What job did you aspire to when you were a kid? [Archive]

-Sentinel-

2017-01-11, 03:38 PM

And what's your job now, or the job you're training/studying for?

I wanted to be a palaeontologist. Yeah, I knew full well it wasn't as exciting as Jurassic Park (my favorite movie at the time), but even digging up old bones seemed interesting enough for a 10-year-old dinosaur nerd. I also dreamed at various times of other science jobs, such as marine biologist. Unfortunately, I soon learned that training to be a scientist (in any field) involves a lot of math classes, and I really... really... hate math. :smallfrown:

Later I wanted to be a novelist. It remains an aspiration of mine, but I know it's tough to make a living in this line of work, so I write as a hobby.

My current profession: English-to-French translator.

Peelee

2017-01-11, 03:43 PM

Fighter pilot. Turns out, my right eye has 20/17 vision, but my left eye is almost legally blind. I'm also colorblind, and used to have double vision. Well, I still do, but I have absolute control over it, so I almost never see double unless I'm bored. Worst X-Men power ever, I tells ya.

Work at the family CPAP store, studying to get into NASA.

gooddragon1

2017-01-11, 04:01 PM

Fighter pilot. Turns out, my right eye has 20/17 vision, but my eye is almost legally blind. I'm also colorblind, and used to have double vision. Well, I still do, but I have absolute control over it, so I almost never see double unless I'm bored. Worst X-Men power ever, I tells ya.

Work at the family CPAP store, studying to get into NASA.

Same deal for wanting to be a fighter pilot, but nearsighted. Studying to be an accountant.

tomandtish

2017-01-11, 04:30 PM

I work for Family and Protective Services in Texas.

My dream job as a child was to be the person in the Godzilla suit. Actually, it is STILL my dream job.

cobaltstarfire

2017-01-11, 04:43 PM

The things I wanted to be include

Fighter Pilot
Marine Biologist
Paleontologist
Chemist
Computer Science Engineer
Graphic Design/Illustration/Animation

Pretty much everyone convinced me I wasn't college material though, I was going to join the air force to do Comp Sci, but my dad wouldn't allow me unless I did so as an officer. My other choice was to let him put me through college. But having been discouraged from collaging, and arting, I went in to learn Visual Art Studies (art education).

I really regret it, cause now I think it'd have been way more fun to have ended up an Aquatic Biologist, or a Paleobiologist for sure, and I'm relatively confident that I could have gotten a degree in one of those things had I tried.

What am I now? I'm a Print/Copy associate at Office Max. I probably do use some of what I learned on my VART degree there in terms of multi-tasking and time management, but most of the specialized stuff I do there is self taught from playing with photoshop at home for the past 10+ years. (infact I only even got the job because I mentioned I was an artist on my resume...I don't think the store manager looked at anything else other than the mission statement on the top!)

Peelee

2017-01-11, 04:54 PM

Pretty much everyone convinced me I wasn't college material though, I was going to join the air force to do Comp Sci, but my dad wouldn't allow me unless I did so as an officer.

The funny thing is, to the best of my knowledge, with a degree you join as an officer immediately.

2D8HP

2017-01-11, 05:12 PM

As a preteen?

Astronaut/Astronomer

As a teenager (with the dawning realization that "living your dreams" is only for a lucky few)?

Librarian (I like books)

Job I've actually done for nearly 17 years?

Plumber

Eldariel

2017-01-11, 05:14 PM

Among other things, a pilot, an astronaut, an architect and the president (of Finland, who back then still had some power).

SaintRidley

2017-01-11, 05:25 PM

As a kid, I aspired to a few different jobs. I was fascinated by garbage and recycling and thought it would be great to drive around in a garbage truck and run my own recycling company. I also wanted to be a paleontologist. Or a pro wrestler.

Nowadays I'm working on my dissertation (PhD in English Lit, medieval) and my thesis (MFA translation, languages: Spanish, Old English, Icelandic). We'll see what the job market holds for me.

Peelee

2017-01-11, 05:30 PM

Among other things, a pilot, an astronaut, an architect and the president (of Finland, who back then still had some power).

Hey man, I'll still take President of Finland. What are the job requirements?

Eldariel

2017-01-11, 05:58 PM

Hey man, I'll still take President of Finland. What are the job requirements?

Well, I guess you could invent a time machine and make it so you were born here...? Sadly you still have to be born in Finland to. Well, or you could always affect a change in that law, I suppose. I don't know which is easier, to be honest.

gooddragon1

2017-01-11, 07:33 PM

veti

2017-01-11, 07:37 PM

Well, I guess you could invent a time machine and make it so you were born here...? Sadly you still have to be born in Finland to. Well, or you could always affect a change in that law, I suppose. I don't know which is easier, to be honest.

