Broadly, a career which embraces remote work, so you can work from home and control your own environment. It was an amazingly beneficial change when covid disrupted my industry and there was a cultural shift toward accepting remote work, which had always been possible but never permissible.
Working from home allows me to wear comfortable clothing, prepare all my own food, have total quiet and natural/dim light, not need to socialize and mask to appear friendly and outgoing, fidget and stretch as needed, etc. When I worked in an office in the past, it was so exhausting to be at the mercy of my environment and coworkers.
I'm actually thinking of going into technical / scientific writing! It seems such a good fit for my ND brain. Even when I'm not paid to do it, I write constantly. I love nailing the nitty gritty details of a topic.
As the other commenter said it depends on your personal needs and strengths.
I am on the spectrum and originally come from a science background but ultimately found out that I absolutely thrive in project management, research management and event management, the bigger and messier, the better. I love organizing (things and people), am the queen of to-do-lists, am really good at optimizing and structuring workflows while keeping the ultimate goal in mind, and stuff like risk assessment and having possible solutions ready is an involuntary reflex to me (because this is basically what being "different" from the rest of the world makes you do from childhood on, if nobody handed you the "how to do social interaction" manual). If it needs worrying about, you can be sure I have already worried about it and thought about solutions. Because of this, I don't freeze or despair when things get messy.
I was really good at the actual science part of research but I hated the whole political part of it you can't do without these days (the networking, smalltalk, dealing with egos, begging for funding etc.). I still work for a university and even teach, but my main role is in research management now. It turns out that I am totally fine with that and pretty great at managing people (according to my employees) if I am the organizer and hold the reigns.
I have ADHD but I relate so hard to this. The things we do as a natural survival mechanism and to stay on top of our own messy minds (and lives haha) is what makes us great assets when it comes to organizing information and people.
I'm sorry to say that I didn't even realize this myself and probably never would have because the world usually treats our "quirks" as inconveniences and weaknesses instead of strengths.
It was actually a mentor who taught me that my "overthinking and worrying what could possibly go wrong" spiral can be an amazing asset if you channel it right. I was still a student assistant then and helping him organize a pretty big conference and instead of brushing me off or telling me to "calm down" and "stop worrying" (which absolutely, 100% does not work) he calmly told me to write down all the possible problems I could imagine in an excel sheet. He then sat down with me and taught me how to assign them a "likelyhood" and "impact" value between 1 and 5 (with 5 being "extremely likely to happen" and "would have a high impact on the event"). And then we added the numbers for each entry, ranked the entries and thought about a "plan B" for the most likely and most impactful ones. It was pure magic to me and I use this method to sort through my "but what if!"-spirals in my professional and private life all the time to this day. Instead of dismissing me, he recognized that my attention to detail and overactive imagination could be used as an asset. It was a huge boost for my self confidence to be taken seriously, too, and I will forever be grateful to him.
I get exhausted from social contact and masking. I accepted a long time ago that I have to work part time to compensate for this. So I sought out a higher paid job so I could earn the same but work less. I studied for two postgrad degrees to qualify. I work from home as an ed psych. I can control my environment and not have to do small talk or office politics. I set my own schedule. It’s the bomb. I will never return to an office but ironically I had to go through office jobs in order to get my resume looking good. It was a grind and I burnt out but go there in the end
Congrats on having a plan and bringing it to fruition! That sounds like a long journey but you did the work and secured the perfect career for yourself.
I agree with the other comments on focusing in on what your needs are and where your skills/strengths lie. I ended up working at a residential school for special needs children and it hits the things I want in a job; socialization, a few set goals but with broadly changing environments/tasks (for example: students may have a living skill goal like managing money, and that could look like going on weekly outings to a grocery store, a restaurant, the mall, etc. vs. sitting down to tutor someone from a boring lesson out of a book and doing math problems), some freedom in how to get tasks done (they don't need to be done a hyperspecific way that the boss wants, some tasks may be like that but others have different approaches). I tried working at a corporate job and I just couldn't stand the hyperspecific instructions, the constant deadlines, the constant meetings, etc. I don't think I could handle it even if it was WFH; it's just the structure of the job I don't vibe with.
