Is being a rail enthusiast an advantage or disadvantage?

[CBlue]

I lasted 3 yearly contracts in a job in an industry I had completely no interest in until I decided not to renew it due to my circumstance, and my supervisors actually liked my quality of work. However, when I moved to a transport-related company afterwards, I was thrown out of the company by the end of probation citing unsatisfactory performance and reluctance to take on board feedback. The nature of the roles were the same, but the transport-related company I worked in used methodologies which did not suit my personality (I used waterfall and highly prefer it, but that company used Agile), while in the same time, their codebase did not match my quality expectation (I generally used latest PHP version and high test coverage, but they are running on end of life software and the lack of test coverage had got them a few P1 incidents already in the last months which I was an affected user before joining the company) and my work did not match their quality expectation (The company didn't even like me putting in reserved structure for future expansion).

So, here, being a transport enthusiast did nothing in terms of job performance. It was the alignment of development methodology mattered.

Reluctance to take on feedback? Sorry but it sounds like you have no-one but yourself to blame if you way of working caused more problems than it solved (funny that, as your posts on here with various transport-related woes also show a marked reluanctance to change).

I currently work at a startup engineering company going through severe growing pains - lots of ways of working I don't agree with, H&S nightmares, etc. However after 18 months and slowly getting various individuals on my side, I'm now in a position to gently and positively enact change towards safer and more professional working practices.

It sounds like you walked into this company expecting them to simply change to your way of working above all else. I can't think of many employers out there who would see that as nothing more than an obstructive attitude, and would quite rightly show you the door. I speak from experience in my first job as a 20 year old who thought he knew it all and didn't last long in said job - over ten years later I accept that I don't know it all and also that I should learn from mistakes. Perhaps that's something you should bear in mind, given you're not much younger than me!

 

[CapabilityB]

The other problem with enthusiasts is that they can be hard to train, especially if on the autistic spectrum as can sometimes be the case.

It *will* be the case that there’s going to be occasions where an enthusiast will find themselves in a training room and what the trainer is training isn’t strictly correct, and this can lead to serious problems. It doesn’t matter how right one is, the person delivering the training isn’t going to be happy losing face, and they’re the one signing the piece of paper at the end of it!

(That said, being honest I’m not going to say I’ve never caused an upset when in the company of some “I’ve done 40 years” type who isn’t quite as in command of their brief as they like to have everyone believe. But it’s something recruiters are very aware of, so treading with extreme caution is the only approach to adopt).

Your "hard to train" comments are interesting, and for me drive the question: "should a new recruit battle to deal with the training provided to them, or should training take into account that individuals have different ways of learning? ".

I know a number of timetable planning teams who have actively sought out neurodivergent individuals because they may be particularly skilled in visualising complex patterns and resolving issues in the timetable. Yes, a degree of extra support may be needed to help communicate complex ideas to colleagues and stakeholders, but if an employer would rather ignore the potential benefits on offer because it seems like a bit of hard work then that's their loss.

Obviously a slightly different situation to the person who thinks they know how to run the railway because they've seen 100 trains, but I genuinely think there is more the industry could do to support, and benefit from, neurodivergent individuals.