Shy, autistic, and intelligent - what job would suit me? (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

Please don’t be a teacher. Just don’t. It will make your burnout worse.

counsellor/psychotherapist? Perfect job for quiet, reflective people who work better one to one than in groups.

I don’t know how autism manifests itself but I know from a very close family member that law is incredibly hard with autistic traits. You have to be quite perceptive around people. You have to roll with the punches and be ready to upend your own personal schedule for a number of years (but you never really control your own time unless you are a very lucky PSL). And burn out is common even without masking/autistic burn out to factor in.

You need a life coach.

Do not take a low-paid job, your skills are hard won and you should be making good money. You should be looking to do lab work in a good lab on good pay. Speak to recruiters in your field. Do not teach.

*your autism I mean. Of course from people close to me and general knowledge I know how autism can manifest itself.

I'm a nurse and strongly suspect I have autism or adhd. Also very shy. I burnt out after only 3 years of nursing and currently off sick. I would say nursing can be good to bring you out of your shell because you are forced to overcome your own insecurities when looking after vulnerable people who need you. However, burnout is a huge problem in nursing, even amongst neurotypical people because you give so much of yourself to others that you end up with nothing left in the tank for yourself. It's a tricky one. What about pharmacy, or radiography? There are so many allied health professionals roles that are less chaotic and more structured than nursing, and where you are not constantly bombarded with multiple demands. I underestimated how much you need good executive function to be a nurse. When I was a student in A&E I was overwhelmed by the chaos and lack of structure. Similarly, as a qualified in the district, lone working and having to manage my own day I really struggled with time management, the driving, the sheer number of patients and being called out to emergencies in the middle of trying to get though my patient list. Some handle it well if they thrive on being busy, and it's funny because I also do and hate being bored but clearly my mind and body couldn't cope and I had a breakdown! Not sure whether I'll continue as a nurse or retrain in something else so I'd be interested in seeing what other posters suggest. Sorry not been much help and that's only my experience of nursing, you never know you might thrive in it, but I think one of the allied health professional careers ( pharmacy, radiography, speech therapy, sonographer etc) might be worth looking into.

I definitely wouldn't recommend teaching, because it really won't help with your burnout, and it can be stressful and overwhelming.
For transparency, I went straight into teaching out of university, it was my dream, and yet really tbh struggled to pass the teaching part of the course, due to my apparently inadequate use of eye contact, monotone voice, difficulties with sensory overload. I struggled on for a decade, always feeling very stressed out and anxious due to all the expectations and workload. I then went part time after having my eldest, and left completely after having my youngest who then turned out to be very anxious and very much autistic. My eldest was very academic and very much a little professor, with difficulties with change to routine and so on, eventually also diagnosed as autistic. It then hit me like a tonne of bricks that the kids are like me. If I had my time again I would go into something else.

Accountancy isn't a bad call really, particularly tax work. I've been an accountant for 40 years this Summer. I've worked with lots of quiet/introverted colleagues. It's definitely a career where being a little different, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to be a problem. There are so many different roles you can specialise in and usually lots of "backroom" roles where you can have a pretty quiet life supporting the more outgoing colleagues in technical roles etc if you don't want to do too much client facing roles or presentations, etc. Get into a decent sized firm as a trainee, and then you can start to see what kind of area you'd prefer to specialise in as the years pass and you get more exams under your belt. The common path is to start in audit and then move to different depts, although there are usually other entry points such as tax compliance but then you'd probably be staying in tax roles, whereas starting in audit is more flexible and opens doors to lots of different roles.

Data analyst or developer

I work with these guys a lot and your personality type is the norm

Which means you get to work with people like you, who get you

You could earn significantly more than 30k quite quickly

It would require some effort and time to get the skills but I'm guessing your maths is strong which is a huge headstart

Shy autistic AND intelligent

I feel this also describes myself. Nursing was good for me as I felt less shy and felt I was playing a role somehow? But I got burnt out very quickly.

Programming?

Actuary?

Working for a charity?

Shy autistic AND intelligent

Came here to say this really. Good luck OP

To add: there's hardly any job that wouldn't burn an autistic person out unless you're working alone + very partime or as and when. Any other job is just a matter of time especially if you're forcing yourself to 'push through it'. All depends on the pace of work.

Where are you based OP? Depending on where you live - have you considered working for one of the research funders? Your background would suit it and I think it would be less stressful for you than your previous role at least. You could look at the Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Wellcome. Depending on the role there would probably be some element of engaging with stakeholders, so talking to external people, but fewer tight deadlines. You'd need to work as part of a team but there's a lot of individual work too, and I think you'd probably find a lot of similar people there.

Similar profile here - introverted, autistic, have a BA and MSc. Currently doing a part-time PhD (social sciences though, not STEM).

I echo others who say not to go into teaching. I taught undergrad and masters classes before I went part-time with my PhD and I enjoyed aspects of it (like marking, designing course materials, etc) but, personally, I'm not good at thinking on my feet at all. I need time to sit and process what someone is asking me so when I was doing the actual teaching part in front of a class, I constantly felt on-edge and anxious because their questions required an immediate response and I couldn't predict what they would ask.

However, don't write off the education sector as a whole. I'm a Learning Technologist and it's perfect for me. I mostly work alone with lots of autonomy over my projects, the tasks are predictable but enjoyable, and the academic year is full of peaks and troughs so I have recovery time between busy periods. It also sits above your salary threshold.

Civil Service or the charity sector?

Come and work with me! This describes half of my team (including me, except the shy part). Just need to be good at maths and data-type stuff. Often you can work on your own or at home. This is in the nuclear sector. PM me if you have any questions.
If you've got a Master's, please believe you deserve to aim higher than £30k 😊
I echo the do not teach sentiment!

IT, developer or tester. In my team we’re all shy introverted people and lots are somewhere on the autism spectrum.

Whatever you do, don't go into nursing or teaching. I'm an autistic, burnt out, retired nurse.

Data analyst NHS
they are always looking for more people

Research nurse?

I think having a job where you could work from home if you wanted to would really help you.

PM that poster above who wanted you to work with her! It sounds as though you'd fit in well there.

Data analytics (Medical would suit you!)