I wrote the title Careers for Aspies because I think it’s funny. I see this topic all the time.

I could have made it more ironic. Like Careers for Blondes, or Careers for Left-Handed People. Or Careers for People with an A+ in Geography and a B- in Math. But then Google wouldn’t find it and nobody would read it.

So just think the irony.

Because here’s the kicker:

There are no careers for Aspies.

Careers are an old-fashioned idea. Aspies can do whatever they want. So can anyone else.

You don’t have to decide when you’re 18. Parents don’t have to make their kids agonize over college applications and choose their destiny for the Rest Of Your Life.

I mean, as if you could. Life changes so fast, whatever you chose is probably going to be irrelevant five years after you graduate.

Right?

Besides, jobs are 20th century.

Sure, there are still a few around, but read Penelope Trunk for five minutes, and you’ll realize that younger people think differently about jobs than their parents. Parents think of jobs like getting married. You settle down, take responsibility, and accept the good with the bad, as long as you have security.

Young people know there’s no security, and they don’t want to settle down. A job is a relationship, not a marriage, and they have their resume and networks out there searching for something better all the time. If  an opportunity comes along in a different “career” but it looks hot, they take it. Who wouldn’t?

Parents see this as a tragedy, a series of divorces that blemish an otherwise useful life. Young people see this as swimming with the current and getting the best out of life.

So when young people talk about careers, they aren’t talking about life sentences. They’re talking about creating their own path and moving around when and where they feel like it.

Here are some things to consider when talking to a young Aspie about careers.

1. The word “career” just means “income.”

The old-fashioned idea of a career was more like a slot — a lifelong luge track. You hunker down in the sled, steering with subtle toe movements, till you crash or fall off.

Listen up, people. There are many ways to get income. For a big example, you can get income from the stock market. It’s not a career, and some people would say it’s not even work, but it’s income, and you can live on it if you know what you’re doing. Lots of people do it.

It’s called Retirement.

Or someone could have five different things going at once (say, an eBay sales site, an evening job waiting tables, a book, an investment portfolio, and a house to rent out) and make enough money to live on and save. It’s not a career. But it’s a living.

We need to get over the luge-track mentality. A career is just whatever you feel inspired to do that can make you money, and the direction you end up taking it in.

Aspies need this message. You wouldn’t pressure them to get married at 23 to someone they barely met. Don’t pressure them to lock into a career either.

2. Self-employment and entrepreneurship are bigger opportunities than jobs.

Aspies are really, really good at doing their own thing. You might have noticed that. They’re also good at ignoring what everyone else wants them to do. Extra points for that. And they can microfocus like nobody else on the planet.

Meanwhile, they have a hard time working on teams and understanding office politics. So who needs that?

Give them a different message: Do your own thing. Create something new. Turn what you’re good at into income.

It’s way more interesting than a job, and they’ll do better.

But wait, you cry in astonishment, isn’t entrepreneurship risky? Too risky for an Aspie?

Honey, life is risky. You want to cocoon your kid? There are risks in jobs too.

Such as pink slips.

Or economic downturns.

Or pay cuts.

Or getting laid off at age 48 and facing a job market you don’t even know anymore.

If you’re an employee, there’s nothing you can do about it except walk away crying.

In contrast, if an Aspie is in charge, he/she can minimize business risks by putting together a team of advisors, hiring out all the details he/she’s not good at, or partnering with someone who’s business savvy.

Less risk, more control.

Less kleenex.

3. Start early.

I know parents who don’t want their kids working while they’re at school. They say that school is their kid’s job.

I say phooey. This is like cutting off your kids’ legs. When your kid shows an interest in working, let them work. If they want to earn money, guide them in how to do that. Kids learn more from working than from school anyway.

You can’t “start a career” at age 23. Your career is part of your life. You grow into it.

