in college for career. accounting not for me anymore?

[Anonymous]

So im in my 2nd year of college for an associates degree in business with accounting focus. When I started college is was ok, I could go take notes and leave for work.

In my english class we had to write papers every 2 weeks, well the first semester I was late on them but passed with a D, after promising to do the other papers next semester. Well next semester comes around and I don’t even bother doing the papers, I felt bad for not doing them but I just couldn’t, I would start the rough draft of research but I would then see a link on wikipedia and it would go down from there.

Well, after that semester I moved out to help a friend and i’m now waiting to move back in with parents. And now I reach my problem, I have been slowly slipping in and out of the A.d.d-i depression where we just don’t care and throw all emotions away save anger. I mean i’m not in any danger of hurting myself or others, but at school I will literally sit down and zone out. I can’t explain it, I really want to do well but learning economics is just so boring, I was in band for 6 years I don’t want to learn more about classical music. I know it’s my inattentiveness acting up, I have found a computer technology school that would cost less than trying for my bachelors and I would have a part time job co-oping after a year. I believe the computer path would be better, but I don’t want to switch and end up failing. I hate spending money, especially, the amount college costs, and I hate even more is spending others money.

Ok I know that is a wall of text but here is the TL;DR(too long; didn’t read) version: “I am failing college because it’s not interesting, my dad wants me to get associates first, but I don’t believe I’ll pass this semester. I think i’ll be good at IT work because it’s with my hands and it seems better. I don’t want to waste parents money, but I don’t want to fail and end up not liking IT as i did with accounting, the only reason I enjoyed accounting was because of the problem solving I had to do when I screwed up a problem.” <b>Here’s the question, “Anyone here an IT specialist enjoy it because of the problem solving? and Does technology schools fit a.d.h.d people better than traditional colleges. I don’t believe I’ll last past my associates if I stay and bs my way through” </b>

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[Patte Rosebank]

Considering that people with ADD have tremendous difficulty with details, such as in paperwork, I’d say that accounting and IT work would be areas that probably would NOT be a good fit for an ADHD brain.

Me, I couldn’t stand IT work. I found it repetitive, boring, and soul-destroying. Plus, the fact that it was coding, and if you messed up one tiny detail, the program wouldn’t work properly (and it was even easier for me to make a mistake, since I was working in a cube farm, where I couldn’t get away from the distractions of conversations & noise), I’m amazed that I lasted there as long as I did.

As for your question about tech. schools vs. traditional colleges—when the company sent me and the other coders to take courses in programming, SQL databases, etc., I found it boring and completely impossible to absorb, because I couldn’t concentrate on it. These courses were all at Tech. schools, and many of the instructors were great with programming, but their people skills and teaching styles (or lack of them) made it nearly impossible for me to stay awake in class, let alone absorb and understand what they were teaching.

Before you jump blindly into another course of study, I’d highly recommend taking some vocational testing to determine exactly what your interests and skills and learning style are. That way, you’ll have a much better chance of succeeding.

Of course, whatever you study, your first step should be to meet with your college’s student assistance office, to arrange for the necessary accommodations for your ADHD. If you arrange these BEFORE you find yourself in over your head, you may be able to prevent yourself from getting in over your head.

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[Anonymous]

I have dabbled in some web design coding with HTML, yeah using the tags <h> </h> and I was actually very good at it. As for your 3 paragraph, I have to admit that’s what I feel like at my com. college; where I just can not concentrate to save my life, er grade. An example is my econ teacher would say mmk like EVERY 5 WORDS, like the guy from South park no joke, it was like ok i get nooooo another mmk It’s like someone clicking a pencil to an irregular beat where I want to small my hands and say, “No, stop it. If you say mmk/tap pencil one more time I will break something.”

I’ve talked to a co-working that goes to the tech school and he says he enjoys it, i’m pretty sure that you take notes then work on the computers which is what I want, something to do with my hands instead of sitting and listening to a monotonous teacher.

As for the vocational tests do you know of any free ones online I could try? I have taken the jung personality one and i came out as the mechanic ISTP, if that has something extra to add.

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[Patte Rosebank]

I’m hyper-sensitive to repetitious mannerisms and “filler-words” too. I can instantly detect them, and I’m so busy trying not to explode with frustration at being subjected to things like, “um”, “like”, “you know”, “know what I’m sayin”, “mkay”, etc. every few seconds, that I completely miss whatever the person is trying to tell me.

Part of this hypersensitivity is because I took a course in broadcasting, where it was drummed into us to be aware of these “filler-words”, because they are just a way of filling spaces in a conversation, when you’re talking too quickly to think. And they’re really annoying to listen to. Instead, we were taught to speak at a natural pace, slowly enough to think of what we wanted to say as a whole, and to think of the words we were actually saying. If you do that, then you don’t need to use those “filler-words” while you pause to think, because you actually have the time to think, while you’re speaking.

(Yeah, I know that’s a nice theory, but it isn’t always easy for someone with ADHD to do it.)

I’m also hyper-sensitive to grammatical errors which have become common parlance, particularly the use of adjectives as nouns. For example, “hungry” (instead of “hunger), “happy” (instead of “happiness”). I also can’t stand logical errors like, “I could care less” (instead of “I COULDN’T care less”), and the use of the present continuous instead of the regular present tense, as in, “I’m loving it” (instead of “I love it”).

And don’t get me started on the misuse of the apostrophe in written English…

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[Anonymous]

I am a CPA with ADD. At age 38 I had a mid-life crisis and returned to college to change careers to become a CPA and obtained a Masters of Science in Taxation. I failed at the first two CPA firms. I hated the cubicle. I started my own business at age 46, because I didn’t think I could be a good employee. My brother was diagnosed with ADD and told me at age 48 when I was ready to give up. I am now age 60 and have operated my own business for over 14 years.. My solution was to start my own business as a sole practioner limiting my practice to estate, gift and trust taxation, trustee services, fiduciary accounting and wealth transfer planning. It involves lots of turn over in clients, interaction with attorneys; there is always one black sheep in every family. I am always dealing with stress, emotion, interesting people and multiple issues. Perfect accounting niche for ADD. I still struggle and because part of my ADD condition desires clients to appreciate my work, I’m afraid to charge them enough to earn an income comparable to other CPAs. I have met two other male CPAs about my age who have ADD and they left public account for corporate accounting and they continue to struggle in that environment. I have met one female CPA with ADD who is a few years younger, who has her own practice but she struggles because she continues to try to operate a traditional CPA business model. I think she needs to niche to her ADD. So I’m here to confirm that it is possible for you to build your ADD friendly accounting/tax career by developing your own niche based upon learning who you are as a person. I will never be rich, but I am respected, I have great clients, and I’m not bored.

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[Anonymous]

Actually I find computers to be interesting. I think there is something tactile about working with them that suits the ADD brain. I have taken a few courses in Networking, PC repair, Web development and visual programming. I think that Networking is where I will go because there are a variety of tasks to do in that environment. I can NOT sit in one place for 8 hours. A networking tech or a pc repair tech has many various tasks to do. Programming or database work would bore me to tears and for the ADD brain would be impossible to focus. I think IT is a good option for some ADD brins. I like the fact that the work often entails strange hours, alone without the 9-5 distractions.This of course if you can stand late shift work.

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