This is a positive thread about careers and jobs! It is so easy to see the bad stuff, we need to remember many people with ADD excell in their careers. Their experience and example could really help other members who are struggling.

Starting this thread because I thought it would interesting to see the variety of jobs and career paths members have taken in their lives. I think it is important to hear from people who are succeeding in the workplace and why they are doing well.

Feel free to tell why you chose your career, if it is really what you want to do, how it fulfills you, how many careers you have explored. (The average American changes careers 7 times during their life-not just ADDers.) What about your ADD makes you successful in your job? Also, share any struggles-just because you love your job does not mean you don't struggle, how do you manage them or accommodate your ADD!

Becky

I am tired of feeling down and negative right now and need to hear lots of good things and positive things! Thanks, it keeps me motivated.

i am a frontline manager for the department of the treasury. i really enjoy my job, and have been told by many people, including my manager and people who are not even my employees, that i am good at it.

my manager even joked about wanting to clone me, because according to her, they need two more of me.... :p

i like interacting with people. i like having to do the research when someone comes to me with something i can't answer right away.

my job is basically to facilitate "my" employee's jobs, so they can do what they need to do to get the job done. that includes inputting their time sheets, and monitoring the quality of their work.

i also have to write annual reviews, and keep on top of the odd employee who may be having a rough time.

i have to make sure my new employees get "up to speed" (well, a reasonable speed) by the time the layoff happens.

since my job is seasonal, i work mostly from january to june, but get called in during the off-season for various things.

i don't shy away from discussing the less pleasant things with employees, even though i am not fond of having to be negative.

as my manager said: "you're not afraid of doing what has to be done." as a matter of fact, she has seated some "problem children" in my section, because i am "not a marshmallow" so they wouldn't be able to "walk all over" me.

i got a kick out of managing my node of 28 people. and when i get bored with a task, or just don't feel like doing it right that minute, i can usually switch gears, because nobody is breathing down my neck to see what i am doing. as long as i get things done by deadline, i'm ok.

I am a clerk at a beer distributor; in PA you can only by beer at a beer distributor. We sell beer, cigarettes, and lottery. So I basically just sell drugs all day :D. The good part of my job is it comes with free cable TV (with HBO and the other good stations), I have tons of free time. I power walk about 3 hours a day there, when I am board, so I get tons of exercise. My boss is never around, so that’s a plus.

Though not where I intended to be when I "grew up", I work in the printing industry. Actually have a BS (:D) in Printing from the top printing school in the country. Started out there in Electrical Engineering but worked my way into printing because you didn't have to really go to classes, which fit in well around my beer drinking and pot smoking schedule, and it was interesting.

Since graduating in 1990, I have worked for 2 international printing equipment manufacturers and 2 actual printers. Even though I stayed at the first company for 7 years, I changed jobs about every 2. That seems to be my boredom threshold - 2-3 years per job.

What I like is that it's a hands on job for me, which is ideal to keep my interest level up. Also, working in production I get to see visually what I have accomplished in a day's time (unless we're slow), which helps the reward process of motivation. The printing industry is in a constant state of reinvention, which fits in well with my ADD. A lot of what I learned in college is no longer in use in the industry, but the fundamentals remain the same.

For the last 11 years, I have worked in one of the fastest growing areas of printing, which is digital printing. Think color laser printer on steroids - the press I run now is about the size of a short bus (heh!) and prints about 100 pages/minute, which is fast for a digital press, but far slower than traditional printing presses. What is unique is that since it's digital, I can do a lot of cool things to personalize every piece at high quality and without losing speed. Most people would see this in what I call "high-class" junk mail, where you get something in the mail that has your name in color and maybe a picture of your car, down to the right model and color, with a male or female behind the wheel depending on who you are and trying to get you to come back and trade it in for a new model because yours is 4 years old now and we want to reward you for being such a good customer, Bob. Basically, the goal is that the more personal the printed piece is, the more likely you are to actually read it and maybe respond to it instead of putting it directly into the "circular file", or as it is called in techno-jargon, the garbage can.

I can also print pretty color pieces in short print runs, which used to be and still is economically unfeasible on traditional presses. Like, say you wanted to print 10 copies of your wedding album to give to all the parents and people in the wedding party, but instead of giving them a photo album, you wanted to give them a hard cover book. (Too bad you have ADD, though, and can't seem to stop procrastinating putting your own wedding album together 11 months later, but that's not relevant here. Unless you're my wife. Then it's just a sore subject ;))

Since I've been in digital printing almost from the beginning of it's appearance in the industry, I guess you could say I'm one of a relatively few "experts" on what can be done and how to get it done. Or so my boss tells our customers, anyway. I like the fast pace and work better that way. I like the fact that it's always using the latest and greatest technology, because it has kept my interest long enough for me to get good at it. And I do like the feeling of being the "go to guy".

What I don't like is the thought that at the end of the day, I am basically producing garbage. High class junk mail is still junk mail and that's where most of it ends up. I feel like I should be doing something to help people more and that my only real reward in my job is getting paid. It's something that lately has exacerbated my already poor motivational skills, especially since finding a more spiritual way of living. I would love to but a press and open my own company, but I'm the technical guy with a complete and utter lack of business sense. Also don't have half a $mill lying around to buy one of the things....

My career is in education. Even before getting certified to teach, all my volunteer work was in education and art. I worked as a museum educator for 2 years and loved writing the curriculum and getting to plan exhibits-and actually handle art done by really famous artists! Like Klee, Jacob Lawrence, Nevelson, and so on. That was the icing on the cake.

I love teaching-the paperwork is a challenge so I am switching from Family and Consumer Science to Art-fewer assignments to grade, projects, sketchbooks, and some written assignments.

My biggest strength is connecting with the students at their level yet still being the teacher. Like Pem, I don't shy away from dealing with the tough stuff-but get me in a room full of kids and I am happy as a clam-watching them learn is phenomenal.

I also like to write curriculum and and have had many people tell me how good I am at doing it! I love to incorporate project-based learning and cooperative learning activities. I use lots of humor-it actually improves knowledge retention!

Gee, I so very much miss teaching this year. :( Gotta go before I cry.

RADD

I have been a Figure Skating Instructor for 8 years and it is the best job ever. I get paid crazy amounts of money to teach people how to skate. It is rewarding mentaly and spirtualy.

I love all my little children. I even love my adults. Knowing that I am helping someone towards their personal goals and being a positive influence is the greatest. I learn so much about life and others everyday. My job saved my life. :) I am truely blessed.