Easy fix: campaign to get your home town/state/house declared sovereign Finnish territory. Then you were, retroactively at least, born in Finland.

How hard can that be?

Winter_Wolf

2017-01-11, 07:58 PM

Well, what I wanted when I was a kid was to be a cartoonist (comic book artist). Then that became "fine arts/graphic design" because that was a more widely applicable thing to tell people even if in reality I spent 99% of my time drawing cartoons and comics.

Now I'm a pyromaniac mass murderer self employed. Lots of driving, buying products, packaging and shipping, and more driving.

Ifni

2017-01-12, 12:30 AM

The first ambition I remember was wanting to be a ballerina, back when I was four or five and had no idea what that involved :smalltongue: By the time I was seven or eight I wanted to be a barrister, which evolved into wanting to be Prime Minister of my country - then at around 10-11 I started regularly reading newspapers and my political ambitions abruptly vanished. At 12 or so I did a test where you entered information about your aptitudes / personality / what you liked doing, and got a list of suggested careers - I ended up with "Physicist" first (by a very wide margin), and then "Marine biologist", both of which sounded pretty good to me.

I'm now a physicist, so score one for dodgy career-aptitude tests :smallwink:

(I'm actually a professor at the same university that I dreamed of attending back when I was 12-13. I didn't mention this to the university when they were trying to hire me, but they did have a bit of an edge over the other places I was considering as a result :smallsmile:)

Comrade

2017-01-12, 01:22 AM

I wanted to be a palaeontologist. Yeah, I knew full well it wasn't as exciting as Jurassic Park (my favorite movie at the time), but even digging up old bones seemed interesting enough for a 10-year-old dinosaur nerd. I also dreamed at various times of other science jobs, such as marine biologist. Unfortunately, I soon learned that training to be a scientist (in any field) involves a lot of math classes, and I really... really... hate math. :smallfrown:

My current profession: English-to-French translator.

That's surprisingly similar to my own trajectory-- which is to say, wanted to be a palaeontologist as a kid, voraciously devoured just about every book about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, dreamt of discovering incredible new species and shaking humanity's understanding of life to its very foundations, etc. Later I became enamoured with quantum physics and I decided I wanted to go into the field, a dream which was somewhat hampered by a fairly mediocre intellect and a complete lack of aptitude for mathematics, so there went that aspiration.

At this point I've more or less settled on teaching English as a second language in Denmark, which isn't exactly a lifelong dream but is something I can actually do (and I'll always have writing and music on the side). Right now I'm just slaving away in retail drudgery and working up some money to study in Denmark and eventually get a TEFL certification, so... It's a start, at least.

-Sentinel-

2017-01-12, 09:33 AM

As a teenager (with the dawning realization that "living your dreams" is only for a lucky few)?
Ouch. Harsh but true.

Lots and lots of people tell you to aim for your dream job. They say that if you really want it, you'll succeed. But it's like saying you can become a multimillionnaire through hard work and ambition: it may be true at an individual level, but there can be only one king of the mountain. Look at how many minimum wage workers have college degrees in music or art.

At 12 or so I did a test where you entered information about your aptitudes / personality / what you liked doing, and got a list of suggested careers - I ended up with "Physicist" first (by a very wide margin), and then "Marine biologist", both of which sounded pretty good to me.

I'm now a physicist, so score one for dodgy career-aptitude tests :smallwink:

(I'm actually a professor at the same university that I dreamed of attending back when I was 12-13. I didn't mention this to the university when they were trying to hire me, but they did have a bit of an edge over the other places I was considering as a result :smallsmile:)
Whoa, congrats!!!!

FinnLassie

2017-01-12, 09:49 AM

Welp, my first plan as a pre-schooler was FIRE(man) BOSS. I think I meant ... well um. Fire department boss. Whatever it is in English Then at 8 years of age I reaaaally wanted to be a fashion designer only to have that dream bashed by my teacher who was very good at bullying me and a couple of other kids. Then it started to lean towards teaching etc, working with people in general. I did do two years of BEd Primary Education back in Scotland but realised it was utter bs and left to pursue happier days back in Finland.

Right now my dream "job" is to be a stay-at-home mother, but until that day comes I'm planning towards working in organisation management stuff. My degree programme is heavily related to it and when I graduate in 1,5 years... let's hope I get a job in that field. :smallcool:

DataNinja

2017-01-12, 09:54 AM

Welp, my first plan as a pre-schooler was FIRE(man) BOSS. I think I meant ... well um. Fire department boss. Whatever it is in English.

Fire Chief, perhaps?

FinnLassie

2017-01-12, 10:01 AM

Fire Chief, perhaps?

I read that as Fire Chef. LOL.

