How did you choose your occpuation for people who didn"t just follow thier passion
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I had several careers doing vastly different jobs - both white and blue collars - in seven countries. I can tell you what I did to land my jobs, but bear in mind that I'm close to retirement, so what I did back then may not work anymore, as the job market was probably more more open when I started out.
I basically applied for jobs being brutally honest about what I could and couldn't do, about my flaws and my strenghs. For instance, one of the things I always said during job interviews was that I'm terminally lazy, and that's why they should hire me because I will work long hours to put something in place that will allow me to not do something repetitive more than once. Turns out, this line was both true and the thing that sold my application for most of my employers.
Also, when I changed jobs completely - for example when I went from computer programmer to CAD designer - I applied for a job at small companies that didn't necessarily have the money to pay seasoned engineers and told them I was a fast learner, and proposed a big pay cut for 6 months until I proved that I could do the new job I had no experience in. A few key employers took a chance on me, allowing me to change career. And of course, once I had experience doing whatever new thing I set out to do, I could apply for another job in that field and claim experience.
Finally, I did not hesitate to find employers abroad. If I saw a company I liked that offered a job in another country, I applied, flew over to the interview, and if my application was selected, I relocated. I did that 6 times. It's not for everybody, but if you're mobile - or extremely mobile in my case - it increases your chances to find your dream job.
Of course, as the years passed, I accumulated quite a resume with an eclectic variety of jobs I held, and places I lived, and my resume spoke more and more for myself as a proof that I could do all those things, so I had less and less trouble finding jobs with employers that knew just by reading my resume that I can adapt to anything.
Would this work today? Maybe. I know the job market is a lot rougher than when I graduated. So don't necessarily take what I did as something to follow verbatim today. But maybe some of the things I did would work for you too...
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Something that fits your skills while only being somewhat soul sucking.
I took this one simple quiz online. Can’t remember where I found it though.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I wish I knew. Ideally I planned to build a set of skills that can be applied to solving multiple very different problems.
It worked for a while. For a short time I had jobs whenre proving myself by doing was appreciated more than having formal credentials. But even then, my need for constant change was not understood. People even thought they were doing me a favor by giving me a long-term stable project as a reward.
Everything since has been hell.
In the corporate world the idea of transferable skills doesn't exist, actually it's actively looked down on. Unless you have the exact same job description in your previous job they won't even consider letting you do it, even though it's 80% the same. -
As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I tried a bunch of different things, mostly in the trades / trade adjacent work (welding, wood working, etc) and really liked it, but I have incredibly unsteady hands so just didn't do well in the job I did land.
Planned to go the engineering route in college, but then discovered I had a knack with computers. Don't particularly enjoy it (I do HATE the office work aspect) but it just makes sense to me while not making any sense to most. So found I could make money with my skills and just stuck in that lane.
I'd say it comes down to finding something you can tolerate and have reasonable promise at skill wise and that pays the bills.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
Wanted to be an officer in Navy. Ended up enlisted, in the engineering department as a mechanic. Got out and use those skills to fix ships as a civilian. Have had a couple other jobs outside of marine repair, but currently working in a ship repair facility.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I found I could not make enough money in the profession I chose that I had a passion for and my interest also fluctuates wildly. I went into tech for better pay (at the time). Tech jobs very often do not last and I do not compromise on pay for anything I have done before but will for roles where I will be working with something new. Thats a bit tough in a time like now where the places are asking for the moon and paying minimally but anyway given the way tech is you can find yourself working with new things.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
How I chose:
Look up something I love deeply on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics website, and then go to that most applicable job, then look at jobs that are related in some way and rabbit holed until something made a comfortable amount of money but also seemed interesting enough.
Then I don't burn out on my passions and have a good paying job that's cool enough
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Lucked into it, kinda.
I wanted to be an industrial designer, but there are only a few schools that offer that degree in my country and I didn't get in, because I didn't have the illustration skills.
My fallback (a close 2nd) was to go into engineering, so that's what I initially went to university for. But I struggled with the calculus.
