What's your job?
What's your job?
I'm asking out of curiosity mostly.
Is anyone here into digital marketing? That's what I'm studying for right now.
Software engineer is my title but my actual role is much more .. chaotic.
I love it
Same, more or less. I work with self driving cars, in software integration (for people not familiar, that is putting together the software components other teams make, and solving the interactions between them).
It's supremely fun. Constantly changing, chaotic, requires me to see the whole picture and never keep detailed focus on a specific part for very long. I love it.
Tech lead here, but same idea. The chaos and variety is exactly what I love about my job too.
Same here. If something is on fire it’s fun to deal with and easy to hyper focus on till it’s resolved. If it’s repetitive everyday kind of stuff, ughhhh.
Software engineer. I swear half of us are on the spectrum.
Same. And, to be fair, it's a fairly well-paying field that requires some amount of specialized knowledge, but many applications of that knowledge are usually pretty easy to find with a bit of Google know-how, and use of Google as a resource is not only acceptable, but expected. I feel like that meshes relatively well with how ADHD brains work.
I used to do a bit of Help Desk in IT, and one of the "open" secrets of that field (and later I learned that it's for all tech fields,) was that a lot of the job was knowing how to find the solution online. Next, was how the heck you install/apply it.
Nice. What software do you specialize in?
Financial / Superannuation (or "401K" as the Americans call it).
I’ve had lots of jobs, but not as many as my (untreated, but diagnosed) father.
Currently I’m working in a bakery while getting my master’s to be a German as a second language teacher for adult immigrants to Germany.
Previously I’ve been a waitress, insurance adjuster, litigation manager (fun, but soul-sucking, because it was for an insurance company), tutor and I’ve worked at a call center, shisha (hookah) bar, and tobacco farm.
The important information from this is: I need something stimulating, that can involve lots of different types of activity, otherwise I’ll get bored and either quit or slack off. Too much control of my own work is also not a good thing for me (it’s straight up illegal to not answer certain types of email as an insurance adjuster- terrifying). Physical activity helps keep me on track as well, but that’s mostly correlated to low pay jobs (hopefully I can pace enough as a teacher).
Additionally: see if you can check your boxes outside of work. I was much happier dancing and playing dnd while working in a call center (it was a bad job) than trying to make data entry work physical and involve problem solving.
Tech support, get that dopamine solving new problems everyday
All the previous jobs were in the vein of either huge risk (pizza delivery) or puzzle solving. Got quite disheartend doing anything less demanding.
Dito, fixing interesting problems is fun. My main issue is that we have had a caroucel of bosses (4 in the last 4 years) and the current one gets a C-. Half the team does not trust them due to drama with the previous manager and the they keep trying to make it so the different team members specialize in different tasks (everyone used to be trained to do everything). I like the job and the company, but its one or two step removed from "Office Space" levels of corpo whohash.
In my office the only issue is admin stuff, time tracking, emails, case updates that sort of time sucking boring nonsense, found a way around, train the new guys, tell em' contact me if you have problems, so now I fix their stuff and they do the emails/notes :D
I have to convince mangement I'm doing work every yearly review, so far so good!
I loved doing tech support when I worked in a Verizon store. I was supposed to sell stuff, but I'd rather solve problems.
Network engineer. Aka systems engineer troubleshooting expert.
Pro tip. if you are ever in the situation where you think the problem is the network, think again. By all means ask for our help troubleshooting, but don't blame us when you cant find what is wrong with your app.
Except when it's DNS
Sounds like the sysadmin who is running the DNS server's problem 😉
DevOps / Linux sys admin / user support / "it has buttons and plugs into a wall socket" support guy
Holy dang man! All of that sounds big brained to me.
How did you get started?
Started as a tech at a computer shop back in uni, doing diagnostics and assembly for custom PC builds. After I got my bachelor, I started as an IT guy in a factory, and for the next ~20 years worked as a sys admin at a bunch of different companies. Over the last 5 years or so I moved more and more towards Linux, automation, IaC, ansible, docker, k8s, terraform... and now I work as a devops engineer. I work for a small company, so I double as a backup sysadmin/user support guy, because I'm the one that "knows what active directory even is". 🤷
I'm an engineer. I don't usually spend more than a few hours on a single job, and there's always something to do. My favorite thing is finding out how to do an unusual job and becoming the go-to guy for it.
What kind of engineering are you in? What aspects of your job do you like the most?
Electrical engineering. I'm not in the department that does all the heavy math, I mostly just do what people tell me to do. But there's satisfaction in making something comprehensible, even elegant, and solving the few problems I come across in my work. It's not artistic, exactly, but it's still very easy for the hours to melt away.
I work disability support..
