STEM careers for ADHD

[Anonymous]

What careers would be good for someone who has inattentive adhd, is very good at math and writing, top of high school class, good at reading people and social norms but has social anxiety and mild general anxiety?

[Anonymous]

Lots of medical specialties would fit, depending on how serious the social anxiety.

[Anonymous]

I should add that while this person is an excellent writer, they are average at speaking, if not a bit below due to getting nervous and not being able to gather thoughts on the fly.

[Anonymous]

My H has ADHD but no anxiety and he worked is sales for a long time and how he's in strategy for a large international biotech company. Both my boys have it too. One is in med school at Brown and the other one is at MIT. Their pediatrician also has ADHD and she told me, when the boys were small, that a lot of ADHD people are very creative, problem solvers, and have great analytical skills. If the social anxiety is strong, I suggest research with a biotech PhD background.

[Anonymous]

My DH has ADHD and has had a good career in IT, currently a systems architect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My H has ADHD but no anxiety and he worked is sales for a long time and how he's in strategy for a large international biotech company. Both my boys have it too. One is in med school at Brown and the other one is at MIT. Their pediatrician also has ADHD and she told me, when the boys were small, that a lot of ADHD people are very creative, problem solvers, and have great analytical skills. If the social anxiety is strong, I suggest research with a biotech PhD background.

That’s wonderful to hear. I’m asking for a family member that I’m close to. She is really smart and hard working, but her adhd is not medicated (parents against it and she compensates really well, though it’s a lot of pressure on her - ie lots of late nights to make up for procrastination, freaking out about grades on one test when she is clearly going to get an A in the class). I also have adhd and I regret my own career path a bit. I think I should have picked something that is a bit more dynamic. I work with data on a computer a lot and feel like it would be more interesting to work with people, do something with a bit more direct real word impact. Interesting to see that sales, strategy and medicine have been mentioned so far.

[Anonymous]

She could study engineering if she enjoys it. My DH is inattentive ADHD and a successful engineer. He thrives on the projects he enjoys but struggles when he's not interested enough in the project.

[Anonymous]

+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

Anxiety and sales are a bad fit; social anxiety even more so. I’m skeptical of previous ADHD poster in sales, as there is a lot of detailed boring work in closings deals, and with kids in college would be kind of old to have been diagnosed as ADHD unless as adult.

Field specialist is good suggestion, or anything in operations or logistics where you have daily changing tasks often acting in response to stimuli rather than having to sit down and focus on one thing for a long time. Medicine is good too if you can run the gauntlet of med school. ER doc is all on response shift work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

Anxiety and sales are a bad fit; social anxiety even more so. I’m skeptical of previous ADHD poster in sales, as there is a lot of detailed boring work in closings deals, and with kids in college would be kind of old to have been diagnosed as ADHD unless as adult.

Field specialist is good suggestion, or anything in operations or logistics where you have daily changing tasks often acting in response to stimuli rather than having to sit down and focus on one thing for a long time. Medicine is good too if you can run the gauntlet of med school. ER doc is all on response shift work.

Anxiety and sales *can* be a bad fit. My brother has ADHD and is on anti-anxiety meds and does very well in retail sales. He's not 100% reliant on his sales bonus, though. He can survive on a mediocre year. I can see how if you *must* make your quota to pay bills, that could be stressful.

But for him, this has been the longest he's stuck with a job and even enjoys it. He finally found a good fit after bouncing around for years.

[Anonymous]

Medicine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

Anxiety and sales are a bad fit; social anxiety even more so. I’m skeptical of previous ADHD poster in sales, as there is a lot of detailed boring work in closings deals, and with kids in college would be kind of old to have been diagnosed as ADHD unless as adult.

Field specialist is good suggestion, or anything in operations or logistics where you have daily changing tasks often acting in response to stimuli rather than having to sit down and focus on one thing for a long time. Medicine is good too if you can run the gauntlet of med school. ER doc is all on response shift work.

