Good Jobs for ADHDers

[Pagelen]

My name is Elena, I am from Austria and I was only recently diagnosed with ADHD in May 2023 at 29yo after wondering about it for 3 years. Since my symptoms are not too severe I don't need any medication. I try to learn new methods and routines to deal with it and I realized that I have been very lucky all my life that my deficits were unintentionally well accommodated and that I already started acquiring methods and routines that help me manage my ADHD symptoms long before I ever knew about it. And I also realized that by luck and intuition I chose the perfect profession. I am a tourist guide, I am self employed, I get to research the hell out of any historical or cultural topic and tell people about the things I learn and am excited about and they pay me for it. I offer a variety of tours so when I find a new interesting topic I dive in and write a new script. Another aspect that makes so much sense now is that as a guide I give a 2h portion of what is most important in my city. I filter out the unnecessary and serve the fun, important, interesting stuff on a nice little plate. And that is excactly what I need. A sense of what is important, what has priority in a constant state of overwhelm. Of course there are a bunch of aspects I struggle with. Revisiting scripts when I have been writing on them for 2months, managing all the tasks of being self-employed, getting sidetracked in my research and filtering all the info down to what fits in a 2h tour. Letting go of loved fun facts because I can't keep all of the things in a tour. Managing my focus in a noisy and crowded environment. But in general I feel like this is a job that never seizes to bring me joy because of the possibilities it gives me, so I wanted to share because so many ADHDers struggle with finding their way and their profession. What ADHD friendly jobs do you have?

[STEM_Dad]

Welcome to the forum, Elena!

The short answer to your question of "What are good jobs for ADHDers?" is simply this: "Do what interests you."

Since each person has their own unique set of interests, knowledge, and abilities, each of us ADHDers will have our own preference for jobs that we will excel in.

ADHDers who have Hyperactive traits will probably gravitate towards jobs that give them opportunity to move around. But for each one, that might be very different, based on their interests and abilities.

• I've heard that some like to work with their hands a lot, and can sit or stand in one place for a long time, as long as they're able to interact with things with their hands (such as a mechanic...which makes me wonder if my uncle who didn't do well in school but if a successful automobile mechanic has ADHD).

• Meanwhile, others like to walk around a lot, not staying in the same place for longer than a few moments. I know of a professional trainer who is also a motivational speaker, who describes his ADHD as "off the charts" severe. From a video I've seen of him giving a presentation, I seem to recall that he moves around a lot on the stage, and makes a lot of gestures with his arms.

* Both my uncle and the professional speaker that I mentioned are self-employed, like you. I know that the professional speaker has said that he hired someone to help manage the parts of his business that he struggles to do on his own.

For ADHDers with Inattentive traits, doing work which is in line with their interests and which has plenty of novel stimulation will tend to be a good fit, like you with your Tourism career, and me with mine in Information Technology. Where we will struggle, as you pointed out, is in the work which requires maintaining focus without the stimulating feedback.

• For example, I excel at the quick urgent fix-it tasks at work, but I struggle with the ones which require sustained focus and time management, like routine maintenance. I love a new challenge, but once I've figured out the fix, I struggle to repeat it with anything close to the same level of interest.

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I think that doing work which matches own natural motivations can be very beneficial. Motivations can simply be based on our personal interests, or what gives us a sense of novelty. I've also found that personal values can be a great source of motivation. I like helping people and get a great sense of accomplishment from doing so.

• I have found that I fit in well with working in Information Technology because I'm interested in and knowledgeable about computer technology.

• However, the jobs that I'm best at and most motivated to do are the "user support" jobs. (This is regarded as the lower-tier of IT, while the specializations like Network Administration, System Administration, and Application Development are considered the upper-tier. I tried working in more specialized, behind-the-scenes roles, and I found it's not a good fit for me.) I'm also motivated by researching new things and solving novel problems. So, I'm a "Desktop Support Technician", and proud of it!

* My all-time favorite IT job was my first one, working at a university Computer Help Desk because I also got to train and mentor new entry-level Technology Support Representatives every year. If I learned something new, or solved a new problem, it was engaging the first time only...but if I taught it again and again, but always to someone new, it was engaging every time.

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My motivations might not work for other ADHDers, because we are each so unique. I have an adult son who has all the same ADHD traits as I do, but different interests. He also is motivated by what he finds interesting and by helping people. (Since his youth, he could talk about Pokemon and anime all day long, and but grow tired of the subjects. I'm glad to listen, but won't recall more than 10%, because those are not my interests.) For his first jobs, he has previously worked retail customer service, and now works in housekeeping in an assisted living facility for the elderly or infirmed...so, like me, he seems to be motivated by helping people, but in a different way.