Darth Tom

2017-01-12, 10:15 AM

I wanted to work for GCHQ. Did appropriate degrees and everything. Then found I wasn't eligible, ended up in marketing and now trying to get into accountancy having found I really dislike that after 6 years and a nervous breakdown

cobaltstarfire

2017-01-12, 12:00 PM

The funny thing is, to the best of my knowledge, with a degree you join as an officer immediately.

Yes, but I didn't have a degree at the time. I had a choice, join as an officer, or just go to college. (and I'm not teaching you how to drive the car which is a standard transmission until you make a decision). It was probably a mix of my dad not wanting me to be career enlisted like him, and my ASVAB scores being rather high across the board, even math (they must have a low bar for me to do better than the 50-65% in math or whatever it was). So I was good officer material, goodness knows recruiters wouldn't stop knocking on my door when I was still living with my mom in highschool.

The way it worked for my cousin at least, was he went in to become an officer, so they put him through some college (he got a degree in English, which is only about 65 credit hours!) Then they gave him his commission (there was some other military specific training and stuff involved too of course, but you'd have to talk to someone who's done it). There are probably several different ways it can be done depending on the branch on the branch and what you'll be doing once you get your commission. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt the armed forced will just throw a commission at anyone because they have a degree.

The thing that makes me kind of angry with myself, is that VART was actually pretty challenging and had way more hours than many degrees (148ish). I'm angry with my high school too, which only really encouraged the very top of the class to go to college, and acted like anyone else shouldn't even bother, like the school councilor wouldn't even allow me to take the SAT. Yet, I was an honors student and graduated with the "harder" class plan, just there were probably at least a hundred people who were better honors students than me. I know now that I probably would have been find shooting for a science (and it would have been easier than trying to get a true art degree).

There is some other "jobs" I wanted to do that technically wasn't "when I was a kid" in that I was interested but was never pointed towards the right programs for whatever reason. And that's anything aggy, or building. Had I had the opportunity to take agg or a shop class in Highschool, I'd have know about 6 years sooner that I love welding. And well, I've always been strongly interested in plants and animals, and would love to know more about agriculture on a medium/large scale.

Peelee

2017-01-12, 12:09 PM

Yes, but I didn't have a degree at the time. I had a choice, join as an officer, or just go to college. (and I'm not teaching you how to drive the car which is a standard transmission until you make a decision). It was probably a mix of my dad not wanting me to be career enlisted like him, and my ASVAB scores being rather high across the board, even math (they must have a low bar for me to do better than the 50-65% in math or whatever it was). So I was good officer material, goodness knows recruiters wouldn't stop knocking on my door when I was still living with my mom in highschool.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt the armed forced will just throw a commission at anyone because they have a degree.

Sorry, I meant "the funny thing is, they talk you out of college, then when you want to go into the military, they push to you college. Unless you get officer, which can be done directly with a college degree."

Also, yeah, they don't just throw commissions at degrees, but doesn't it automatically allow you to go into OCS and try to become one? Also, I think different degrees get different ranks. Don't doctors go in as auto Majors?

cobaltstarfire

2017-01-12, 12:19 PM

Ahh, yeah my dad wasn't even around when I was in Highschool, it was mostly the school which convinced me that I had no chance with college.

Though if you enlist you don't necessarily get put through college either, a lot of the enlisted jobs just require trade school type stuff.

I have no idea how they decide to assign ranks to newly commissioned officers, I know that for enlisted sometimes you can skip ranks or pay grades if you were in a ROTC program of some sort, or how quickly you integrate to the lifestyle. With further progression is based on a mix of competency, availability of the rank, and time served.

There are some old marines over in the real world weapons/tactics thread that could tell you exactly how rank/pay grade work though.

JeenLeen

2017-01-12, 12:42 PM

I was told that, when I was very young, I wanted to be a waiter at a restaurant, since I saw all the money they were left as tips. (I don't think I understood the concept of a salary at the time.)

Since then, dream jobs have included a bum (rather romanticized view of homeless life), working at a semi-trashy restaurant as a cook/waiter (did it for a few months at a place until it closed down due to little business; loved working there), and author.

Currently, I guess my dream job is what I'm currently doing--programming--but with more pay.
OR somehow making a profit running a cheap, trashy-looking fast food place/diner while closing down during rush hours (noon lunch, and 5:00 drive home).

Asmodean_

2017-01-12, 01:11 PM

Used to want to be a teacher, then I remembered that teachers had to deal with kids, and kids are scum.

Now it's probably something in the R&D side of chemistry. When I end up doing my degree, it'll be in that. Might get a PhD, might not, we'll see.

JobsforFun

2017-01-12, 01:29 PM

I remember being a kid and being in Kinder-garden and they had us dress up in the career fields we wanted to do and up to that point I had no idea what I wanted to do so I said I wanted to be "Animal Patrol" then after that I discovered Steve Irwin (RIP) and I wanted to go to Australia and work at the zoo. Then I went through the dinosaur phase and wanted to be a Paleontologist.

