Anyone have a truely Horrible Work History??

I do likely because of ADHD, Anxiety & Depression (yes probably self diagnosing) but have been terminated more times than I can remember due to 'performance issues'. I have to lie on my Resume to even get considered for anything in my field.

The thing is that I am 36 years old. Everyone I talk about this with thinks I am a freak. Yeah, I didn't do well in this industry (Finance as an Accountant) or was able to 'fit in' with the culture so that makes me this horrible person or as many of my coworkers called me (when they thought I couldn't hear) a freak or weirdo.

Is it too late to start over?? The only positive I have is that I have a BA & MS degrees in my field but I have burnt so many bridges even with temp agencies that getting employed even after getting help seems like wishful thinking

Hi, NickL35! You're not too old to start over, and it's cruel that people have treated you this way. I think you could do well for yourself if you get some help first. Maybe your psych could give you some advice about what other kind of job you could do or you'll just find a way to keep this under control.
You have your life in front of you, don't give up.
How are you doing now?

I have a truly horrible work history. Although not in the way you site. I have a BS Psychology and a NYS LPN and I am totally broke and barely working. I have quit so many decent paying jobs, sometimes for lesser paying positions. I have never had a full time job or job benefits. I have often put in full time hours with two part time jobs and/or college. I took around four years to get a two year degree, during which time I acheived my certification as a licensed practical nurse.I returned to community collge twice after graduating, to get a second Associates and changed my major twice, neither of which I completed. I did, however,have so many credits from community college that I only had to go to a university for 2 semesters to get my Bachelors. I move alot and change my profession when I am bored. I really can't explain how these events come about but just know I should be doing so much better with my life right now but don't know how. You should look for ways to use your skills in a freelance way or online. Good luck

Ever tried working in a library? A small one would be best, I think.

Or you could try programming if your attention tends to be inert.

Either I enjoy or job or not. If not then I go insane, beginning with being forced into constant and consistent boredom. The first stage is trying to ignore it, the second is to create illogical nonreality as a game for the mind, the third is when I no longer can create fun games or scenarios in my mind and frustration begins to crawl on my skin, the next stage and final stage is the inability to cope which drives me to become aggressive and hold back urges of abuse to all around me at the job.

All the jobs I could not enjoy I ended up walking out of eventually. That is where the bad work history comes into play. You should start over if you want to or else you will just be miserable and eventually start over anyway. I'm still young but I expect I will start over several times in my life. The best thing would to have at least three areas of expertise that I would switch between every couple years or decade.

Mines pretty bad.

Faceless wrote:Mines pretty bad.

for example...

Mine sucks too, I'm 40 and have aspergers and ADHD. I am in the engineering/computer science/programming field.
I had full time jobs but they lasted about 18 months max, either I was fired or I just left. I would probably get up from my desk 15 times an hour. I used to teach in college part time, but they never hired me full time (even though I taught 15 credits a term). The hourly pay was good but I made crap over the year, and no benefits. I quit on my own, maybe that was a bad mistake.

Now I feel my ADHD getting worse, I feel I have so many skills but I can't finish anything. Honestly, I would fire myself if I were my employer now. Its not a matter of skill, but I started programming about 30 websites only to get distracted and work on some other language or technology. I ended up maxing out 8GB of computer ram with all the different IDEs and Virtual Machines I have. I could probably max out triple that. I've noticed that if I reach a point in my work that I don't like, my attention drifts and I'll start searching the web for something else. Also, my mind clouds out under load and my short term memory sucks. Some really basic commands I'm CONSTANTLY looking up(and wasting tons of time), but I can sometime write 100s of lines complex code without even thinking.

My performance is very inconsistent. My work is inconsistent with respect to standards. Different parts of my software look like it was written by other programmers.

I have job reviews 1 year where I'm a star employee, another where they are telling me to take a week or two to look for a new job before we let you go.

I am a very slow worker with low productivity. For example, if I create a website I'll spend SO MUCH time on user interface embellishments and "fun work," when in reality that should come at the end. I have trouble finishing things. When anything bores me in the least my attention span drops to zero.

I experimented with listening to music when I work, I might as well be sitting in Jet Engine. My productivity drops to zero.

I worry down the line what will happen if I can't generate income. I will probably be compelled to take disability, look like I will barely get 1300/mo if that were the case.