*(My early working career was also in retail customer support, and a few years working as a Mathematics Tutor, which were also rewarding for me. But when I started in Tech Support, I felt like I'd found my niche.)

[PassingTheDuckTest in reply to STEM_Dad]

It took me nearly twenty years to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering. While doing so I worked as a machinist/tool and die maker. Tool and Die Making for those unfamiliar is The Big Leagues for a machinist. It requires a great deal of mechanical problem solving and design. I would have eventually earned the title Engineer on that track without completing college, and sometimes wish I had. I graduated near the bottom of my class. When I could hyperfocus on a subject I could do well. I failed trigonometry, repeated it during an episode of hyper focus for an A. Straight C's through calculus, with a couple of repeats there.

The job I retired from was a very well paying job in aerospace. I was responsible for the production of one major component of a military jet engine. I assisted others on other products as well. The stress level was possibly the greatest I ever experienced. This one part, the outer cylindrical shell of the turbine section, was worth over $100k and I had to insure eight a month were delivered to the customer, a well known maker of jet engines. The process was rather intense with many components and procedures and there were occasional defects I had to address. These had to be addressed in a way that followed very strict quality guidelines.

At the start of my employment I had ninety days to read 500 pages of company procedures on which I was tested-twice. Fixes and repairs were always reviewed, often in meetings with other engineers and machinists. I got along with most of the machinists and engineers. It started getting very stressful since in my sixties by this time my memory was starting to be a bigger problem than in the past. For the first time in my life I myself was becoming dissatisfied with my own job performance. I quit at sixty four and retired.

In retirement I occupy myself by teaching myself civil engineering on my long, almost daily, walks. In particular I study drainage and earth work. I take dozens of photos and videos daily and am compiling them onto a Youtube channel to explain civil infrastructure to laypersons.

[GoFar]

teaching is emphasized a lot for adhders

I’ve been a professor the last 20 yrs, just diagnosed 1 year ago at 41. Like you said, I get to research topics I like and lecture/talk about to eager learners.

We’re also advised to do what we love or else we will get bored easily.

[STEM_Dad in reply to GoFar]

"do what we love or else we will get bored easily"• I wonder if that's why many of us change jobs and careers. Boredom is one reason. (My brain is usually way to active all on it's own for me to feel bored.)

• For me, it seems to be more about interest, and the desire to keep growing. (But then again, maybe my brain seeks out novelty in order to keep from getting bored.)

_____

I've worked in retail sales, tutoring, retail management, and several different roles in Information Technology. (I also changed my major in college several times.)

[GoFar in reply to STEM_Dad]

I'm exactly on the same boat as you and I totally hear you! I changed my major in college far too many times, get bored easily, seek novelty, a far too active brain!

[Pagelen in reply to STEM_Dad]

For a moment I was like well I just did one bachelors degree in scandinavian studies which took me 4 years and I didn't go to any of the lectures because I couldn't focus so I used only scripts and went to classes where presence was mandatory. But then I remembered that I did like 12 different language courses that lasted between 2 weeks and 2 years without actually intending to visit places to speak the languages, I just love learning languages for myself. And I did minors in Dutch studies, egyptology, african studies and I tried a bit of landscape design as well. So I guess that would count as "not focussing on one field and seeking novelty" 😂😂

[PassingTheDuckTest]

I was diagnosed at the age of ten but was never told by my parents. I have reason to believe my mother did not trust the diagnosis or the recommended drug treatment.

I am now sixty seven years old and only started to seriously suspect I had it in my forties, in spite of hearing it alluded to me occasionally over the years. Career wise I have seen brilliant successes followed by spectacular failures. The same goes for my personal life.

What I see relevant to your question is the one job I had that I truly excelled at was teaching. The reasons I excelled, and enjoyed it seem to be similar to the ones you state. How that job ended in spectacular fashion was not entirely ADHD. ADHD caused me to not control my disgust at some of the practices of my employer, a trade school that operated for profit. I complained about, among other things, them representing me as an expert in Special Education based on my knowledge of the subject matter. I was clearly the most knowledgeable in the subject of computer vector graphics using the software AutoCAD on that faculty. In industry I would have placed myself in the upper 25% skill wise.

Many of the students their high pressure sales people, cynically called "councilors", recruited had the condition Dyslexia. I do not have this. I would discover that what it really is is a defect in the way the brain interprets geometric input. The subject I taught relied heavily on the ability to process geometry. I was never told that they were sending me several students with the condition until one of them told me. When he told me that I put it together that this is what I was seeing in some of the other students having difficulties in the subject.

I was fired for complaining, and speaking to authorities, about their falsification of attendance reports required by the government for providing student aid to private schools.

Now retired I have been through over twenty five different jobs, many of them highly skilled and technical.