IT jobs for autistic graduates

[BigBoysDontCry]

Just wondering if anyone has any decent links for finding a job in the IT field in Scotland?

DS is autistic (diagnosed) and his main issues are social anxiety/initiating conversations. He's anxious but OK if people speak to him, struggles to keep a conversation going.

He graduated in October 2022 in Computer science. He was just too overwhelmed at the time to be able to apply for graduate roles, he was late graduating as he was on a masters programme but couldn't complete that as he needed an internship which he couldn't get.

He's been doing a couple of night-shift shelf stacking shifts a week.

He hates it but understands it's better to keep a job.

Ultimately he wants to live independently but he'll need an income (and support).

I can find things for him to apply for but all the disability confident stuff seems to be based in England and requires hybrid working in the office.

Yes, I know he should be looking himself but he just gets bogged down and can't choose anything. If I give him a few options he'll happily apply.

Anyone know any good places to search or companies to try?

Investment banking - don’t be put off by the reputation, there are lots of IT/strat jobs with a much higher than average percentage of ASD colleagues.

JPM, Barclays, MS and BNP all have large offices in Scotland.

Apply directly or through IB recruitment agencies.

Good luck

I think it would depend on the job but at least daily. When he first started his job we could see he was getting more and more anxious but wouldn't say what was wrong. A few drinks at Christmas helped loosen him up and basically he was finishing his work and couldn't then ask for what to do next and and thought he'd get into trouble. I ended up having to go in to speak to them. He didn't have a diagnosis at this point. And it turned out they were really pleased with him and then spoke to him to give him things to do if he finished early and his manager just checks in with him during the shift to check everything is fine.

He can't initiate asking for a holiday but if his manager asks him he can say what he wants. I know it's bizarre but his manager is a lovely guy and he appreciates that DS is a good worker.

Thanks all, I appreciate all the ideas. I will start working through them all and come up with a game plan.

He's not happy in his job and as he doesn't have a lot else going on in his life it takes up a lot of headspace.

It's just frustrating as he has a lot to offer and life is sort of passing him by. I'd like for him to have friends to go out with, a partner, a place if his own and I know he wants these things too. But it's just hard. He has a group of friends from school and they are still in touch and he occasionally does things when they are home, but they have all graduated, got jobs, moved away etc and moving on with life and he's a bit stuck.

I don't think that's a big ask. Any decent employer should be able to put that in place easily - it may even only need to be a slightly adapted version of what they do already.

For instance, I'd usually check in with my junior team most days and my seniors check in with me slightly less often but increase frequency if we're under pressure.

If someone with your son's needs joined, we would make sure we were doing that in a way that worked best for him. I can't imagine anyone in my team considering a daily check in would be a problem. Over time as we got to know him better, we would probably start to learn to notice if his anxiety was building.

There will be more decent caring managers like his current one out there. The right employer for him will be out there.

I mean 1-1 not team stand ups.

Things like asking for interview questions in advance are usually accommodated and if not you know early on to cut your losses.

Other accommodations, such as regular check-ins, can be nearly impossible to find. My manager is the head of a disability services team, when I started my role I explained I have high levels of anxiety and need reassurance that I’m doing ok. I always do far better than ok, in fact I’ve won many industrial accolades for my practice. consequently, yet again, I’m in the position where I’m left to get on with my job and haven’t had a one-to-one since last summer. The lack of support from my line management has been a reoccurring theme throughout my career and as the support has never been there from my employers I’ve now recruited my husband to effectively provide me with mini one-to-ones throughout the month to lower my anxiety.

The point I’m making is RA aren’t always there and if your son faces this situation he will need a back up plan on how to get his workplace needs met by his wider support network rather than his employer.

Aerospace and defence companies are an excellent route though graduate schemes may force the social element. There are direct entry roles.

Babcock, Leonardo and BAE to name a few.

I wish I could give him a bit more hope @BigBoysDontCry - I was in a meeting last summer (in IT) and it dawned on us that all 3 of us had children diagnosed with ASD, or ASD and something else in the ND pantheon. It can just take longer to find your way.

Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. @plplasmeh my other son is dyspraxic with executive function disorder and now thinks he has ADD. He is another story for another day 😁, it's just so hard.

And yes, having a support network outside work is also a concern. He's OK when everything is OK but if anything goes wrong then it spirals unless I notice and deal with it. But what happens when I'm no longer around?

I know this is obviously a big concern for people who have children with disabilities, but sadly I think that being more disabled means there is more access to support. He sort of floats in the middle. On the surface he's a fully functioning adult capable of looking after himself but if something goes wrong he will just stick his head in the sand if it involves contacting anyone.

I also saw a vacancy with Leonardo last night that I think might be worth applying to. So great idea. He's working the next few days so I won't see much of him but I'm going to try to gather a few things together and spend time in the 2nd half of the week with him sorting his CV and getting some applications in.

Public sector generally has more sympathetic approaches. Be aware some of the big private companies mentioned on here may have tricky assessment centre hoops to jump through. Definitely try Scottish Govt and NHS, who tend to have good structures and attitudes in place for support. University IT jobs also worth trying. Don't be afraid to go in a bit lower grade at first than might be ideal longer term. Often important to get comfortable with the organisation and have contribution recognised, which can lead to progression once your son feels ready. I have seen quite a bit of this in public sector.