During my time in engineering, we had to take a programming class, and I was really good at it (compared to my engineering classmates). So I switched my major from engineering to computer science.I graduated with my degree in computer science and I've been a coder ever since (last 15 years or so)
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
Try a bunch of stuff, find something you don't hate and that pays enough to survive on. Try something new if you get bored. I've had quite a few different jobs, or the same job in vastly different places. Sometimes I like them and sometimes I don't.
I remember taking a career quiz in high school (on scantron, lol) and being told I should be a librarian. I was so confused? It's been more than 25 years and I'm now thinking yeah, maybe that was the job for me lol.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I like my job but I don't really think its the norm. I loved physiology and anatomy, bio based sciences and was watching a lot of House MD during my senior year of high school (interestingly enough, since then I never had interest in any medical shows ever anymore. Also house wasn't that great but HS me liked it).
Chose nursing and was blessed to have always worked around others that actually fucking cared about patients. If working in other hospitals with more jaded or burnt out nurses im sure my experience would be different. Make money too while helping them navigate the current healthcare system. So good pay, nice coworkers, and interest in what I do. Likely never going to be laid off. Most people are not as fortunate.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I took the first job I could get, and then when I was tired of that I took the next first job I could get.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
Needed a job in high school. Went to university and decided I didn’t want to be in the field I had chosen when I graduated. Focused on first job field and got very good at it. Moved up the ranks. Got an offer at a company in a different industry from a former peer and leap frogged to the next pay band while getting out of my 20 year industry.
My hobby is technology. I decided against going that route when in school as I didn’t want to kill my love for it. But that meant sticking with an industry I didn’t love for a long time. Found I love developing people through it all and management was my thing. Great news about that is people are people and managing them doesn’t change from industry to industry so I can go pretty much anywhere.
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stay focused
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
Well, i knew how to build a computer relatively early in life. I was advised to go for a specific cert (security+), got it, got hired into a service desk role just about immediately (DoD), and I just kinda went from there i guess?
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I took the first job I could get, and then when I was tired of that I took the next first job I could get.
This was me. New job every year, eventually stretching to every two years. Bonus is getting a pay rise each time.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
I picked it because I was good at it, and there were multiple facets to expand to. I fell into a niche for a few years and then promoted to a generalist position where I am basically half department head and half principal engineer. I basically quit jobs every 2 years, and had a high track record of being hired back to the same teams I quit when I ran out of money.
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Well, i knew how to build a computer relatively early in life. I was advised to go for a specific cert (security+), got it, got hired into a service desk role just about immediately (DoD), and I just kinda went from there i guess?
IT has a pretty simple pipeline that can be a lot more granular than a degree program. Early certs are not too difficult and their courses are much shorter than college or other programs. The tricky part is that getting past the "Hello, this is IT. Im here because you broke something" phase, without burning out. You really need to specialize or market yourself as a subject matter expert, the path becomes much more (and less) defined by certs.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
Dropped out of college. Parents said DO SOMETHING OR MOVE OUT. I needed the whip cracked in all fairness. Went to school to become a stengroapher. Burned through the program, been doing it for 17 years now.
I was more concerned about AI before AI really showed up, and now I'm okay.
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IT has a pretty simple pipeline that can be a lot more granular than a degree program. Early certs are not too difficult and their courses are much shorter than college or other programs. The tricky part is that getting past the "Hello, this is IT. Im here because you broke something" phase, without burning out. You really need to specialize or market yourself as a subject matter expert, the path becomes much more (and less) defined by certs.
Yup, its pretty straightforward. Biggest thing holding me back IMO is lack of foundational knowledge of both scripting logic and networking. I can do CLI interaction just fine but trying to write out a cohesive script I just fall flat on my face. In my last job everyone could (and did) script circles around me.
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As some with ADHD, my interest fluantuats wildly. How does an average person choose a job thats suppose to be for life and not worry about loss of interest, let alone some with ADHD.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Job hopped until I settled into something I finally enjoy.
I highly recommend making a good impression and being a team player. About half of my jobs came from recommendations from people I had worked with at other jobs.