That's me. My H was diagnosed as an adult, when our DC1 was diagnosed with ADD at KKI in middle school. He's always been in biotech and there is very little paperwork involved, and the job is not boring. The industry hires former FDA attorneys who deal with the very convoluted process of the FDA approvals and have separate divisions dealing with Medicare billing codes and insurance reimbursement.
We have a very close friend from college who is an attorney, went to Harvard Law, clerked for a prestigious position and he has ADHD and pretty severe anxiety. He's medicated for ADHD and does a lot of meditation for anxiety. He's the type to thrive on routines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

Anxiety and sales are a bad fit; social anxiety even more so. I’m skeptical of previous ADHD poster in sales, as there is a lot of detailed boring work in closings deals, and with kids in college would be kind of old to have been diagnosed as ADHD unless as adult.

Field specialist is good suggestion, or anything in operations or logistics where you have daily changing tasks often acting in response to stimuli rather than having to sit down and focus on one thing for a long time. Medicine is good too if you can run the gauntlet of med school. ER doc is all on response shift work.

That's me. My H was diagnosed as an adult, when our DC1 was diagnosed with ADD at KKI in middle school. He's always been in biotech and there is very little paperwork involved, and the job is not boring. The industry hires former FDA attorneys who deal with the very convoluted process of the FDA approvals and have separate divisions dealing with Medicare billing codes and insurance reimbursement.
We have a very close friend from college who is an attorney, went to Harvard Law, clerked for a prestigious position and he has ADHD and pretty severe anxiety. He's medicated for ADHD and does a lot of meditation for anxiety. He's the type to thrive on routines.

I guess if your industry doesn't really work on the details of a deal, but showing costs, savings, profit potentional, etc is part of many industries sales presentation. Maybe in biotech it is a more rarefied market and you just say "it's approved for this disease, so buy it" is all that you need? in the past it was very much about wining and dining doctors and medical staff, since they aren't ultimately as concerned about costs (borne by insurance and gov) unlike selling to a business who is spending their own money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for sales. Or a field specialist or technician who goes to different sites. I had a coworker with unmedicated ADHD, and I felt bad because he always seemed to be sabotaging himself. Missing deadlines, then staying up late, then sleeping late and missing meetings, etc.

I hope when your family member is a full adult and not relying on her parents, she can seek better medical advice.

Anxiety and sales are a bad fit; social anxiety even more so. I’m skeptical of previous ADHD poster in sales, as there is a lot of detailed boring work in closings deals, and with kids in college would be kind of old to have been diagnosed as ADHD unless as adult.

Field specialist is good suggestion, or anything in operations or logistics where you have daily changing tasks often acting in response to stimuli rather than having to sit down and focus on one thing for a long time. Medicine is good too if you can run the gauntlet of med school. ER doc is all on response shift work.

That's me. My H was diagnosed as an adult, when our DC1 was diagnosed with ADD at KKI in middle school. He's always been in biotech and there is very little paperwork involved, and the job is not boring. The industry hires former FDA attorneys who deal with the very convoluted process of the FDA approvals and have separate divisions dealing with Medicare billing codes and insurance reimbursement.
We have a very close friend from college who is an attorney, went to Harvard Law, clerked for a prestigious position and he has ADHD and pretty severe anxiety. He's medicated for ADHD and does a lot of meditation for anxiety. He's the type to thrive on routines.

I guess if your industry doesn't really work on the details of a deal, but showing costs, savings, profit potentional, etc is part of many industries sales presentation. Maybe in biotech it is a more rarefied market and you just say "it's approved for this disease, so buy it" is all that you need? in the past it was very much about wining and dining doctors and medical staff, since they aren't ultimately as concerned about costs (borne by insurance and gov) unlike selling to a business who is spending their own money.

Yes, this is how my FIL made millions for years, however the newer ethics laws put a stop to all that, rightfully so. There are very strict now on the wining and dining part, which was out of control. My H is in devices and the industry is very much tech driven now. There is a lot of cost benefit analysis in managing a P&L line, but that's not boring and there is no paperwork. It is intense and constantly changing, which fits my H's personality.
I'm a fed, so I'm on the totally opposite side of the spectrum. I worked in IB on Wall Street and hated it.. In another life, I'd be a park ranger or environmental worker, gardener. I like peace and quiet and nature.