These training programs steer adults on the autism spectrum into high-tech jobs in coding and computer animation

Peter Souza is living his dream — what he calls a “one-job life.”

He’s no longer sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles, juggling several part-time, minimum-wage jobs just trying to survive. He shares an apartment, paying rent on one salary.

His life has changed dramatically in the past six months thanks to a training program that led Souza to an employer focused on supporting adults like him who are on the autism spectrum but can excel in certain tasks and roles in the field of information technology.

Souza, 34, began work about two months ago at a company called auticon, whose lower-case spelling is only one of several aspects that set it apart from all the other employers Souza had worked for since graduating high school.

He’s held a variety of short-lived occupations, among them: butcher, musician, iron worker, grocery store clerk, building websites as a freelancer, working the front desk at a gym.

He’s shared housing in a scruffy warehouse, rented rooms from friends and strangers, lived out of a van for nearly two years and, later, slept a few months in his car, blacking out the windows with cardboard cutouts.

“It’s pretty wonderful,” Souza says, “to have a one-job life where working 40 hours a week is enough.”

Headquartered in Germany with local offices in Santa Monica and Culver City, auticon trains and hires adults on the autism spectrum to do coding, quality assurance, automation engineering and other software tasks.

The firm employs about 200 consultants worldwide. They do work for major entertainment companies, financial institutions, tech startups and the consumer product industry.

A presence in the Los Angeles area since June, auticon acquired MindSpark Inc., a smaller company with similar social enterprise goals in high tech.

So far, about 40 young adults have been trained to work remotely from the Santa Monica and Culver City locations.  Early next year, auticon plans on opening an office in the San Fernando Valley, and, later, branch out to the San Gabriel Valley and the South Bay.

“These are unbelievable individuals — very, very talented and not hard to work with,” says Rebecca Beam, who worked for MindSpark and is now auticon’s managing director. “It just takes a little understanding and compassion and accommodation.”

Growing trend

The very characteristics that define an autism diagnosis can turn out to be virtues in high tech work: laser-like focus on a singular task, affinity for repetition, intense attention to detail, uncanny ability to recognize patterns, and a relentless drive to solve a puzzle.

Souza has found employment in a field where more opportunities for people on the autism spectrum have opened up in recent years.

A big boost has come from Microsoft, which created a recruitment program in 2015 and has engaged with other major companies on the issue, including JP Morgan Chase and Ford Motor Co.

Closer to home, there is the pioneering work of the Sherman Oaks-based Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit vocational program founded by a group of parents. Since 2013, the program has readied young adults on the spectrum for careers in visual effects, video editing, and animation.

Of the 46 graduates so far, eight have been placed in full-time jobs outside of Exceptional Minds. Most of the others are employed at the program’s own visual effects studio. They’ve worked on projects with the likes of Marvel, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network.

The first Exceptional Minds graduate, Kevin Titcher, was placed at Stargate Studios to do post-production work. He started out copying visual files and has had several promotions. Titcher, in his late 20s, was able to move from home into his own apartment.

Autism and work

The growing need for more gainful employment for adults like Titcher and Souza is evident.

One in 59 children in the United States are now diagnosed with autism. In the next five years, the adult population on the spectrum is expected to reach 380,000, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

But the current job situation is discouraging; most adults with autism are either unemployed or underemployed, many still living with their parents.

Places like Exceptional Minds and auticon aim to change that.

Beyond its free four-week training program, paid internships, and staff jobs that come with health benefits, auticon also provides support tailored to the specific needs of adults with autism.

The quiet office environment features soft, low lighting. If an employee wants to work with headphones on all day, no problem.

There is no pressure to socialize with coworkers; feedback from management is more goal-oriented than critical.

For now, all the employees in auticon’s Los Angeles area operation do their work remotely. Beam says eventually there will be consultants placed on-site to work with clients, assisted by a job coach and a project manager. Others will be groomed for leadership roles.

“That’s our goal,” Beam says, “to elevate their skills and promote them.”

Just getting past the job interview process can often be a major hurdle.

“We also teach independent problem solving, proper dress and workplace etiquette,” says Jeffrey Shapiro, executive director at Exceptional Minds. “Those are key because they are the bigger obstacles to employment.”

Climbing the ladder

On a recent morning, Souza sits at a barebones work desk staring at line after line of JavaScript to verify thousands of book titles. All he’s brought to work are his company-issued MacBook Pro, his mouse and a water bottle filled with yerba mate tea.

He’d love to work at it more than eight hours a day if he could.

“For some people, sales is easy. For some people, slam dunking is easy. For me, this is easy. The more I can do it, the better.”

Souza had already been trained through an online course called Coding Autism, started by a 26-year-old entrepreneur with Asperger’s Syndrome. Souza began at auticon as a paid intern making minimum wage but is quickly advancing up the consultant ladder.

He wants to be a senior automation engineer, where the annual salary ranges $90,000 and upward: “I think I’m on track.”