You certainly sound like you belong here.

I actually have the same sleep schedule as you. I sleep from 2 to 8, sometimes nine. In the past I've been entirely nocturnal. I manage by working second shift, and always have. I'm only up so early because I'm alone with my daughter, a toddler, in the mornings and leaving one of those unsupervised is...not wise.

I fully sympathise with you. I begin working mid afternoon and I feel like a zombie for the first half of my shift. But just like you I switch into a higher gear around eight and won't feel tired until four am or later. I have to force myself into bed around two, but have little trouble falling asleep. Prior to a few years ago, however, it was rare for me to fall asleep within the first hour of getting into bed and frustratingly common for it to take more than two or three hours to get to sleep.

Honestly, my ease of sleep is probably due to a running sleep debt (and, strange as it may sound, possibly having another person in bed with me...). I'm entirely unwilling to give up the few nightime hours I have to myself after work (I get home around 1130) and while six to seven hours a night is enough, I'm almost certainly carrying at least a small sleep debt most of the time.

All I can suggest is that you A) see if it's possible to adjust your working hours, even if it's only by an hour, and B) try to take a night or two every couple of weeks to get a larger chunk of sleep, to bite into that sleep debt. I find that melatonin helps there. If I take a dose an hour before I want to sleep, I often find myself nodding off, or at least feeling drowsy, right when I wanted it to kick in.

Also, if you haven't made a habit of caffeine/energy drinks, don't start. If you're body isn't accustomed to that stuff, keeping it that way and saving that boost for when you really need it is useful.

And if worst comes to worst, DSPD is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act if treatment is ineffective. So it won't help you now, but if you try and fail treatment (and trust me, I get if you don't want to) your employer would have to make accommodations for you.