I know you have said the IT based roles say good communication skills on the job advert but I work in IT/Data and what I find is that the HR department have a standard set of things they add to all job adverts that include things like good communication

Where as in an IT function the managers are less likely to be fazed with someone with communication needs as the reality is IT tends to have a higher than average number of people with Autism, ADHD or a combination of both (and often those who aren't diagnosed probably could be)

The reason I'm pushing it is because if he gets someone that works agile in a scrum format this might work well for him. Jobs will be allocated every 1 to 4 weeks and then there are daily check ins where whoever is running the meeting will ask him how he's getting on with his work and if he has any blockers etc

It feels like a very structured communication cycle with structured communication time might suit him

The other thing I will say with grad schemes is that for larger firms more used to working with NT people we tend to make sure that we are actively trying not to mark down behaviours that might be due to NT issues or other issues. So if he's quieter or less communicative in an interview it wouldn't necessarily go against him. We have done things before like provide the interview questions in advance so people have time to prepare etc

Thanks again and I totally agree re the communication. I sit next to IT in the office and a lot just come in, shove their headphones on and crack on. Others are more chit chatty but they tend to be the project manager types.

Will definitely give all those a look and he's really not concerned salary wise. He has modest spending habits. As he works nights/weekends, he actually earns not too badly, about £100 a shift, doesn't pay any tax as under the threshold and he still saves most of that as I don't take anything from him... yet.

I had a very brief chat when we passed this morning as he came in and I left and he's up for getting back into the market so we'll get his CV sorted and see where we go next. I'll be using all the suggestions above, so thanks once again. I think he needs to be upfront on his CV about his autism. My thinking is that if it puts them off then it wasn't the right employer for him anyway and if he needs accommodations at the recruitment stage then they need to know this early on.

Any thoughts?

I agree with you re fit - I can’t imagine the IT team I work in having any issues with someone disclosing upfront - sadly they’re not based in Scotland or I’d have recommended them. So many of us have direct experience of this now.

As a disabled person I agree

I am quite sure that by being upfront about my disability in the past I have probably lost out on jobs that I could have done, but I probably wouldn't have wanted to work for those employers anyway.

I don't put my disability on my CV but I always mention it in my initial chat with the HR manager/recruiter etc

When he was looking for internships, I noted that many asked at the application point if he had a disability so maybe that's enough to tick that box at that point. When he was doing those applucations he didn't have a formal diagnosis, it was sort of the catalyst for getting a diagnosis really.

I think it might actually have helped him to be able to say. However, in retrospect he could have ticked it regardless of formal diagnosis as I now understand that's not particularly needed.

Thank you, that would have been lovely 😊

Speak to the employability lead or team at your local NHS board or if Edinburgh/glasgow NES, public health Scotland NSS or one of the other special health boards

Recently had an interview for a sys admin role with one of the big tech companies, and they were excellent at explaining what the format of the interview would be, and how they liked candidates to answer, the sort of evidence they were looking for, so you could be prepared.

There are a lot of autistic people in sys admin roles.

A lot of analyst roles in the Civil Service could be a good fit

The big banks in Glasgow are big on inclusion so as pps have said don’t rule them out, they will make accommodations.

IME the list of requirements/skills are always over spec’d.

if your DC is still engaged on-line with coding, plus working he’ll be learning valuable skills.

Could he possibly go and do a masters in something like Ai or Cyber, Big Data?

Thanks for the further ideas. Much appreciated.

We live in forth valley so Glasgow and Edinburgh are both in scope but not for an every day in the office role as he would find that too stressful travelling every day. Hybrid roles would be ideal.

Complete homeworking is not out of the question and I think that would be a preference for him but I think he needs to push himself a little and be around people at least occasionally if he wants to have more friendship opportunities which he tells me he does.

At the end of the day, I'm currently splitting up with his dad (amicable) so whilst the plan is for me to keep our current house and accommodate DS, I could potentially work from home full time so could move within reason.

OP I work in tech (ADHD) married to an autistic man, in the same profession.
As you pointed out ND people are so different, people saying X Y Z autistic people got a job and are now high-flyers is irrelevant. My DH is an excellent masker and quite the opposite of your son. And was diagnosed as a pre-teen so had lots of help, but that's by the by.

I have hired and trained many autistic people, some worked out, some didn't, here's my take.

Communication skills are not an issue, i.e. shyness. But being unable to speak up is quite worrying. IT is quite heavy on security. It will be part of his job to find and fix issues without directly being asked to do so. He cannot rely on someone constantly double checking his work. Things change so fast, and there is often no clear guidance . It's not suitable for someone who is very anxious.

If he's good with his hands it's worth him trying to get work in PC repair or a hardware related role. closer to the hardware there is more testing so less scope for individual error leading to big issues. Or, starting as an IT support analyst. This is directly task based and easy, . IT support unlike a 'higher level' job won't need a lot of initiative being taken straightaway.

Once his confidence builds, he can work his way up. Or stay where he is. No issues.

There are lots and lots of small IT support companies, an acquaintance for example used to work for Tesco, built PC's got a job just by ringing around. The pay is very low so they're always on the lookout for people but it's a good stepping stone if you apply yourself.

Look out also for autistic specific apprenticeships

https://home.barclays/who-we-are/our-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/disability/#:~:text=We%20work%20with%20external%20partners,join%20Barclays%20as%20an%20apprentice.
barclays Able to Enable - apprenticeships for autistic people. They have a Glasgow office

He was on the Masters course at Strathclyde, he couldn't do the final year as he wasn't able to secure a summer placement. I honestly don't think he has the appetite to study more. I don't think he spoke to anyone in his 4 years there unless he had to and of course he had covid in the middle which didn't help.