Yea I guess if you were interviewing for some management job…
You do NOT want to wear long sleeves or ties around a lathe. People have been killed this way. So I wouldn’t want a machinist coming to an interview with a tie.
A Mario outfit maybe then 
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I think I might be undiagnosed Autistic. I can’t stop reading this thread.
We’re on to suitable attire in interviews, yeah?
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I think we’ve moved on to workplace safety tips for the gentleman machinist. Try to keep up.
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Just defusing from the fixation.
To reply to OP, acceptance is more important than diagnostic, but if taking a test helps why not…I am also likely one (somewhere on the aspeger scale), accepted, would not wish to be “normal”, whatever it means…
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For those interested, this channel got interesting videos on the topic.
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No, what we are saying is that Autism is a normal variation, AND that society shits on those who are variations.
If an Autistic person could take their pick of fitting in without effort or not fitting in at all, which do you think they would pick?
It’s never too late to learn strategies to help yourself succeed in the rat race. We all do it, but we don’t all learn them the same ways or for the same reason. I don’t fit in at all and I know it. That’s why I’m so charming irl.
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I’m not sure if the “I” here refers to you personally, or an indefinite pronoun. Either way, you’ve already decided that looking good means starving yourself and you aren’t open to the idea that this is completely, about-face wrong. Since you aren’t interested in learning how it’s actually done, there’s no way for you to make progress. IMO this approach to life is nothing to do with Asperger’s.
Consider giving a metalwork course and showing someone the correct use of a lathe. What would you think if, every time you gave some instructions, they said “that can’t be right, I’m going to do it like this”?
Since you clearly have a lot of skills, you must have (at some point in the past) paid attention to experts and learned what they knew. If you have Asperger’s, you have to learn social interaction the same way you learned those other skills (ie., the hard way, with dedication and practice).
That’s not entirely what I’m saying. As someone else mentioned, you can always wear just the shirt. If you absolutely can’t stand suits then find a different look. The crucial point is that you need to look smart, professional, and at ease.
If you are overweight you will not look good in a suit. You’ll look like Dennis the Menace in the photo there. I’m suggesting you need the whole package. Walk into an interview with the poise of Tom Hiddleston (who, bear in mind, is not a particularly good-looking guy; he just carries himself well) and you’ve nailed it. Nobody really gives a rat’s ass about the answers to the interview questions. They are, as I said, just gauging whether they like you.
I’d also add that, just because a machinist doesn’t wear a suit, a job candidate can and usually does.
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This is not a completely daft idea. It’s a very high-risk strategy, but depending on who the interviewers are it might get a laugh and get you the job. The worst that can happen is that they’ll think you’re weird, which is apparently what happens to TL regardless.
I was a journey-level tool-and-die maker/machinist in the U.S. before getting my engineering degree. Zero need to dress up in suit and tie for machinist job interview. Just be neat. All you’ll be judged on is your work experience and any formal training you’ve had. You’ll also need your own tools/toolbox.
This is a good list – minus the height gauge and surface plate, you can get along without having your own of these two items.
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Fair enough. My advice was more for generic interviews. I agree that the primary aim is to look neat and tidy. The reason, I think, is that if you look like a sack of crap in your interview, people will assume your work is as sloppy as you dress sense. Inaccurate, of course, but that seems to be the way it works.
Your English and background in machining are actually quite valuable in the metalworking industry in Taiwan. Not as a machinist though but as a liaison with foreign customers. There are very few if any people with both abilities working in Taiwan industry.
I would try here: https://www.yomura.com.tw/
Yomura is a world-class toolmaker working in some challenging, very interesting molding/tooling technologies. Apply as a project manager/customer interface.
For that job I would dress up. Ask for 60k a month.
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Oh FFS. Sure. Just “learn social skills” like anything else. It’s just that easy. Because social skills are so easy. You just learn that you do this at this time and that at that time and in that situation. Couple of YouTube videos and you’re all set for a new life.
There is never a situation that is the same as one in the past or one in the future. We can apply all the rules and all the lessons and all the past experiences possible, and believe me we do, but Autistics are still constantly being slapped without notice because there is Yet Another Unwritten Rule that Everybody Knows™. It’s a minefield. Or you say something that people think is inappropriate. Or that just makes neurotypicals uncomfortable. Or you just give them a “strange” vibe. Or you don’t have “good references” because you’ve been making it on your own because of difficulties getting a job, and then you can’t get a job because in their opinion you’ve never had one.
Stick to giving actionable advice, like dress, about things you actually know about. It’s not that your advice is without value, but from what you write you really do not understand what it means to live as an Autistic day in and day out. An Autistic person will just about NEVER be able to “have the whole package” and it’s the assumption by others (and sometimes by Autistic people themselves) that it’s just a lack of effort that is so damaging. Coming down on TL with the whole ‘Well you just need to realize this and do something about it’ really isn’t helpful. It’s like telling a person of color in the US to “just do these four things” and everything will be fine during that police encounter.
Fair enough. Then your only alternative is to accept that life is shit, you’ll never be able to do anything about it, and you’ll end your life with a whole bunch of regrets and what-ifs.
I’m not sure why both you and TL demand that all this should be “easy”. I’m only spitballing here, but I’m guessing it’s because of our more limited ability to model other people’s thoughts and feelings. Specifically, neither you or TL seem able to appreciate that other people face their own battles and may not have the mental energy to accommodate your issues.
The guy who snaps at you may have just lost his father yesterday. Not every bad thing happens because you’re autistic/Asperger’s.
Yes, it’s hard. Very hard. It’s harder than it is for normal people. Too bad. Suck it up. When I’m tired, my auxiliary consciousness sometimes goes off-duty and I start acting like a mong again. But that’s not other people’s fault. It’s just something I have to deal with.
I had a double whammy as a kid because I had racist judgements to deal with on top of whispered comments about me being a bit weird. Again, though, you either drop to your knees, or you keep your head up. There is no middle way.
You can try. You can fake it knowing you’ll never make it. Do realise, incidentally, that normal people don’t always get it right. Their social heuristics fall down all the time. I suspect that one critical aspect of Asperger’s is a heightened awareness of social failure (which, I think, differentiates Asperger’s from autism spectrum).
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I am curious why you would ask me to apply as a PM. It looks like PM is something for someone with lots of experience, like 10 years.
And that would be a job that someone like me would be terrible at, because it seems to be primarily a social job and not a hands on job.
Why would you think I should not apply as a machinist? a PM would need to work as a machinist for a few years so they know what they are managing.
The last PM had no knowledge/experience with machining, tool-making at all. He came from a technical writing background. The only thing he brought to the table was his native English-speaking ability. Yet he was valued by the company because they had trouble communicating with foreign customers. 95% of his job was communicating with customers by email regarding project requirements. Very little face-to-face customer contact. He spoke no Mandarin so he could only communicate with a few people in his company. I’ve realized from reading your posts that you’re more than capable of articulate interaction with others in writing. With your Mandarin skills you’ll be able to get information directly from the shop floor which will make you even more valuable. If you really want to be a machinist you’ll have the opportunity to spend time on the shop floor and maybe step into the role slowly once they get to know you.
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I’d also add to that: you don’t need to be a social natural for that role. You just need to be able to communicate in a businesslike fashion.
Customer-facing people (salesmen and marketing types) who attempt to schmooze drive me up the wall, and I don’t know many people who appreciate that approach.
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