When Sam Castleman was first diagnosed with autism, he was worried it might stop him from reaching his goals.

Key points: Sam Castleman among 10 people with autism to be employed by IBM

Sam Castleman among 10 people with autism to be employed by IBM Employment is part of the IBM's neurodiversity program

Employment is part of the IBM's neurodiversity program The company says people with autism are often innovative thinkers

"I guess I'd heard this stigma around it and it was something I perceived quite negatively," he told 7.30.

"But as I went on, as I researched it more and as I saw the symptoms, it felt like it became part of my identity."

Ten years on, other people are recognising the positive attributes that often come with an autism diagnosis.

Global IT company IBM has partnered with social enterprise Specialisterne to roll out its first neurodiversity program in Australia, at its Client Innovation Centre in Ballarat, putting 16 candidates with autism through their paces for four weeks and then hiring the 10 best — including 23-year-old Mr Castleman.

Senior project manager Belinda Sheehan said the company saw the need to employ people who think differently.

Belinda Sheehan shake hands Sam Castleman's hand after telling him he got the job. ( ABC News )

"We recognise for us to stay innovative and forward-thinking and be cutting-edge, we need to have as many brains as possible," she told 7.30.

"This is a great talent source of different people, people who think differently.

"These people, 30 per cent are unemployed, all of these fantastic brains are out there not being used. We need to bring them into our industry, into our business to keep us on the cutting edge."

The challenges and opportunities autism brings

Ms Sheehan said many people on the spectrum were perfectly suited for work in IT and computing.

"The characteristics that are really useful for us are out-of-the-box thinking, innovative thinking. They have got great attention to detail, very good at picking up deviations in patterns and pattern recognition," she said.

"They're very honest — which is very interesting — and very loyal."

Mr Castleman agreed that the biggest benefit was being able to think differently.

"The way I want to do something is often quite different to how a normal person would and that can present itself with new opportunities," he said.

"I'm also very passionate about things and when I get into something, I become really committed to achieving it and making sure it gets done."

He felt there were a variety of reasons why companies overlooked candidates with autism.

"People on the spectrum obviously struggle to communicate in the same way as normal people," he said.

"And they can present themselves with very strange personality traits that can make them less desirable to people who don't know them, or don't want to put in the effort of getting to know them."

There can also be some special needs associated with being on the spectrum.

"Some people are very sensitive to sound or light, for example, and may require really small things like noise-cancelling headphones or just indoor sunglasses to help them mitigate these minor issues," Mr Castleman said.

According to Ms Sheehan, one of the biggest reasons companies often overlooked people on the autism spectrum was because they did not perform well in job interviews.

"For example, we ring people up on the phone initially and a lot of these people don't necessarily like to answer on the phone, and even just coming into an interview, they're just not presenting well," she said.

"They are also very honest, so when they're asked, 'how good are you at programming?' they say, 'okay'. They're not saying: 'I'm really good'.

"And you and I would probably, when we're writing a resume, we would go to an interview and upsell ourselves, but that's a bit of a challenge for them."

Opportunity to work at IBM 'life-changing'

Sam Castleman works with a robot during the trial program. ( ABC News )

Mr Castleman will have to balance full-time work with twin toddlers when he takes up the job in July, but his partner Karlie McRitchie said it was worth it.

"It's honestly life-changing," she told 7.30.

"It just means that we can start looking at the next phase of our lives, we can start actually planning for the future, we can start looking at buying a house or taking the girls on little adventures."

She had already seen a big change in Sam during the four-week assessment program.

"I've only seen him thrive over the past few weeks of the program," she said.

"He'll go there, he'll have a great day and he'll come home in a great mood and I'm excited for him to be able to experience that."

Mr Castleman said he hoped he would make his daughters proud.

"I hope it sets an example that they can achieve anything they set their mind to, and that they should pursue anything they want, regardless of what they may see as obstacles," he said.

"I just want them to take my mindset of working for looking for a job you want and the belief that if you work for a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life."