Not Moving On
Each week in the Financial Times (the main business paper in the UK - the equivalent of The Wall Street Journal) there is a column by Luke Johnson.
He is an entrepreneur whose views I really enjoy and respect. I also resonate, and agree with, his values, outlook on life and approach to business.
A couple of weeks ago he wrote an article about the dangers of not moving on career-wise when you are in a posiiton or company that has outlived its purpose for you personally:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e4f5f1be-0aac-11df-b35f-00144feabdc0.html?ncli...
Its well worth a read; particularly in relation to Asperger syndrome. The reason I say this is that I am now in a similar position. I don't really enjoy what I am doing or the company that I work for so have decided to get out.
I feel all the better for it and, importantly, by not outstaying my welcome I feel that I can leave on my own terms.
I would be interested in hearing anyone else's views on this.
not moving on
I think most people with AS tend to work with the same employer for at least a large number of years, regardless of the type of job.
I think very few people with AS demonstrate career development.
Routine & Structure
I think you are right to say this for a number of Asperger-related reasons.
Firstly, because we are adverse to change because we find it challenging we tend to feel comfortable once we have got on top of a job task. I think that this is totally understandable.
The other key reason is routine. We feel comfortable with what we know and so are innately and sub-consciously adverse to disrupting those routines because of the implications.
However, one of the things that I have learnt in my working life - especially given today's constantly changing work context - is that there are times when one needs to, and must, change.
Among the reasons for this are: a company has lost its way strategically, its long-term viability comes under pressure; you cannot progress personally in a current position or, for example, corporate takeovers lead to re-structuring.
Hard as though it is I have come to appreciate that I must change. Its takes courage of course, but failure to do so can really have negative consequences.
The other day someone told me that J.B.Priestley when asked what advice he would give to young people today: reinvent yourself every 10 years or so - do something different!
the downside of not moving on
I stayed with my second company for twelve years, and in retrospect, I should not. However the reasons I stayed were intimately connected with Asperger's syndrome. I was working as a scientist, a role well suited to someone with AS, not only because of the technical emphasis but also the lack of demand on your interpersonal skills and emotional maturity. I was in a very specialised field where alternate employment opportunities were, and still are, virtually non-existent.
Periodically the notion would arise in my head that I should find something else, but I just couldn't think what else I could possibly do in view of my narrow experience, tertiary qualification, nerdy-scientist predilections and emotional immaturity and shyness.
Now I am trying hard to change fields, to spatial analysis / geographic information systems. Despite getting top marks in every subject I have taken towards a diploma in the subject, there is no takeup from employers; I feel typecast by my lengthy prior career in biotech. I now have a strong sense of how narrow my 20 years' work experience has been, something that I did not have any sense of at all while I was at that company.
I would not entirely agree with Luke Johnson about discriminating against people who are unable to provide a regular reference from their former employers. No one at the company I work for at present asks our employers for a reference if they can possibly avoid it because of their attitude whereby if they have to shed someone that's fine, but someone choosing to go is regarded as treasonous. I think it is a failing of quite a few business people that they consider other business owners/managers are always in the right, and if there has been any friction, the employee must have been in the wrong. Not so. There are some quite unpleasant and quite inept business owners and managers (especially in out-of-the-way locations, where they don't have much competition for custom or staff).
Contradictions
I think that there are some really difficult issues here for someone with Asperger syndrome.
If you are happy in a job, know it well and are basically happy, why move? Doing so invokes many of the difficulties inherent within AS: having to learn a new job, potential anxiety etc.
Against that there is the danger that, as you have found, of becoming typecast and too narrowly focused in terms of experience.
I think the key is timing and accurately identifying when you need to move. I know that in my career I have paid dearly for NOT moving on a couple of occasions: once externally and once internally (within the BBC).
There is also the issue that in today's business climate, movements are inevitable and, in many cases, forced upon you. In other words, we have to get used to the idea of change and of being able to cope with it.
Finally, I agree with your point about the employee usually being regarded as being in the wrong. I am finding this at the moment!!!
''we are adverse to change
''we are adverse to change because we find it challenging we tend to feel comfortable once we have got on top of a job task''
How true!
I can certainly relate to this.
However, I do seem to take up J B Priestly's adage of re-inventing yourself every 10 years, as I spent 10 years in the RAF, 10 years with Woolworths, 8 years with WHSmith (both in retail management) and after a two year break from work, I am now with a new employer. So, what do I do from 2020??!!
Paul