I think also just generally being in an environment that supports neurodivergence means I can be my quirky self and not have to hide it or be shamed when I do something the 'wrong' way. This sort of job field isn't for everyone, and some schools are way better than others, but could be something to look into for some folks.
Within special education, there's also a lot of different angles - teaching/residential assistants/paraprofessionals, houseparents/coordinators, teachers (of any subject), OT's, PT's, SLP's, counselors/therapists, behavioral analysts, job coaches, even kitchen workers/cooks, grounds maintenance, etc.
There are a lot of us in theater. It’s an industry that doesn’t mind eccentricities. I also enjoy that I work on a project for a few weeks or months, then I get a break for a few weeks. The on/off schedule suits my life better than traditional office hours
Since I choose to do one project at a time as opposed to a full time regular job, it does make for an inconsistent income. But my projects also include housing, so I don’t have to worry about rent or travel expenses. I also live a very minimalist lifestyle, so I’m good at living out of a suitcase. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I find the schedule conducive to my needs. I need big periods of downtime to do everything else in my life. Full time jobs always leave me feeling like there’s no time/energy for anything else and it all gets put on hold indefinitely
Theatre is awesome. If it paid well and there was enough consistent work it would be my career of choice (music in theatre). I did it occasionally and it didn't even feel like working.
I love that the industry is not only full of women, but women are consistently in positions of authority. I never have to worry about anyone treating me as lesser for my gender and I’m not sure that exists in any other industry
I personally feel (have ADHD) that there's two ways a job can play out that are beneficial to me and how my brain works: either there's lots of structure, methodology and tried and true procedures for doing something, think lab technician or mechanic, so you can just get into a routine and also you basically get to fidget for a living lol. The other side is jobs with lots of variety and autonomy, where you can choose how you tackle a problem and do it as it works best for you. This tends to be true for things like graphic design or software development, but it also depends on the employer. Some want you to stay in your lane very badly and that will be like hell (ask me how I know) because you're constantly fighting off the urge to try new interesting ways of doing something. Fields with endless possibilities need to allow you to explore at least some of them and dive deep into what interests you (hello hyperfocus!). Also you need to be able to make your own decisions without running them by the whole team every single time. Jobs where you tend to work on your own projects, like consultants or real estate agents, might be a good idea. Again, that's on the more "creative/unstructured" side of things. The worst is jobs where there IS a process but it's utter bullshit and you have already picked up on that by day 3, and you can't do anything about it. I mean, that's not great for anyone, but I feel neurotypicals have an easier time just settling in and accepting their fate whereas us neurodivergents always want to "think outside the box" lol.
It really depends on the individual. If one is on the autism spectrum they may really benefit from working from home or being self-employed. If one has ADD/ADHD they may benefit from the military, navy, coast guard, firefighting, policing, being a paramedic, or working outdoors in farming, tree removal/pruning, landscaping/maintenance, construction, etc.
I’ve really benefited from being self-employed and working from home, but the self-discipline and strong personal boundaries it requires aren’t for everyone. Some people really need external structure and routine to thrive.
What you said about ADHD careers can apply if one has a strong "H", as in hyperactive, and therefore needs that physical exertion. Women seem to be of the inattentive type more often.
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Broadly, a career which embraces remote work, so you can work from home and control your own environment. It was an amazingly beneficial change when covid disrupted my industry and there was a cultural shift toward accepting remote work, which had always been possible but never permissible.
Working from home allows me to wear comfortable clothing, prepare all my own food, have total quiet and natural/dim light, not need to socialize and mask to appear friendly and outgoing, fidget and stretch as needed, etc. When I worked in an office in the past, it was so exhausting to be at the mercy of my environment and coworkers.
As the other commenter said it depends on your personal needs and strengths.
I am on the spectrum and originally come from a science background but ultimately found out that I absolutely thrive in project management, research management and event management, the bigger and messier, the better. I love organizing (things and people), am the queen of to-do-lists, am really good at optimizing and structuring workflows while keeping the ultimate goal in mind, and stuff like risk assessment and having possible solutions ready is an involuntary reflex to me (because this is basically what being "different" from the rest of the world makes you do from childhood on, if nobody handed you the "how to do social interaction" manual). If it needs worrying about, you can be sure I have already worried about it and thought about solutions. Because of this, I don't freeze or despair when things get messy.
