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I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

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Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#101

Post by AndyNemmity »

Sounds like a lot of us here fit the description pretty well.

I'm not convinced this is anything more than the various styles of potential people. Take for example that I don't read or watch fiction. I haven't been able to cope with it my whole life. I read non-fiction and much prefer it.

Is that a preference? Is that some meaningful indication about who I am?

I don't know. I am hearing the spectrum answer from a lot of people. That sounds like an answer with no way to refute it, so the value of it is meaningless.

I really don't know much about this topic, and haven't given it the time to learn. My input is not particularly valuable in this discussion.

However my best guess is that this is trying to explain the range of human possibility with a diagnosis as opposed to simply thinking that there are different people with different traits, and that's all okay.

I used to be "unable" to do a lot of tasks of a business professional and just coded and worked alone.

Then I was promoted until I was unable to do what I was good at, and has to learn how to do the business tasks. Now I am doing them.

It wasn't that I was unable. I just didn't desire to do it on my own, and wasn't in a position where I had to regardless.

I sort of think of all of this like ADHD. The majority of parents I know tell me their kid has ADHD, and many are on medication for it.

And I watch them feed their children coke regularly.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#102

Post by city41 »

AndyNemmity wrote: post #101

Sounds like a lot of us here fit the description pretty well. I'm not convinced this is anything more than the various styles of potential people. Take for example that I don't read or watch fiction. I haven't been able to cope with it my whole life. I read non-fiction and much prefer it. Is that a preference? Is that some meaningful indication about who I am? I don't know. I am hearing the spectrum answer from a lot…

I worked with someone who has Aspergers and I would definitely say it's a legitimate condition and not simply a case of people having "various styles" or "different traits". I think it's one of those things that you can't really understand until you experience it first hand.

To be completely honest, although he was very smart and I understood his condition, I found him extremely difficult and uncomfortable to work with. Which is really unfortunate.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#103

Post by city41 »

tfb wrote: post #37
fein wrote: post #9

I find it rather annoying that people like myself get lumped into this as well when such broad definitions are being used. Do I prefer to be alone/ in a small group most of the time? Hell yes! It's more exclusive and I get more work done. In a social situation, less people means more signal, less noise. Do I sometimes completely avoid social situations? Of course! But it's solely due to the fact that sometimes, I jus…

You really hit the nail on the head here and said exactly what I (and probably others here) have been thinking. As much as it's a very humanly thing to do, I think it's ridiculous to try to lump people into categories, especially when the differences are so minute that it's almost as if there's one way that people should be, and if someone doesn't fit that mold exactly, they must be classified as different. This lead…

It's really not like that though. People with Asperger Syndrome behave and act very different from "normal" people. It's not simply a different personality, an introversion preference or anything like that, they genuinely have a very different brain.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#104

Post by AndyNemmity »

city41 wrote: post #102
AndyNemmity wrote: post #101

Sounds like a lot of us here fit the description pretty well. I'm not convinced this is anything more than the various styles of potential people. Take for example that I don't read or watch fiction. I haven't been able to cope with it my whole life. I read non-fiction and much prefer it. Is that a preference? Is that some meaningful indication about who I am? I don't know. I am hearing the spectrum answer from a lot…

I worked with someone who has Aspergers and I would definitely say it's a legitimate condition and not simply a case of people having "various styles" or "different traits". I think it's one of those things that you can't really understand until you experience it first hand. To be completely honest, although he was very smart and I understood his condition, I found him extremely difficult and uncomfortable to work wi…

Completely reasonable. I was extremely difficult to work with for a long time until I learned how to change my tactics.

But maybe that's the core difference. I can learn how to change my tactics, even if it took me years to figure it out.

Edit: The real key for me was turning social interaction into a programming problem. Once I did that, I went from completely inept terrible person to work for, to a person who works with C levels regularly, and does upper level VC work.

