Choosing career by interests and talents

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It seems to be common problem among Aspies - I'm not happy with my career (IT Manager, ex-Software Developer for now) at all. Yesterday I was talking with one friend of mine, ambulance doctor, conversation was about enjoying career, suitable jobs and so on. He told me - and I thought the same long ago - that I need to find job that will enjoy me. Easier said that done of course - I tried to find anything suitable for my list of special interests, skills, talents and desires for many time but failed. I had various projects outside the career path but just found out this is not what I was looking for.

Not sure if it will work but maybe somebody here has any ideas? Weird, unconventional - no matter, I tried all sommon and many uncommon variants so who knows...

So, here are my interests and talents:
- History. I like to research events of the past, especially military and political.
- Political science, social science, partially economy, a bit psychology - like above but more about "researching" present events, finding out why they happened and predicting what will follow.
- Finding information. I can find really lots of useful info on required particular subject, event or person if I need or asked to do it. And I like to know a bit more then others about things that surround me.
- Writing. I like to write both articles and fantasy stories.
- Languages. I speak fluently English and Russian, partially understand and speak Italian and Polish and some other European as well.
- Public speaking. That's interesting but while I have troubles with contacting people 1 to 1 or with small group I have much more problems then when I'm in front of dozens or hundreds. Maybe because you don't need to actually have a dialog? And no small talks as well.
- Teaching. I like to teach other people but only if they are interested. Subject - anything from the above.

My personal traits:
- As most Aspies, I'm socially awkward - small talks or body language understanding is terrible.
- Networking is Hell.
- I hate to obey anybody, so it makes big issues in working for any company of project where I'm not boss. And even while I do obey like in the current job I break lots of rules - not by rioting but just by ignoring them if I see no reason in them for productive working (though my working results are in top 50%).

And here is what I already rejected:
- Academia. I hate strict systems, and this one is highly politicized as well. Networking is almost mandatory, finding tenure is very hard and one of the most important issues - I'm a generalist, I like to learn a bit about many things and not to learn years about one particular how the academia requires.
- Journalism. Newspapers and sites wait either sensations and scandals (that I just don't understand) or terribly boring daily news reporting or they want you to be academia guy (se the above about academia) and write for them some articles as high-class specialist. I was working as journalist for a long but mainly as volunteer.
- Politics. While originally politics meant art of helping the society to work more effectively, to develop and expand, now it is only struggle between various financial groups for their personal financial interests and we should be happy if while they compete each other they occasionally solve some of society's problems. I had few projects very near this sphere and I'm glad I left this zoo.
- IT. I am working in IT for many years in various jobs from tech writer to manager. and found out completely that this is the sphere I hate most of all the above. It's boring for me, terribly boring - and I never ever liked all these new technologies, I even never bought a smartphone.

Maybe somebody has any ideas on where can I turn my career path?

Seems like a lot of aspies on this forum do consulting work, especially the IT folks. We're weird, a lot of people don't like us, so learning a critical skill very well seems to be a rather successfull strategy. Not that any of this really gives any pointers to specific fields.

It might not be the easiest career to get off the ground, but maybe you'd enjoy being a historical novelist and write stories about periods that fascinate you. I once read a book of short stories that were all "what-ifs" about what would have become of the USA if the Confederates had won the War Between the States.

Mary Stewart did a quadrilogy all based on the King Arthur and Merlin legends set within the specific historical framework of the Roman control of the British Islands and they were excellent. I still don't know why nobody has made them into movies yet.

This is interesting idea but at the same time it's really hard to achieve. The more so because my nature language is not English (that prevents me from writing fiction on it), and is mainly spoken just in one country with severe official censorship and with people which have totally different mentality than me. So I barely can publish anything anywhere - even if he overall quality will be the best I can do.

I'm now writing a novel about German SS officer who is been sent as military expert and simultaneously German intelligence agent to the general Franco's HQ during the Spanish Civil War but I don't expect anybody except my friends will ever read it (it's been written in Russian).

I think to be consultant one should have at least MA degree if it's relevant to the area of study, or significant practical experience?

