I'm trying to get out of my largely service-oriented job. My ADD dx qualifies me for career counseling with a state agency, and my counselor & I are thinking I could get into night classes to learn a skilled trade. At the moment I have NO experience in any trade, can barely operate my computer, and tend to freeze up in new situations, therefore learning new skills slowly. But once I have learned something, I do retain it well (as long as I can stay in practice), and I am a very hard worker and take pride in doing good work. Are there any skilled tradespeople on this site who can give me advice about getting re-educated? And need I mention, I NEED to get into a line of work with minimal demand for people skills! Once settled into a workplace I can actually be a very sociable and helpful co-worker, but I hate, HATE customer service and I HATE training others and I would NEVER succeed in management! I need routines and task-oriented (rather than people-oriented) work. Please advise...
What trade would you pick?
Do you have fine motor skills or would you rather hit at objects with a hammer? If you like working on small fiddly objects, you might like electronics, denture maker, tool and die maker. If you like to bash, you might enjoy a construction trade: carpentery, electrician, plumber, brick layer, general construction. You must consider if you have allergies, your physical strength etc. Can you think in 3D? Do you like driving: truck driver, other vehicles.
Can the agency also give you vocational testing?
What trade would you pick?
Do you have fine motor skills or would you rather hit at objects with a hammer? If you like working on small fiddly objects, you might like electronics, denture maker, tool and die maker. If you like to bash, you might enjoy a construction trade: carpentery, electrician, plumber, brick layer, general construction. You must consider if you have allergies, your physical strength etc. Can you think in 3D? Do you like driving: truck driver, other vehicles.
Can the agency also give you vocational testing?
Hello M, thank you for some good questions. Don't know yet what I would pick; I have the summer to research it & you are helping me to narrow it down. My motor skills are normal and I do like fussy projects and doing work neatly and in a way that is pleasing to the eye. That would probably be better for me than "bashing"( :lol: ) since I am middle-aged, not terribly fit, and already experiencing wear & tear effects in some joints. I don't even drive a car (too nervous---don't trust myself to continually process all the stuff going on around me and react quickly enough to it), I am NOT strong, but I have no significant allergies. Can't think in 3D; one way in which I differ from the aspie profile (as I understand it) is that the testing I've had so far shows my greatest weakness to be in visual-spatial things. I have to be specifically taught where things go; I can't picture it or even, for that matter, give directions to lost drivers in my own neighborhood! I'm sure I can get more specific testing this summer to help narrow down my tiny little areas of natural ability, but I'm glad you brought up the bashing-vs.-fiddly-things question. :smile:
I haven't entered the workforce yet :twisted: but im bored so bear with me
Well the number one thing to consider: what do you like? Do you know what institute they might send you to for night classes so you can have a look at the catalogue?
perhaps you could just browse the catalogue of some community colleges and see what type of job catches your eye?
Yes, catalogs! I shall hunt some down. There is a new vocational high school coming to my city that is supposed to include night school, so I should start looking for that. I guess the thing that's tripping me up is my fear of doing ANYTHING new, since, for a bright person, I am SUCH a slow learner in any new situation. I was lucky enough to find one workplace that's small enough & friendly enough to have tolerated my slowness, so I've stayed. When I started on the ADD meds, I assumed I'd be transformed into a whole new person: extroverted, ambitious, self-starting, all the stuff that people expect you to be simply because you have intelligence. The meds do help but the difficulty with change remains, as does the low tolerance for people-centered work (customer service, training and supervising). I guess what I'm saying is that I had originally hoped that "what was wrong with me" would turn out to be very simple, easily fixed; now that I consider the likelihood of my "differentness" being hardwired into me, I just worry that no other workplace will accept me. Fortunately, the place I am visiting for counseling specializes in placing special-needs employees where their hindrances & eccentricities will not be deal-breakers. Thank you, cant_think_of_a_username, I will definitely look for catalogs; I also need to have my appointment with the doc at the counseling place to find out which trades/jobs might be the best choices.
:idea: Which reminds me---I have an appointment tomorrow with the doc who rx's my ADD meds. I should ask HIM about an AS evaluation!! :grin:
"I assumed I'd be transformed into a whole new person: extroverted, ambitious, self-starting, all the stuff that people expect you to be simply because you have intelligence" This is the same way I felt when I started therapy during college for not "having any friends". I got diagnosed with AS.
Even if you do get training, try to get a job coach or supports. You might have to get an official diagnosis for that but it will help you keep your job.
Unfortunately, the older worker has to deal with bad references being given by former employers who do not understand what AS is or are tolerant of disabilities. Get some advice from the counsellors on this aspect as well.
"I assumed I'd be transformed into a whole new person: extroverted, ambitious, self-starting, all the stuff that people expect you to be simply because you have intelligence" This is the same way I felt when I started therapy during college for not "having any friends". I got diagnosed with AS.
Even if you do get training, try to get a job coach or supports. You might have to get an official diagnosis for that but it will help you keep your job.
Unfortunately, the older worker has to deal with bad references being given by former employers who do not understand what AS is or are tolerant of disabilities. Get some advice from the counsellors on this aspect as well.
Interesting...I started therapy in college because I was depressed about my inability to motivate myself, buckle down & achieve, not only in school but in life. My mother also wanted me to motivate myself, buckle down & achieve, but she didn't want to acknowledge the depression AT ALL. At my first session, she told the therapist that I was just having some trouble in school... :lol: ...don't really blame her; her generation (she had me in middle age) didn't go in for the whole therapy thing. But anyway...21 years later ( :!: ) I am possibly near understanding what makes me different (and so unsuited to the kind of gung-ho, point A-to-point B career and lifestyle I have ALWAYS thought I was supposed to have.)
Fortunately my current job seems secure, as my low tolerance of people has not yet reached a critical point. The ADD meds make me much more efficient in time management & "staying on task over time," as I've heard it described. But I will definitely need help for the next stage. As far as references go, again, I expect to get good ones from this job, as I have been hardworking (though spacey at times), reliable and conscientious. But a new workplace will be the challenge. I know I've been lucky so far; I know a 40-year-old low-skilled person, who learns slowly & needs careful instruction AND is terrible at people-oriented work, will be a bit of a hard sell. (:lol: Ya think?!) So I'll use whatever resources I can get! Thank you M...