I find the nature of ADHD can really help some people with other mental health issues as I tend to think about all the things, all possibilities etc and my guys are well looked after because of this
What kind of disabilities are you handling? Physical or mental?
Either way, I'm glad there are those out there willing to do that kind of job for those people. I surely couldn't do it for long or well.
All kinds
We do creative arts based disability support
I assist people with cerebral palsy, autism, blindness, downs etc etc
Anyone and everyone :)
I do CNC machining, a great, non-people oriented job (for me anyway)
Rad. What kind of things did you mill?
I do both lathing and milling! The past few jobs I did were water spindles for fire departments, a few small electronic pieces for some local science department. I did firearms, mostly pistol barrels but also rifle barrels, pistol slides, gas blocks, and baffles. Currently I and doing airplane engine bits! Very fun, very regulated lol
I'm a waitress. A lot of bartenders and waitresses have ADHD or are undiagnosed but share symptoms.
Previously I've been a teacher and worked in childcare.
In my experience the healthcare system would collapse overnight if we ran out of Adderall.
My day job is engineering in tech. My night job is in the circus. Fire and knives are my favorite fidget spinners.
Exactly what I'd expect from a Tiefling!
Sounds like you're living your best life. =)
I'm one half of a small college's Conference & Event Services team. We're essentially the campus party planners, and I admin their space reservation software.
That sounds interesting. How did you get started in that?
Random job listing on Indeed.
I had worked in sales for 20 years, and gradually hated it more and more. Switching to a new field helped for a little bit, but that two year itch would cause me to start looking again.
I got lucky at the interview. I wouldn't realize until a few weeks in, but my supervisor ALSO had major ADHD, so even though HER boss didn't think I was the best pick, we felt like we spoke the same language and connected instantly. Also, they needed someone nerdy enough to run their scheduling software, but not nerdy enough to expect an IT professional's wage. 😂
I love it here. It's been just over two years, which is usually when I start getting bored and looking for a new job, but instead I'm thinking about how I can stick around here until retirement (in the next 25-50 years, depending on how bad they fuck that up for millennials.)
Software Controls Engineer, I develop tools and templates for automation.
Oh, man. A few years ago I thought about getting into that. Seemed really cool but also a bit overwhelming.
I love to make sense of how things are connected and flow in a system.
How did you get started? =)
I actually started as an electrician, I was installing hardwire motor control systems. I was terrible at running conduit though, so I only did that for half a year.
Was hired as an entry level Controls Engineer for a small company that does automotive manufacturing systems. They weren’t a great place to work mostly throwing bodies at problems, but it got me started and gave me experience.
Turns out I really enjoy PLC programming and made Sr Controls Engineer in 3yrs. It is a steep learning curve, less so if you have any kind of programing/automation experience. At first it was a lot of travel, part of that was just the automotive industry. Though most places put their new employees on site a lot to get experience.
Since covid remote work is more prevalent and a lot of my coworkers work from home when not onsite. Now I am in R&D, I work remotely and haven’t been onsite in over a year and half.
It’s a constantly changing field new technologies are being introduced all the time, it definitely keeps me interested.
I’m an environmental scientist in applied research. Started as a technologist where I was handed experiments to plan and execute. Every project meant learning/creating at least new work flows, processes, instrumentation in different environments (lab, field work, greenhouse). I often had to learn new but related areas of expertise. CONSTANT troubleshooting and creative problem solving. All that chaos and stimulation was perfect for a brain that needs lots of novelty, pressure, and stimulation. Any time I started to get bored with the work I was doing, something completely different came up.
My employer sent me to grad school so I can lead some of research we do. I’m now figuring out how to make this work with my ADHD.
Process Manager in the Client Solutions Operations department
Oh, that sounds cool.
What are somethings that attracted you to that career?
Well, as back story: I started at this company as a Member Services Rep on the phones. Somehow I got promoted to Team Lead, and then again to Supervisor, before I saw this position. I like the job because I get to analyze systems and find gaps and weaknesses, and I get to help people solve problems.
I work at a small company where I wear a lot of hats.
I audit chats, supervise a team of agents, answer billing and sales tickets as well as the phone for sales.
When theres downtime i also work on spreadsheets which we use to track agent performance and make tools to help us work. Thats probably the msot fun part. Its a good job.
Pay is way under what we should be getting but i like the company and they treat me well. Plus wfh so cant complain too much.
Game designer, it's a nice gig if you like to make games. 😑
Ha, I take it you're not really a fan of it anymore.
What are some of the pros and cons of that kind of job?
Are you, ya know... into making games?
I bit, why? You selling?
Data Architect... also management at the moment.
Holy moly. I fantasized about working that job many years ago. From what I gathered from job research sites, it takes many years of college to get into it. That's just not a path I can take as the way I learn isn't very cohesive with textbook learning, lecture note taking, and the like.