Anyway, I doubt I can find consulting opportunity in any of my areas of interest - like I can't be political consultant even in future because I try to avoid getting into politics as much as it's possible.

It's hard to say - politics and academia (especially the latter) would be the most logical professions given your interests, but they're not really up for debate.

In the meantime, you could try and pick up blogging. It's hardly a job - it probably won't pay for any more than a single sack of groceries - but HubPages does provide some form of revenue if you sign up for an affiliates and earnings program.

Your interests and talents match mine closely:
- I love history, all social sciences, economics, psychology
- I'm great at research, and enjoy teaching (I love passing on information about topics that I'm passionate about to other learners); I loved essay writing in university especially for humanities / social science courses.
- Public speaking : I think I understand what you mean - while I wouldn't say I'm strong at Public speaking, at times I can do better at public speaking than I can 1 on 1; the challenges I face for each are different.
- Technology - I'm not too keen on technology either. While I do own a smartphone, I think most people do use technology more than me, and I prefer to focus on more esoteric areas that I have a relative advantage compared to others.

I've given significant thought about my career trajectory recently, so hopefully some of my thoughts may help you. I've decided that I would enjoy a job that have the following characteristics:

1. ultimately deals with developing new social systems rather than technical systems
2. requires significant research or understanding of the larger external environment
3. serves a greater purpose
4. requires fairly strong analytical capabilities
5. requires an extremely broad skillset (as opposed to being focused on a specific function)

Before I talk about the specific functions / industries that I considered, I think its important to enunciate on this conceptual separation between the two (functions vs industries). While I don't necessarily see myself working in the technology industry or working in an IT division, this does not necessarily mean that I've adverse to working in a specific role where some parts of my role requires heavy use of technology. I feel you'll need to understand the same about yourself - do you hate the technology industry/IT division of a company? or do you hate anything to do with technology?

With that being said, the areas that I would love to work in include:
1. an organization that works trans-nationally or within emerging markets - I'd love working in a role that requires a nuanced understanding of geography, economics, and other societies and cultures
2. within the education, health, development, or financial investments industries - many roles in these industries have the characteristics that I mentioned about. I'll just talk about education here, but you can also ask me about the other industries if you'd like. When I say Education, I'm referring to the overall industry rather than academia specifically. Education was a very conservative and traditional industry that is currently undergoing massive change. Existing models and ideas are being challenged in the developed world, and new approaches are being created in the developing world. While technical systems are in use, strategy ultimately relies on developing new ways that humans interact with each other; there's significant benefit to leveraging external research in developing new business models in education; many of the new models involve introducing analytical rigor a industry where this has been previously absent; and this industry transformation is still in the initial stages and so requires a broad rather than deep skillset.
3. within a function that requires some level of data analysis - while I prefer to know a bit of everything rather than a lot about a few things, I've realised the advantages of developing deep competency in one area. I've decided that data analysis is this specific area - I like it sufficiently that I'm willing to put time to learn the more difficult aspects of it. It acts both as a unique angle to my profile and also acts as a safety net (due to the increasing number of data analysis jobs).
4. in an environment that is start-up-like or consulting-like - I hate bureaucracies and large companies. It's so difficult to get anything done - I lose interest in a project if it takes too long so this is also a personal issue. I love the idea of fast iterative learning and development. I also like the idea of working in a role that emphasises resourcefulness and flexibility over structure

Anyway, these are my high-level thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions here or would like me to discuss anything in further detail.

aspinnaker, I sent you the PM.

While I think more or less the same, it doesn't give any ideas of actual finding career path, just general understanding of personality.

About technology - I'm not a Luddite of course. I like Internet, typing on pc, easy search of information, emails... however I think now we have too many technologies, everything is overloaded with them. I work now for retail company and goddamn, there are dozens of IT systems, programs, network services for every operation, we have dozens of servers, 100+ IT guys in each country company works, the complete process of ordering, importing or selling anything seems to be more computerized than launching first man to the Moon.

That's weird for me. When will they stop? And this is in every industry.

