How Cybersecurity And Technology Jobs Can Equal Success For An Autistic Individual

How Cybersecurity And Technology Jobs Can Equal Success For An Autistic Individual by Kadin McElwain: My father always told me that the technology field is a great career field for autistic individuals to get employment. Of course, I settled with something in the communications field, as I would be doing something I’m passionate about. But recently, it’s come to my attention that technology would be perfect for me, an autistic individual, to find work. So in a society that’s driven by technology, where do autistic individuals come into play? How can an autistic individual’s skills make the technology field a perfect industry to work in? Here are three examples of cybersecurity and technology equaling success for an autistic individual. Example One: Not Needing To Socialize As Much: One of the biggest problems for autistic individuals in our society is the lack of social skills that they may have. All individuals, especially those on the spectrum, want friends and companionship. In fact, it’s human nature to want companionship. The problem for autistic individuals is that they may be overwhelmed in social situations and may have a fear of rejection. Therefore, it may be hard for them to be able to make friends, which can impact them on an interprofessional level as well. This can result in a low quality of life as well, in all forms. This is where a career in technology or cybersecurity comes in. There are a few technology jobs where you have to go into the office to do your work. But you don’t necessarily have to interact with anybody face to face while you do the work unless it’s during an employee break or a major meeting with your boss about a potential promotion. If the technology job is remote, that’s even better for autistic individuals. Not only do they not have to go into the office to do their work, but they’ll also have the ability to do the job in the comfort of their own home. This can ensure that the job is both enjoyable and comfortable for the individual. Example Two: Routines, Routines, Routines: If there is one thing that is sacred to an autistic individual, it’s having a proper routine and sticking with it. Whether it’s having the same things in your morning coffee every day, immediately rushing to do your morning chores after said coffee, or listening to the same song every day, having that routine is just as important to an autistic individual as breathing. With a majority of jobs, things can change expeditiously and the routine could be thrown off multiple times. Powerpoint presentations may need to be given on the third Tuesday of every other month, business taxes may need to be filed on Tuesday, yet are due on Wednesday night, and there could even be a major PR crisis that needs to be dealt with before anything else! As a result of the constant change in routine, the autistic individual could feel overwhelmed. But with a job in the technology field, your routine is mostly the same. You clock in for the day, go to your cubicle to do your work, have lunch, and go home. There may be one or two days out of the month when you do something outside of the routine, such as an employee team-building exercise or a company picnic. But these aren’t stressful routine-altering events but rather enjoyable events that have little to no effect on your work routine. When you have a career in technology, your routine will be the same and you will never have a severe routine-altering event that stresses you out. This makes the field a successful one for autistic individuals to break into and thrive. Example Three: A Platform To Use Your Heightened Sense Of Concentration: Autistic individuals have a heightened sense of concentration when it comes to certain tasks and topics that they enjoy. Sometimes, people with autism can spend hours researching a topic they enjoy and spend all night on projects they’re working on for school or work because they are dedicated to the tasks or topics at hand. A huge issue with most industries is that there is no room to concentrate on only one task or topic. Especially in today’s society, you have to know 72 different trades or more to even be considered for an interview. Some of these trades, such as knowing four different languages, knowing how to use seven different platforms, and knowing how to fix a copy machine, can take months, if not years, to fully master. This can disqualify autistic individuals from jobs at best and cause stress while on the job at worst. With a job in the technology field, you can use your heightened sense of concentration as an autistic individual to focus on completing one task, as opposed to multiple tasks at the same time. The task at hand is simply to make sure all things on the technological side of the business are running as smoothly as possible and to make sure any threats to company security are eliminated. There’s no need to learn over 100 different tasks to get the job or to learn new tasks while on the job that could take months to learn and stress you out. You get to use your heightened sense of concentration exclusively on making sure the network of a company runs smoothly. This can result in an enjoyable experience and success in your career. To conclude, cybersecurity and the tech field can be great industries for autistic individuals to establish a career for themselves. They don’t have to socialize as much as they have to in other fields, they can have a stable routine, and they can use their heightened sense of concentration to complete the task at hand and make the experience as enjoyable as possible. That’s not to say that autistic individuals aren’t capable of having success in other fields. All individuals are capable of whatever they set their minds to, no matter what they’re going through. However, a career in the technology field can help guarantee the success of an autistic individual in their career.