Now I am 18 and I have no idea what I want to do, I am thinking about becoming a MRI Tech and when going to college have a minor in film or Photography, I feel like I would be happy to just drive around and take pictures and sell them. Then decided which I like more. Just gotta test the waters. My interests consist of Computers (Technology), Electronic Music, Medicine, and Animation, and Photography...

I find it interesting how almost everyone has Paleontologist on their lists of when they were younger.

danzibr

2017-01-12, 01:51 PM

The funny thing is, to the best of my knowledge, with a degree you join as an officer immediately.

Used to want to be a teacher, then I remembered that teachers had to deal with kids, and kids are scum.

Now it's probably something in the R&D side of chemistry. When I end up doing my degree, it'll be in that. Might get a PhD, might not, we'll see.
^ relevant stuff

When I was really little, apparently I wanted to be a dentist. As I was growing up, I didn't really know what I wanted to be. I was always decent at math, at the end of my 2nd year in college, decided to go Math Education. Got my degree, instead of teaching right away went to grad school, got a PhD in math. Now I teach math (at a small public high school).

I'm looking to make a career change though. In particular, Air Force officer. Intel would be sweet.

Red Fel

2017-01-12, 02:11 PM

-Sentinel-

2017-01-12, 02:15 PM

I find it interesting how almost everyone has Paleontologist on their lists of when they were younger.
Dinosaurs. 'Nuff said.

It's nice to see how many of us had scientific aspirations. Then again, this is a forum for fans of a D&D webcomic, so of course most of us are nerds and geeks.

I write erotica e-books for a living now. *shrugs*
Heh, cool. My local NaNoWriMo coordinator works as a nurse and makes some side money as M/M erotica writer. It seems like a good way to get a book out there, as there's always strong demand.

JobsforFun

2017-01-12, 02:21 PM

Dinosaurs. 'Nuff said.

It's nice to see how many of us had scientific aspirations. Then again, this is a forum for fans of a D&D webcomic, so of course most of us are nerds and geeks.

Heh, cool. My local NaNoWriMo coordinator works as a nurse and makes some side money as M/M erotica writer. It seems like a good way to get a book out there, as there's always strong demand.

Agreed, I remember my dinosaur wallpaper that I had in my room. That was fun.

JobsforFun

2017-01-12, 02:24 PM

Tiffanie Lirle

2017-01-12, 02:26 PM

It seems like a good way to get a book out there, as there's always strong demand.
I'm gonna be honest. It feels like cheating at modern life.

It takes a bit of luck obviously and creative talent mostly including the skill to make a book cover. The writing part is ridiculously easy, the bar is set really really low. But there will always be a market for this stuff. People love smut. :smalltongue:

tomandtish

2017-01-12, 02:42 PM

Sorry, I meant "the funny thing is, they talk you out of college, then when you want to go into the military, they push to you college. Unless you get officer, which can be done directly with a college degree."

Also, yeah, they don't just throw commissions at degrees, but doesn't it automatically allow you to go into OCS and try to become one? Also, I think different degrees get different ranks. Don't doctors go in as auto Majors?

Depends on the branch (and country), and also how you get there.

In the US, you can go through Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, and become a 2nd Lieutenant (Army, Airforce) or Ensign (Navy) on graduation. You have a commitment expected after completion equal to the time of your education: University time plus Academy time - WestPoint, Air Force Academy, etc.).

Or you can go through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. The Government pays for your education AND a living stipend. You then do your academy time. You then have a commitment equal to time of scholorship + academy +1 year. OTOH, they start at rank of Captain (Army, Air Force) or Lieutenant (Navy). Since it's a scholarship, grade standards are higher.

(I have a friend who went the first route in the 90s, so knew a little about it).

mr-mercer

2017-01-12, 03:00 PM

At first I wanted to be an actor, because I loved drama class and being in my school's plays. I wanted to be a cook at one point, though I did go back to being interested in acting after that (eithervway, I'm nowhere near as good at either of these now as I used to be). These days I'm interested in being an author because I love creating worlds and characters, but I'll be working towards a job in administration for a stable income until then.

Red Fel

2017-01-12, 03:00 PM

I think up to that point of having all those titles you would just automatically become wealthy, or at least very intelligent.

As someone who has dealt with plenty of men and women of various letters, I can tell you now that neither of those things is true.

With respect to wealth, lawyers and doctors and the like tend to graduate from their programs with huge amounts of debt, and huge uncertainty about where they'll find work. And while certain specializations result in niche, highly marketable skillsets (e.g. patent lawyers, radiologists), most general practitioners are fortunate to make a respectable living. As for clergy, nobody gets rich off of that.

