, I think there are easier ways to make money. But if someone is looking for a job that has an impact, they might like this type of work.

11) How would you describe your work relationships?
Decent. My co-workers like me but there is still that wall. I don't feel as connected to them as I would like. I don't like supervision so this sometimes causes tension with supervisors. This is one reason I prefer self-employment.

 

[Gracey]

I've been many things in many different sectors.
(I get bored easily)

I've never set out to achieve an end goal. (High academic awards, mega bucks & early retirement)
I have slotted in and around carer responsibilities and full/ part time hours.

I don't have a career as such but have some awesome transferable skills and experience of flexibility.
(enhancing time management, prioritising & organisational skills - not great to begin with but way better with more practise )

The older I get, the less responsibility I want at work.
I chase part time hours and (lone) work for two companies which keeps easy work more interesting and management off my back.

Would I recommend my way of working to anyone else? Yes,
if you fancy coasting along and don't need praise, promotion or pay rise.
( not that there's anything wrong with that. Just not for me thanks )