Hi Andreger,

Okay, to specifically answer your question, the roles that I am interested in are those which combine alot of business, some data, and a bit of technology. The roles would include a variety known as data analyst, analytical lead, product analyst, industry analyst, business associate, business analyst, strategy analyst, research associate, marketing analyst, investment analyst etc.

However, you also need to consider if your job requirements are met by the broader environment, not just your job function. If you are anything like me, then you like to explore a larger abstract environment. You practically have two requirements for a job. The job needs to be in an environment (i.e. industry, subject area, policy area) that you find fascinating. Secondly, the role needs to have a say on how your organization interacts with and within that environment.

For me, if I want to work in business, then some of the roles closest to the industry and product (and therefore has a say) are those that I mentioned above. However, the nature of the role is also dictated by the dynamic of the industry, by the product that the organization develops, and by the optionset of the organization. If I was in one of those roles, but in an unfavourable industry, some of my requirements won't be met (like "deals with social systems" or "serves a greater purpose").

Of course, please keep in mind that I'm being flexible about the term industry here - e.g. working in as an business-focused analyst in a provider of high tech IT systems is uninteresting for me compared to working in a business-focused analyst in a education tech startup - even though they are both in tech, they face entirely different problems.

So my advice: if you are really getting stuck on where to go, don't get too focused and stuck on finding a specific job function:
(1) Find areas/industries/countries/ideas that you are really interested in, find players in that area that you really like, and then find out how you can be part of them.
(2) If you can't think of any within your existing interests, you can try to branch out a bit. I dont think that with a strong interest in political science/social science/economics/psych, it will be too hard to find an value-driving area that you will enjoy.
(3) Don't focus too much on what your Aspie traits can't do when looking for the area or job that you are interested in - first find out what you want to do optimally for your interests, then work backwards as needed.
(4) If you want to find what kind of interesting jobs are available in a specific area, I would use linkedin. Think of the specific city/region you want to work in. Then find a top graduate program in that area. Search on linkedin where the graduates of that specific program work in. Again, same as (3), don't worry if you don't have that specific grad degree- just use this to find something you are interested in first, then work out how you can get into that job or similar.

Thanks, aspinnaker.

Few years ago I also was interested in analytical job in IT. I got it ant after few months understood that it doesn't fit into most of my traits.

For a some time I was a boss of online store and had half a dozen employees just to check if maybe I'd like to do business. No, I don't, and sure about that.

I was interested in politics and activism until recently, so as all related things, journalism, agitation, public speaking, managing - but again, found out that all projects for many years I was interested in were interesting also to very small number of people. So I left this area and not going to return. It is very strange to do any activist actions when nobody except you even needs them, selfish.

Now I know just a few things - I'm definitely not into business, academia, activism or politics but I want to be my own boss. Simply put - I don't know at all.

Especially if considering also my interests in humanities.

It seems I found out one of the my major issues with career search.

In the western countries everything related to politics, science, community and social work is terribly high institutionalized. What I mean - all these spheres are highly regulated by federal and local laws, internal rules and customs, and also they are terribly commercialized.

So when you want to participate in them you need to become a small gear in large machine, play on their rules and hope once you'll be able to move on or change those rules a bit. As for me - it's crap, I always avoided as much as I could any companies or projects where I had to work strictly according to rules, with no chance to go my own way. Now you even often need to pay for volunteering - and not abroad, but in your hometown. That is ridiculous as I think.

But... I just can't work effectively in such systems, I feel strong discomfort and can't be effective while constantly need to do every my step according to often stupid and overburdened regulations. I can't fit into such structures and this means I am excluded from the above areas, areas of my interests.

Maybe anybody has ideas or experience what can be done in this case?

I hope you find something you like. You should stick with your current field for now to support yourself until then, though.

The problem is I can't endure it anymore, that's why I'm expanded area of searching and ask even on our forum.

I'm going to college however, already got the papers - but not sure it will help finally. As I said above - I tried to work in spheres I found (and find!) interesting but found out that despite I'm interested in those topics in general there are very significant disadvantages at least for me personally, maybe other people find them rather challenges or even benefits.