With respect to intelligence, I'll keep it short. There's a saying: What do you call the person who graduated bottom of the class from medical school? Doctor. (Substitute law school/lawyer, etc.) Graduating from a vocational graduate degree is no guarantee of intelligence. I've known some incredibly dumb attorneys and some profoundly brilliant soda jerks.

Me, I'll stay with what I know I do well.

-Sentinel-

2017-01-12, 03:22 PM

I'm gonna be honest. It feels like cheating at modern life.

It takes a bit of luck obviously and creative talent mostly including the skill to make a book cover. The writing part is ridiculously easy, the bar is set really really low. But there will always be a market for this stuff. People love smut. :smalltongue:
Heh. I didn't dare to say it myself as I feared you would take offense, but I see erotica as the easy way to make a career in creative writing. Not to say that erotica writers are all hacks, but ultimately, I doubt anyone reads erotica for the quality of the prose.

If I were less of a prude, I might try my hand at erotica as a Trojan horse for good writing: attract readers via the promise of steamy sex scenes, then give them quality characterization, interesting plots, deep themes, etc.

gooddragon1

2017-01-12, 03:34 PM

People love smut. :smalltongue:

Even the people in Skyrim

Example: The ... Argonian Maid

Peelee

2017-01-12, 03:45 PM

I'm gonna be honest, I have the creative stamina of a dish rag. I'm terrible at long term projects, such as web-comics or full novels. That and a complex to see results immediately in things I do are the reasons I started writing trash stories.

Writing a full 60 thousand word novel can take months and brings the risk that nobody will even like it despite the invested time. Whereas I can conceptualize a cheap story and characters, write it, create a cover and put something on the market all within 12 hours. Low risk, high reward. If you want an easy way into writing, try it out under a pen-name.

I'd love to, honestly, but it appears a dish rag has far greater creative stamina than I.

Jay R

2017-01-12, 06:24 PM

I wanted to be an astronaut. Well, John Glenn circled the globe when I was six, and Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon when I was 13.

I wanted to be a professor. I'm not sure, but I think this was originally inspired by Gilligan's Island.

I wanted to be a scientist or inventor. Tony Stark. Reed Richards.

After my first Philmont Trek, I wanted to be a Philmont Ranger.

I spent two summers as a Philmont Ranger.

I've been a telecom engineer and a "Member of Scientific Staff", getting seven patents.

I've been an Adjunct Professor, and an Instructor at four different colleges, and in fact I'm teaching graduate statistics now.

But I'm still stuck here on Earth.

3 out of 4 isn't bad.

Peelee

2017-01-13, 12:39 AM

I wanted to be an astronaut. Well, John Glenn circled the globe when I was six, and Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon when I was 13.
Man, I wish I was alive when that happened. Even the old news clips of it seem amazing and world-shocking now. Very envious of you.

I can relate to being earth-bound. But I figure, I can still go into the space sector and help others who can get up there.

Starwulf

2017-01-13, 03:45 AM

Professional Major League Baseball Pitcher ^^. I actually had quite the arm when I was younger, I was throwing 79mph at age 11(technically I was like 2 1/2 weeks from 12, but it sounds better saying I was 11, lol), and I was very accurate.

Nowadays I have no job, I'm technically handicapped(broken back).

Lycunadari

2017-01-13, 08:12 AM

I wanted to be a messenger pigeon. I... might not have understood the concept of "being human".

Now I'm studying biology, and, interestingly enough, I might actually become a palaeontologist even though I was never particularly interested in dinosaurs as a kid.

JobsforFun

2017-01-13, 10:05 AM

As someone who has dealt with plenty of men and women of various letters, I can tell you now that neither of those things is true.

With respect to wealth, lawyers and doctors and the like tend to graduate from their programs with huge amounts of debt, and huge uncertainty about where they'll find work. And while certain specializations result in niche, highly marketable skillsets (e.g. patent lawyers, radiologists), most general practitioners are fortunate to make a respectable living. As for clergy, nobody gets rich off of that.

With respect to intelligence, I'll keep it short. There's a saying: What do you call the person who graduated bottom of the class from medical school? Doctor. (Substitute law school/lawyer, etc.) Graduating from a vocational graduate degree is no guarantee of intelligence. I've known some incredibly dumb attorneys and some profoundly brilliant soda jerks.

Me, I'll stay with what I know I do well.

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

Red Fel

2017-01-13, 10:10 AM

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

Fair point.

Interestingly, though, that's part of why I decided to become Emperor. I figured that god-kings get free schooling, which struck me as a pretty neat benefit. Plus the whole "absolute power" thing.

Peelee

2017-01-13, 10:29 AM

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

None at all, if you do it right. First, get the qualifications to teach at a university. Then, teach at a university that grants free tuition to faculty and staff. Dude in India has something like 145 degrees (http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/meet-vn-parthiban-the-55-yo-chennai-professor-who-has-a-whopping-145-academic-degrees-to-his-credit-261328.html) doing that.

