What are good jobs for a very antisocial/reclusive person?

ben_m_g

pinpin wrote: »

Can you expand on this? What is the job title? What qualifications etc do i need? I'd like to do this.

Hey pinpin,

There are thousands of job titles in engineering, depending on the industry (automotive, rail, medical etc) and size of company.

Larger companies (like JLR) will expect a degree for even lower level jobs, although they can often take any degree if you just want 'in' and have some sort of prior knowledge.

Smaller companies are more flexible, start as an operator shown that you are keen and have some initiative about you and you can get on, but pay is never going to be that high.

Typically working in that sort environment works something like this. (this is not exclusive but an idea of the sort of things they look for).

Operator - no quals needed, pushing buttons up to changing and setting tools.
Operator lead (or similar) - skilled or experience in manufacturing / assembly with leadership exp helpful
Technician - skilled in electrical mechanical / previous electrician / fitter etc. Some industry knowledge
Team leader / section lead - industry knowledge, leadership experience, IT literate.
Inspection - previous experience, Skilled in IT, consistence self starter, good comms
Maintenance - electrical / mechanical qualification (could take mechanics potentially or similar)

DKLS

Software development and coding seem to be popular roles for people on the spectrum.
I have hired and worked with some fantastic coding talent who have had quite severe issues.

Whilst I understand there is no cure, coping strategies can be learnt, I worked with 1 lady whom social skills and empathy was an alien world. Over the years I worked with her she learnt to fake empathy and improved her social skills.

So much so she is now the MD of her own software development studio and is very successful.

agarnett

I think I agree with DKLS. I have seen more and more mention of "special" people being targeted for recruitment for this type of career. Sometimes the amazingly lateral thinking capabilities that are presented can be truly remarkable tools when harnessed to mathematics and data science. And the new found self-confidence and self-esteem which follows is beautiful to behold.

jack_pott wrote:

That's the whole point, Asperger's is not 'curable', and not an illness for that matter. Trying to cure an Aspie is a bit like trying to cure a musician, or a builder.

I am not sure what you mean by this. You may be right or then again, you may be mistaken. For a start, I don't think the UK is an environment where accurate diagnosis of this kind of "disorder" is a feature of the landscape. There are so many variations on a theme along what used to be much more loosely (and perhaps non-committedly) referred to as the autistic spectrum. And even if it were better diagnosed early in the UK, I don't think the level of special care needed to optimise the "condition" before it becomes a lifelong hindrance can be assumed in our society. It too easily is dismissed as unmanageable beyond a certain point, and personally I don't think it is helpful to label anyone an "Aspie". We are all different, even those of us with similar problems. It doesn't mean similar prognosis can be applied to all. We are all the product of the cards dealt at birth, and I would argue still more so of the environments in which we develop. In short we are individuals each with an infinite level of possibilities for each of our futures.

As an aside, I recommend 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' as recommended peripheral viewing. It made me think how screwed up most of us are who claim we are normal! Anyone who is truly happy is not antisocial and need fear little.

Helping someone be happy is the key and that is what I think the OP is about, and I applaud it.

[Deleted User]

I argued that Asperger's is not curable because it's not a defect or a disability, nor is it the product of bad parenting, it's genetically inherited and just one extreme of a normal spectrum. At the other extreme are people who are ultra empathetic but nobody labels those as disabled even though they are unable to do some of the things that Aspies can. Nobody would dare describe someone as disabled if they couldn't read a map, or suggest that it needed to be 'cured'. Most Aspies say that they want to be accepted not cured, they grow tired of trying to 'act normal' and those who would coach them in doing so.

You can surround yourself with as many people as you like, but if none of them are able to empathise you will still be lonely. You don't need to be social to be happy, people who are totally absorbed in something they really enjoy are truly happy provided that they have what they do valued by others.

agarnett

I argued that Asperger's is not curable because it's not a defect or a disability, nor is it the product of bad parenting, it's genetically inherited and just one extreme of a normal spectrum.

That's the bit I don't understand i.e. why you think it needs to be argued out front that Asperger's is not curable.

I don't think I know anyone with a modest or greater intellect who would try to argue otherwise.

I thought this thread was about an attempt at optimising an environment. Maybe you also agree that is what it was about ?

Could your view be summarised as "If I am an Aspie, I can't be cured, so don't please don't concern yourself with any attempt to optimise my environment, if you don't mind, thank you very much? I'll deal with it myself if you'd only just treat me as normal!"

If that's what you are saying, then I understand up to a point for those who are now making their way in life as fully independent, but I am not sure it is useful to draw the line under aided development strategies too soon. It surely depends on the individual? If the individual is in practice still accepting help / relying on it, even as an adult normally old enough to be fully independent, then as long as the help can alternatively and constructively be termed a kindness, is there anything wrong with anyone kindly trying to assist in making choices about suitable careers i.e. helping guide someone toward a happy/happier course to start to follow through life?

But perhaps I am reading into something fundamentally the wrong way?

dktreesea

agrinnall wrote: »

I would think that rather than finding a job that reinforces their antisocial/reclusive behaviour they should seek help to overcome whatever is causing this so that they become a better functioning member of society, and as a bonus, able to do a greater range of jobs.

Yikes! Since when was being interested in your colleagues a prerequisite of any job?


I'd much rather work with antisocial recluses than the type of bouncing off the walls extroverts who can't cope with silence, can't stop chattering on, manage to get their work done, but slow down the rest of the team. Lovely people, no doubt, but I like a bit of silence when I'm working. A social life is what friends and family are for, not work colleagues.


I did work in one place where a quiet, antisocial guy got so sick of one of my bubbly colleagues he came out of his shell one day and told her to shut up, that his job was hard enough without having to hear her "yammering on day in day out about incosequential drivel." I was quite surprised. I think it was the most I ever heard him say. And it worked! I bought him a cup cake. On account of my non existent headache at the end of the previous day, first time in ages. He said it was a silly thing to do, but I could tell he was pleased.

dktreesea

Good jobs for antisocial recluses? Anything that requires a bit of peace and quiet and concentration. Research based jobs. Physical action based jobs, e.g. painting and decorating, car mechanic, gardening, factory work, stock trading, foreign currency trading, matched betting, selling stuff over the internet.


I've worked with someone who has aspergers. It was years before I knew. He was very organised, didn't socialise much, didn't really engage much with people. It was a big organisation. Most of the time people left him alone to get on with things and that seemed to suit him. Not as hard as working with very depressed people, just imho.

Feyfangirl

Working with animals is a good one, it can be done in a team or alone... either way as someone with Asperger's who struggles to socialize I find it to be relaxing and calming. I have tried a "social job" it can be hell o_O

Feyfangirl

SailorSam wrote: »

I've recently had to start signing-on, and i suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder so asked in the JC about worrking from home. I suggested maybe some sort of self employed writing. They said i wasn't being realistic and should find a 'proper' job and write at home in my own time.

I had the same problem actually... the problem is especially in the UK, there is very few jobs not in big city areas like that which sucks. -_-

topaztiger1983

ricll wrote: »

Yes, and get paid a !!!!!! and miserable salary at the end of the month, what a great life that might be. What about doing what agrinnall rightly said and seek some help? Way too obvious.

Work is work is it not, no matter how little you get paid, I find your attitude appalling