Ask HN: Help with career change from teaching to tech, on the Autism Spectrum

A close friend of mine is pursuing a career change from teaching elementary/middle school mathematics to either software development or software infrastructure. Me and a few others are mentoring him throughout the process. Below is a recent message he sent us (and gave me permission to post here). We've told him that both software dev and infra require knowing a little about a lot (and sometimes a lot about a lot), and he's concerned about his ability to excel in that. I thought the fine denizens of HN would be able to weigh in and provide more input than what we already have. I don't think any of us are terribly concerned with his ability to become successful at software dev or infra--though we all acknowledge it's difficult to do well--and it may be slightly more challenging for him, but then again it may be slightly easier for him.

If it matters, he is high functioning and some of us were surprised when he received that diagnosis, but not very surprised. He is the sole provider for his family so he will be making this transition over 2-3 years while he continues to work.

>>> Due to my being on the spectrum, I have a narrow skill set. I think it may be true that I am a guy who is better at studying one thing hard than I am with getting into a position where I have to learn a little about everything. I want to accept the realities of the job market but try to strongly consider where I would be strong and where I would be weak very seriously. Currently, I do not know enough about DevOps to know for sure if it is a bad fit for me but I wanted to see if ya'll have any feedback regarding my being a person who is better at going deeper rather than going broader.