Live the dream!

http://media.indiatimes.in/media/content/2016/Sep/prof1_1473255330.jpg

DataNinja

2017-01-13, 12:37 PM

Interestingly, though, that's part of why I decided to become Emperor. I figured that god-kings get free schooling, which struck me as a pretty neat benefit. Plus the whole "absolute power" thing.

Not to mention there probably wouldn't be any teahers who would dare to, ahem, fail you. :smallamused:Not that you would need classes, being god-king, of course. You're just testing their teaching abilities.

Nice to know someone sees absolute power as a benefit. I see it as 'more power means there are far more ways for me to irreparably screw stuff up'. :smalltongue:

Peelee

2017-01-13, 12:48 PM

I am so glad to not be American when it comes to education.

I can literally apply to any college here in Germany, save for a few private institutions, and get paid 400-600€ a month from the government until I have the degree, more if I had a disability or children. Meaning I don't have to work during and can focus on learning. This system keeps rolling on until you acquire you desired level of education. Around 12 years after the fact, you have to pay back half of the money you received over a period of 3 years. But only if you have the funds at that point, if you don't.. well no biggy.

Not trying to make a statement, but the concept of paying thousands upon thousands of dollars just to get higher education is mind boggling to me. I don't really understand why people still put up with it over on the left side of the Atlantic. :smallconfused:

Just about anything I have to say on the matter would fall on the wrong side of the forum rules, so I'ma hold my peace.

Iethloc

2017-01-13, 03:19 PM

When I was little, I kept changing what I wanted to be when I grew up. Mostly, I flipped between wanting to be an astronaut or a paleontologist.

Eventually I settled on something completely different: genetics research.

But then I became very depressed and didn't care about my own future, and that lasted until a couple years ago. Right now I'm just a student, but my end goal is to be able to prescribe hormones to other trans people. I know there's multiple ways to do that, but I haven't completely settled on one yet.

Florian

2017-01-13, 03:39 PM

As a kid, I wanted to be an artist.

I have family workings as AD in the right companies so I knew what I´d getting into and how harsh life in a respectable company would be, still I chose to train for it, majoring in Art and Art History.

Three weeks before being accepted into Higher Art School, I got into an industrial accident and my eyes got hurt, damaging my ability to differentiate shades of red.

Out of the hospital, with one day left, I did what I could do an went for the Management School, going into project management for the same companies I couldn't´t work for as an artist. T´was a fun time I learned a lot about human nature and I don´t regret it.

Domino Quartz

2017-01-13, 06:38 PM

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.

Artemis97

2017-01-13, 06:59 PM

When I was younger, I went through phases of wanting to be a paleontologist (thanks Jurassic Park), a Marine Biologist, a lawyer (I was always good at arguing), and even a movie effects designer. But the one that really stuck with me was Indiana Jones. I wanted to be the female version of Indiana Jones, with the whip and the hat and everything.

I presently have a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Arts and Humanities and a minor in Anthropology. I've been on a dig in Sicily and spent countless hours washing pottery. Archaeology may not be as glamorous as the movies make it out to be, but I really enjoy the study and I've even got the hat!

Scarlet Knight

2017-01-14, 08:12 AM

I remember being a kid and being in Kinder-garden and they had us dress up in the career fields we wanted to do and up to that point I had no idea what I wanted to do so I said I wanted to be "Animal Patrol" then after that I discovered Steve Irwin (RIP) and I wanted to go to Australia and work at the zoo....

When I was a child, I watched "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins. I wanted to be a zoologist and save animals all over the world.

Later, like many young boys, I decided I was going to play for the New York Yankees...until I got cut from my high school team.

I'm now a pharmacist. Little did I know, you could be a pharmacist AND play for the Yankees.

danzibr

2017-01-14, 01:30 PM

When I was quite young, I wanted to have all the degrees - doctor, lawyer, clergy, and so forth. I wanted to have a dozen letters after my name.

Then I got older and realized just how many years I'd spend in school, not earning an income, before I had them all. I also asked myself what I'd actually do with so many letters in so many varied fields. So I settled on a more reasonable aspiration: Emperor.

As for what I do now, that's easy.

I rule.
Admittedly, one of the reasons I got my PhD was for the title. Love of math, but also 'dat title.

I wonder how one would actually get the title Emperor, though. Assuming you're not born into it, or do some nonsense like founding Petoria.

I'm gonna be honest, I have the creative stamina of a dish rag. I'm terrible at long term projects, such as web-comics or full novels. That and a complex to see results immediately in things I do are the reasons I started writing trash stories.