And all that really happened was I turned the business social interaction into a programming problem mentally. Once I turned it into a game, I started to succeed at it. But it's not organic.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#105

Post by mnicole »

DigitalJack wrote: post #58
_p62c wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't agree more - as another person with Aspbergers I feel that this article tried to fit us in to the broken genius pattern, rather than recognize that these kind of syndromes manifest themselves differently in every person. I am in no way special or helped by my syndrome, I am not difficult to work with, I am not in any way disabled, like normal people I have issues with emotional repression and other peoples…

So...your's is the second or third comment that said something along the lines of "I've been diagnosed with aspergers, but you'd never know." I'm curious, what led you (or your guardians?) to seek out a diagnosis?

Without going into detail, there's a lot more going on internally that doesn't meet the eye in addition to varying ticks most folks wouldn't notice outside of spending significant amounts of time around the person.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#106

Post by bradleyjg »

pekk wrote: post #28
bradleyjg wrote: post #23

In the US it's illegal for any employee to flat out refuse to hire people with Asperger's syndrome under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Just something to keep in mind before you answer the question in the title!

So therefore, "it wasn't a cultural fit" or "he didn't have enough experience" or "he wasn't an A player"...

Unfortunately yes. I don't see how you enforce anti-descrimination laws if the relevant descrimination takes place entirely in the hiring manager's head.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#107

Post by swayvil »

justin66 wrote: post #72
swayvil wrote: post #42

I'm a sperg. I'm getting better. Meditation, vipassana. It uncramps your soul, unravels deep habits of attention, or something. It's miraculous. Anybody here relate?

When were you diagnosed with Asperger's? Was pursuing meditation a choice you made primarily due to the clinical diagnosis? (I'm just curious)

In HS. No, I just fell into it as a freshman in college.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#108

Post by mtext »

hh22 wrote: post #3

As someone who was diagnosed with Aspberger syndrome, reading that article made me want to throw up. There can be significant differences between a number of people with the same diagnosis, and generalizing them all under one mocking nickname of "aspie" is disrespectful. My diagnosis is not obvious to anyone talking to me unless I were to disclose it, and I have done very well in school leadership activities; I parti…

Agreed. I too have asperger syndrome, and unfortunately that's a condescending and ridiculous article.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#109

Post by vorg »

dkarl wrote: post #71
ambiate wrote: post #14

Coming to a blog post, why most computer specialists relate to autism. It is very important to keep in mind there is a broad spectrum. Holding two strong relationships with a total of three children with Asperger's or high functioning autism (ages: 3-6, 7-9, 10-12) and a few here and there, it has really broadened my view on the subject. First, language is a barrier. Social awkwardness naturally follows that barrier.…

Another frequent side effect of Asperger's is the impulse to fix things and make sure everything runs smoothly. (I think this is not limited to Asperger's but is common to many people who are uncomfortable with emotion.) A frustrating aspect of Asperger's is that you don't feel the same emotions at the same times for the same reasons as other people. People ignore you or discount your feelings because the logic behin…

> Another frequent side effect of Asperger's is the impulse to fix things and make sure everything runs smoothly [... ... ...] (some) people who thrive on it go around breaking things. Sounds like a good reason to hire Aspies to me.

The types of people who get themselves into building new computer systems tend to meet the deadlines but what they build is full of bugs. The aspies, i.e. maintenance programmers, then spend years afterwards fixing the system based on issues raised by the unit testers, i.e. live users of the system.

Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?

#110

Post by davidp »

xibernetik wrote: post #98
davidp wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amplifying your different-not-worse theme: I sometimes wonder whether the human species would be better off if everyone had a strong case of what we call Asperger's. So many tribal/cultural conflicts arise because of people's ability to connect strongly... Consider religious zealoutry and jihad, and other culturally-derived sources of conflict. Our ability and willingness to be led (at a scope unique in the animal ki…

Asperger's manifests very differently depending on the individual, and does not necessarily block the ability to connect strongly. On average, it may be more difficult for an individual with Asperger's to connect strongly because they are not in tune with the majority of the population, but that's more a function of having trouble finding like-minded individuals than of not being able to connect. The idea that Aspie…

"The idea that Aspie individuals are paragons of logic and reason is misguided."

I certainly agree with this; I was simply offering a positive take on some of the "hyperlogical" behaviors described in the article and elsewhere, e.g. building a snowman inside because it's too cold outside.

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