Am I wrong about this?
And how did you get started?
I tripped into it... I have always been database/persistence focused and joined a rather young small company so I became THE expert - years pass and I'm now managing persistence and design for a modestly sized team.
commissioned sales. for my ADHD the job can be awesome or it can really suck depending on the boss, which is why I started working for myself a few years ago
What kind of commission sales are you into? I know there are all sorts of commission sale positions out there, but I figured you were speaking as a car sales person.
it started with cars, I did telephone debt collection for about a year, then transitioned into collectible coins which I've been doing for about 10 years now. I would actually prefer to be selling something else, but my boss was super chill and I took over when he retired. we had already significantly downsized so I just work for myself now and I'm too lazy to find a new gimmick
Programming. What made you choose digital marketing?
Thanks for asking.
My strengths lay in a love of knowledge, analytics, and my inquisitive mind. I love to see how things are connected to one another and how the system(s) is laid out. I'm often a big picture kinda guy. And have a desire to help others out when I can. Something I learned about myself about a decade ago, was that I can genuinely feel excited for others when they do well. Which is kind of a hack when you're diagnosed with depression, and perhaps for my anxiety.
Digital marketing checks off all of those things. There is always something to be learned or improved, Google's search ranking criteria are changed a few times a year, so there seems to never be a dull moment in the field. And just like IT or programming, being specialized in a few things is great. So I'm looking to become an expert in SEO, Local SEO, keyword/phrase ranking, and backlink generation.
The selfish part is that I realized that nearly all of the digital marketing things were things that I would benefit from knowing since I desire to start my company sometime soon. It also benefits my plan to be able to make a few hundred dollars a month through online sales of items.
What kind of programming are you into? Do you enjoy it?
tl;dr: software developer
Software developer. Unable to thrive at school or university, I had phases ever since I had a PC where I self-improved with more or less intensity. A few years where I had neither energy nor motivation, but discipline to do a little bit most days. Just a solid hobby-level.
Then out of nowhere It became an obsession for 5 years, like it usually does for a substance or gaming addiction. Just wake up, immediately study, trying to get everything perfect, to understand all the competing approaches and their reasons to every problem, only sleep when I can't keep my eyes open.
Finding mentors online, big names in their niche. Most people think that these people are annoyed from hundreds of "fans" who want to learn, but actually, that rarely happens, and when they see how much effort you put in, they are happy to help. One day, the phase ended as quickly as it had started. But I still had the knowledge.
That was 20 years ago. Much of the stuff from back then is still relevant, but there are the massive changes to web clients, and there are "clouds". In relation to relevant frameworks and standards, I'm far less skilled now, but I have two decades of reference projects which make me LOOK better.
A problem is that working away from home really doesn't work for me, thus having to refuse > 95 % of offers (they just come, I don't apply). But since 2020, that is no longer an issue.
Aircraft Maintenance Controller, I coordinate and advise on the maintenance operations for a fleet of cargo 737's and 767's. It's a lot of auditing and making sure everything is done right, but also troubleshooting advice and on the operations side it's a lot of making a plan to keep the flight schedule as intact as possible while still handling maintenance issues.
Sound Designer/Creative Director. Audio post production for TV. Mostly commercials but some film and TV.
Packaging engineer! Foam is fun!
Do me a solid and see what you can do about NEVER using that Styrofoam that makes my bones itch when it squeaks.
I actually don't design with Styrofoam (EPS, Expanded Polystyrene). It's mostly polyethylene in various forms, or polyurethane. EPS is a terrible product!
I always wondered how many packaging engineers were out there in the world. Haha.
Have you heard much about mycelium packaging and or plastics before?
I've been wondering when more common products are going to start to be shipped in such a thing, instead of one use plastics and packaging.
I actually have some! But I haven't gotten to make anything with it yet, or see how well it performs.
I do water maintenance. Flowing hydrants, turning water valves, leak detection etc. I keep the water in city pipes doing it's job.
That sounds pretty cool. If you're a fan of being an unsung hero, this seems like a good point. And with that being said, thanks for keeping your city's hydrants in tip-top shape.
So how did you get started? Does it work well for you?
I work for a private company so I work in a lot of different cities. But I started off with utility locating and found my way here from getting to know people.
Software/Staff Engineer, as Architect and Solver. So I help design our system (from the technical side), I assist and to a degree coordinate teams, I jump in when know how or man power is needed, I rework or rebuild systems that have no clear ownership of a team, and so on. Oh and I always have an opinion no matter which (technical) topic.
I'm working part-time as a Software Engineer and I'm doing a Master's degree in Software Engineering at the same time. 😵💫
I'm the President of the United Plates