Writing a full 60 thousand word novel can take months and brings the risk that nobody will even like it despite the invested time. Whereas I can conceptualize a cheap story and characters, write it, create a cover and put something on the market all within 12 hours. Low risk, high reward. If you want an easy way into writing, try it out under a pen-name.

Plus it's surprisingly fun to write the stuff. :smallredface:
Whoa, 12 hours. If you don't mind me asking, how lucrative is this?

None at all, if you do it right. First, get the qualifications to teach at a university. Then, teach at a university that grants free tuition to faculty and staff. Dude in India has something like 145 degrees (http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/meet-vn-parthiban-the-55-yo-chennai-professor-who-has-a-whopping-145-academic-degrees-to-his-credit-261328.html) doing that.

Live the dream!

http://media.indiatimes.in/media/content/2016/Sep/prof1_1473255330.jpg
Daaaaaaaaang. Yup, there's that PhD at the bottom.

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.
Oh yeah! I forgot I desired this for some time.

lylsyly

2017-01-14, 02:22 PM

Philosopher, even got my bachelor's.

Of course, there are no real job openings for that (although the degree helped with promotions when I was in the Army).

Soldier, worked out great for 13 1/2 years, then Uncle Billy's Congress decided to make the Army smaller and I got cut.

Carpenter, then age starts to get to you and you really don't want to work that hard anymore.

Itinerant Bum, working out okay so far :smallwink:.

2D8HP

2017-01-16, 11:21 PM

It pays the rent here, but it isn't enough to buy a house with.....
With how much prices have gone up lately where I live and work millionaire is not enough to buy a house.

tantric

2017-01-17, 01:37 AM

i had this little book i was supposed to fill in. where it said "What do you want to be when you grow up?" i wrote, HAPPY. basically, born buddhist :smallcool:

more informatively, i wanted to be a naturalist. i had this amazing book, 'the amateur naturalist (https://www.amazon.com/Amateur-Naturalist-Gerald-Durrell/dp/0394533909)' it had this outrageous appendix that showed you how to, among other things, take a dead mouse, dissolve the flesh then mount the skeleton....

Corlindale

2017-01-17, 02:35 AM

When I was very, very young I wanted to be a wizard, but unfortunately I soon discovered that this was physically impossible. This was years before Harry Potter, so I don't know where it came from. I've also wanted to be a scientist, a librarian and a programmer. I still dream of being an author or otherwise creating something.

I mostly teach English as a second language to teenagers, although my Major is actually Philosophy (profit??). It's a pretty good job, all in all. Flexible hours and a lot of creative freedom in how to teach and what materials to use.

Peelee

2017-01-17, 10:59 AM

When I was very, very young I wanted to be a wizard, but unfortunately I soon discovered that this was physically impossible.

Should have become a physicist and made it possible.

Arutema

2017-01-17, 10:55 PM

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.

That was my aspiration for the longest time too. Then I actually got in to the video game industry as QA and saw how ugly the industry was on the inside. (80+ hour work week crunches to finish a project, followed by layoffs now that the project's done.)

So I took my degree in general computer programming sideways a bit, and settled into a sysadmin job in the web hosting industry. I'm content to write videogame mods and tabletop game homebrew in my spare time.

Astral Avenger

2017-01-17, 11:08 PM

I can't say any one thing held my attention as a child for extended periods, but I remember thinking being a LEGO master builder could be awesome. Other than that, I probably wanted to be all of the classic childhood dream jobs at one point or another.

I'm currently in the final semester of a Bachelors of Science in Statistics, which is rather unfortunate as I realized that I hate my major at about the same time that I realized that it would take me another year and a half minimum to switch to something I enjoyed (probably mechanical engineering).

Prospekt

2017-01-18, 02:32 AM

I wanted to be a veterinarian. Of course, what I didn't realize is that I'd rather have been a vet technician, since they basically do all the actual typical work and don't have to go to school for an additional 10 years. Vet techs are to animal clinics what nurses are to hospitals, pretty much. Anyway, I went to a small college and studied veterinary assistance- which is doing front desk work mainly and obviously assisting the vet techs with what they're doing- but I haven't had a chance to use it. Places that are hiring either want previous experience (which I have not) or if they're entry level, they're just too darn far away from my apartment. So, I'm a sautee chef at the moment instead. It's not too bad, I do enjoy cooking, and after being a sandwich maker for so long at other restaurants, it's a very welcome change of pace. Plus, I get a 70% discount which means I can make myself a full dinner for under $3.

I wouldn't mind going back to college to study programming so I can get to work on some game ideas I have, also... ...

Knaight

2017-01-18, 04:15 AM

As for clergy, nobody gets rich off of that.

If you ignore a number of major exceptions, sure. I can't cover this too much without getting into religion, so I'll just say this: Mansions and jet planes.