I was really good at the actual science part of research but I hated the whole political part of it you can't do without these days (the networking, smalltalk, dealing with egos, begging for funding etc.). I still work for a university and even teach, but my main role is in research management now. It turns out that I am totally fine with that and pretty great at managing people (according to my employees) if I am the organizer and hold the reigns.
I get exhausted from social contact and masking. I accepted a long time ago that I have to work part time to compensate for this. So I sought out a higher paid job so I could earn the same but work less. I studied for two postgrad degrees to qualify. I work from home as an ed psych. I can control my environment and not have to do small talk or office politics. I set my own schedule. It’s the bomb. I will never return to an office but ironically I had to go through office jobs in order to get my resume looking good. It was a grind and I burnt out but go there in the end
I agree with the other comments on focusing in on what your needs are and where your skills/strengths lie. I ended up working at a residential school for special needs children and it hits the things I want in a job; socialization, a few set goals but with broadly changing environments/tasks (for example: students may have a living skill goal like managing money, and that could look like going on weekly outings to a grocery store, a restaurant, the mall, etc. vs. sitting down to tutor someone from a boring lesson out of a book and doing math problems), some freedom in how to get tasks done (they don't need to be done a hyperspecific way that the boss wants, some tasks may be like that but others have different approaches). I tried working at a corporate job and I just couldn't stand the hyperspecific instructions, the constant deadlines, the constant meetings, etc. I don't think I could handle it even if it was WFH; it's just the structure of the job I don't vibe with.
I think also just generally being in an environment that supports neurodivergence means I can be my quirky self and not have to hide it or be shamed when I do something the 'wrong' way. This sort of job field isn't for everyone, and some schools are way better than others, but could be something to look into for some folks.
Within special education, there's also a lot of different angles - teaching/residential assistants/paraprofessionals, houseparents/coordinators, teachers (of any subject), OT's, PT's, SLP's, counselors/therapists, behavioral analysts, job coaches, even kitchen workers/cooks, grounds maintenance, etc.
There are a lot of us in theater. It’s an industry that doesn’t mind eccentricities. I also enjoy that I work on a project for a few weeks or months, then I get a break for a few weeks. The on/off schedule suits my life better than traditional office hours
I personally feel (have ADHD) that there's two ways a job can play out that are beneficial to me and how my brain works: either there's lots of structure, methodology and tried and true procedures for doing something, think lab technician or mechanic, so you can just get into a routine and also you basically get to fidget for a living lol. The other side is jobs with lots of variety and autonomy, where you can choose how you tackle a problem and do it as it works best for you. This tends to be true for things like graphic design or software development, but it also depends on the employer. Some want you to stay in your lane very badly and that will be like hell (ask me how I know) because you're constantly fighting off the urge to try new interesting ways of doing something. Fields with endless possibilities need to allow you to explore at least some of them and dive deep into what interests you (hello hyperfocus!). Also you need to be able to make your own decisions without running them by the whole team every single time. Jobs where you tend to work on your own projects, like consultants or real estate agents, might be a good idea. Again, that's on the more "creative/unstructured" side of things. The worst is jobs where there IS a process but it's utter bullshit and you have already picked up on that by day 3, and you can't do anything about it. I mean, that's not great for anyone, but I feel neurotypicals have an easier time just settling in and accepting their fate whereas us neurodivergents always want to "think outside the box" lol.
It really depends on the individual. If one is on the autism spectrum they may really benefit from working from home or being self-employed. If one has ADD/ADHD they may benefit from the military, navy, coast guard, firefighting, policing, being a paramedic, or working outdoors in farming, tree removal/pruning, landscaping/maintenance, construction, etc.
I’ve really benefited from being self-employed and working from home, but the self-discipline and strong personal boundaries it requires aren’t for everyone. Some people really need external structure and routine to thrive.