It would be great if we could say that there are good and bad careers for people with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), but that would be impossible. Everyone has their own differences and preferences and what might seem an ideal job for one ADDer, might not be ideal for another.

However there are some things you can bear in mind when trying to select a career field. First, look into something which you already enjoy or have skills in. My son George already knows he wants to go into electronic engineering. Just as well really, as he was rigging up alarms, bells and buzzers at seven years old, whilst at the same time, he hadn’t yet mastered how to tie his shoe laces! Last Christmas, he turned our fairy lights into flashers and last year he repaired his Grandparents’ video recorder, something that would have some of the rest of us stumped for sure.

People with ADD often don’t like repetitive tasks, so going into a job which requires sitting in one place for long periods and carrying out tasks which might be considered ‘boring’ might not be the best of professions to consider. If you are one of the more creative ADDers, office work might be a bad choice because you are more likely to stick with something which has you creating an end product. ADD people are notorious for flitting from one thing to another, so to avoid this possibility you should ideally find a career which fits you like a glove as far as is possible.

Do you see yourself working outdoors or indoors? This, to some extent, depends on the locality in which you live. Should you live in the country, you might find yourself in a more outdoorsy type job. In any case, indoors or out, your chosen vocation should have lots of novelty. A job where you can say “every day is different” would be for more suitable than one where you find yourself feeling frustrated at the lack of variety in the tasks you have to perform.

At the end of the day, only you know what you would like to do in life, but it has been shown that ADD people excel in certain types of careers. Some of them are listed below:

• Acting,
  
• artist or photography,
  
• business,
  
• journalists,
  
• media-related jobs,
  
• music,
  
• radio or television,
  
• science, writing.

next: The Wild Child Website The Lighter Side: ‘Attila the Teen’ Memories from a Middle-Aged AD/HD Author