Think of the Aspie brain as a sandbox. They need a chance to play with “work” in that sandbox, not just “school.” There will be mistakes, hoo boy will there be mistakes, but mistakes at age 14 aren’t career killers the way mistakes at age 25 are. Better to get those mistakes out of the way and learn from them.

We always told my son that on his 15th birthday, we’d give him $500 to start a business. His 15th birthday was two weeks ago. On that day, he already had his first client and contract. Now his real learning begins. By the time my son is 25, he’ll know a lot about how the income world works and have a good idea where he fits into it.

He might get a B or two instead of A’s, but I have a feeling that when he’s 30 and negotiating a deal with a new client, nobody’s going to ask him what he got in Grade 9 Band.

4. Careers need diversification.

Investors don’t put all their money into one stock. Because if that stock tanks, then they’re wiped out.

So then why on earth do we do that with income?

If you have just one income stream, then if something happens to it, you have no income. Flat zero.

This is why a career today has to be a portfolio of income, not just a job. Diversification reduces risk. A stable career is a multiple income stream.

There are many ways to spin an Aspie interest into income (books, e-commerce, consulting, contracting, presenting, teaching, investments, partnering, renting out, retailing, etc.). Once you’re mind is out of the luge track, the ideas will come.

5. Aspie careers need scaffolding.

Aspies have deficits in social awareness, and that’s where they need extra help. If your kid starts a business really young, try to find a business mentor/advisor or pay for an assistant. Put up the seed money. Give him/her a place to live till the income starts coming in. Remember: this is like college. You don’t mind paying for college, so shell out a bit for this.

Another area needing scaffolding is leaving home. When Aspies go to college, they can fall apart when they get there. All their support networks are gone. Depression, worry, anxieties, fears of failure, stress — this can take a huge tuition fee and flush it away.

Sink and swim is all very well, except when it’s all about sinking.

And flushing.

Instead, think outside the box. Aspies have very different needs than other young people, and you need to conform to them.

A parent friend of mine planned ahead for her Aspie daughter’s move to the big city for college. Mom knew that a college residence would be a disaster, and a lonely apartment would be worse, so she started early working on alternatives.

The girl was in a relationship with a slightly older boy who was strong and steady and had portable income. He was planning to move to the city too to keep the relationship going. So Mom let the boy move into her house and live with her daughter in the basement. This allowed her to guide her daughter in this relationship (teaching her about emotional support, give and take, sharing chores, communication, and birth control). When they moved to a city apartment a few months later, the transition was smooth, and the first year was successful.

Collective gasp of disapproval! Imagine encouraging moral terpitude!

Yet this mom loved her daughter more than she loved society’s rules, and she created a unique scaffold that worked for her.

That takes some courage.

6. Take a gap year.

The gap years is a very European/Australian thang. Most kids there take a year off school before going to college. The few that do go straight to college take a gap year when they’re done their degree.

The idea is not to rush into a career until you’ve seen what the world’s about.

Why don’t we do that here?

Think about it. School is an artificial world. The social rules you learn there don’t apply anywhere else in life. The crisp schedules and pure subjects are foreign to the real world too.

School is a retreat from reality. That’s why young people who can’t zero in on a career hide in school for years, or even decades.

Aspies more than anyone else need a gap year. They need to learn what the real world is like. And they need to explore where they fit into it before they make big decisions.

They could take a job or a handful of jobs for a year, or they could work on their business plans. They could work/travel, live with an aunt and uncle in a different city, teach, do volunteer work, become a nanny, or build something. They could even take a course from a distance college to get a taste for a degree program while they’re working. Whatever.

Then voila, at the end of the gap year, the young person is no longer a child coddled by the system. He/she’s an adult with some perspective, ready to make decisions.

What if he/she decides not to go to college?

As long as there’s steady income, then it’s not really mom and dad’s decision.

You can, however, point out to the research showing that a degree makes a big difference in income for life. Maybe going to college half-time while continuing to work is an option.

The point is to let young Aspies lead on these questions.

They know what they’re about.