Statistics show that only 16% of people in the UK diagnosed with Aspergers are in full time employment. I’ve never been without work since I graduated from university in 1996.

From the age of 10, when I first saw the film The Dam Busters, I knew that I wanted a career in the Royal Air Force. I joined the Combined Cadet Force at school, and at 17 I applied to join the RAF as an Officer in either the Fighter Control or Air Traffic Control branches. I went through the lengthy selection process, scoring high on the aptitude tests, but low on the social side, but to my surprise I was accepted for entry. However, my mum talked me into going to university so that I had a backup plan should the RAF not work out for me. So the RAF allowed me to defer my entry and off I went to Uni. I read Geography for a year, but it was dull as dishwater, so I switched to a degree in Computers, Management, and Electronics.

I never took the RAF up on that deferred entry as my values changed over the course of my time at university, and I instead walked straight into a job with Siemens who’d sponsored me through university.

Freelancing

I joined Siemens just as the World Wide Web was becoming “a thing”. I cut my teeth on a lot of beta software, learning how to develop web sites interfacing with databases using Visual Basic. I’m no good at design, but I’m awesome with interfacing a user interface with a database backend.

I learned a lot of the skills that I now rely daily on working for Siemens, but my friend Emma thought that I was underselling myself and could earn far more money by doing freelance contract work. She repeatedly tried to talk me into doing that, but I was resistant to doing so. This was the first time that I think I showed resistance to change. I was comfortable in the job and couldn’t imagine working elsewhere. I didn’t want to take the risk. But unbeknownst to me in 2000 Emma sent my CV off to a recruitment agency, and one day I got a call asking if I’d go for an interview with Phones4u.

After much antagonising I decided to go along just for the experience, as I’d never actually had a job interview before having walked into the role at Siemens straight from university as a result of being sponsored by them. To my surprise I was offered the contract, and as it paid £40 per hour, and my job at Siemens was around £10 per hour, it was a no brainer to enter the world of contracting.

I did freelance work until 2009, when I was offered a permanent roll with my current employer. During that time I never failed to secure a contract that I was interviewed for. I worked for several companies within the Caudwell Group, ICI, Unilever, Bolton Social Services, Tameside Social Services, The NHS Information Centre and Ultimedia amongst others.

Freelancing seemed to suit me because most of the contracts were miles away from home so I had the perfect excuse to not get involved with the social events that I was invited to. The permanent staff also tended to dislike contractors as we did the same job that they did, but were paid around 3 times more, so no one talked to you out of resentment. They didn’t comprehend that you had no holiday pay, sick pay, that there was no company pension contribution, and that you paid National Insurance twice, and had to pay corporation tax, VAT etc. I never understood why permies moaned about contractors. If they were that good, and intelligent, they would surely go freelance themselves?

Eventually in 2010, after freelancing for them for a year, I was persuaded to take on a permanent roll with my current employer as they made an offer too good to turn down. A fantastic salary, decent pension, other perks, and a company car and fuel card which was the main selling point, as I have a 110 mile round trip commute each day!

Working in IT seems to be the natural habitat of the Aspie. A couple of years ago I wrote a well received article for the company newsletter, and had 8 colleagues email me to say that they would now be exploring getting a diagnosis as my writing resonated with them.

Right now I can’t imagine changing my job and it’s down to fear. The fear of change has crept back in because it’s 10 years now since I last had an interview. As a freelance contractor I was interviewing every 3, 6 or 12 months, and as I never failed to get a contract I had the confidence. I no longer have that, and the fear of change, and the consequence of that is great. But that is all it is, a fear, and I’ve overcome many of those in the past.