Red Fel

2017-01-18, 10:02 AM

If you ignore a number of major exceptions, sure. I can't cover this too much without getting into religion, so I'll just say this: Mansions and jet planes.

That's organizations, not individuals.

Don't get me wrong. I thought about getting rich by starting my own religion. To be fair, I am totally deserving of worship.

But do you have any idea how much work goes into being a living god?

DataNinja

2017-01-18, 11:11 AM

But do you have any idea how much work goes into being a living god?

I suppose it depends how much caring and/or smiting you want to do. :smalltongue:

Peelee

2017-01-18, 12:03 PM

That's organizations, not individuals.

Oh, to live a life where you don't know about the individuals....

And that's as close as I'm gonna get to the line.

Pogona

2017-01-19, 08:08 PM

I wanted to be a veterinarian, dancer, or writer.

The veterinarian dream died when i realised that university and i just don't work well together. So my plan now - when i can afford to not be working fulltime - is to do some certificates at TAFE so that i can more easily get work with wildlife.

The dancer dream died after i was treated for cancer, received some brain damage from the treatment, and lost a lot of co-ordination and spatial awareness, and it also damaged a lot of my joints, making it very painful to stand or sit for long periods, let alone dance.

I'm still working on the writer dream. i have several short stories, one that i'm currently turning into a graphic novel, and a novel or two in the works. It's just finding the time to write that is the problem.

Currently I work in a government job, in an office doing paperwork. It's mind-numbing and i hate it. the money isn't even that good. Before that it was 11+ years in retail, hospitality and some work with animals.

AdmiralCheez

2017-01-23, 12:51 PM

As a kid, apparently I wanted to be a ferry boat captain, just sailing people across rivers all day. Then I wanted to be the weatherman who stands in the middle of hurricanes delivering the weather report, as if he had to prove it to people that his report of a hurricane is correct. As a late teenager, I then wanted to be a filmmaker, and while I still do that as a hobby/side job, my actual day job now is a copy editor. (It's not very exciting.)

Lexiconjurer

2017-01-24, 05:29 PM

As a kid, I wanted to be a comic book writer. I made up my own little comics with incomprehensible stories and poorly designed characters, stapled them together, and got my parents to pretend that they liked them. Would be nice to achieve that aspiration someday, though. :smallsmile:

Errata

2017-01-25, 02:48 PM

At first a fireman, like my grandfather. I was terrified of house fires, at least partially because there was a sticker on my bedroom window that was supposed to indicate to firefighters that there were children in that room.

A few years later, an architect. I still appreciate good architecture, aesthetically, but I don't think it's quite the right field for me.

My actual job is software engineer. Strangely, I'd taught myself to program around 6 or 7, took to it right away, and had been consistently doing it as a hobby all along, but it took a long time to consider that a career option. Children can have strange ideas about what jobs are. Even when I was older and knew it was a career option, it was before the tech boom, and I didn't know what kind of opportunities there were. The only adults I knew who did it did mundane things for not a lot of money, so I thought there were better options. But I kept being drawn back into it by my innate interest, and it eventually worked out well.

Lateral

2017-01-25, 03:20 PM

Inventor. Six-year-old me didn't really realize that "inventor" wasn't a job so much as a hobby, in this century at least. The closest thing to it is engineering, which... is what I'm studying now, so good enough, I guess.

Cola

2017-01-26, 11:54 AM

In elementary school, I always thought that I would become a "nature explorer" someday, despite having absolutely no clue about neither nature nor exploring. :smallsigh: I can't remeber having a particular aspiration after that, always thinking "Well, I'll surely find something someday.".
Now I'm a groundskeeper.

Viathon

2017-01-27, 02:37 AM

I wanted to be a Blacksmith. I still do. I'm a qualified Jeweller, a Martial Arts instructor and a Qualified Clockmaker... I think I'm headed in the right direction...

Perch

2017-02-16, 07:14 PM

I wanted to be a Buddhist monk but gave up after finding out I need to shave my hair LOL.

Gaurdian_Angel1

2017-02-17, 08:12 PM

I wanted to be a ninja. I learned that that was REALLY hard and I am now an aspiring musician.

Sajiri

2017-02-17, 08:40 PM

At various stages of my childhood, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a social worker, an author and a stunt horse rider.

I've spent the last 5 years working in a warehouse/office, but Im now training to be a teaching aide.

Forrestfire

2017-02-17, 09:23 PM

When I was very small, I wanted to be an Egyptologist. I lay the blame on Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Mummy for that, probably. I don't really remember much of it. My parents and I painted a big hieroglyphic mural on my childhood bedroom though, which was sweet.

There was a long period in my life that I wanted to be someone who builds things. Invention type stuff, but even when I was young, I was sure that wouldn't be a "career"-type job. Through middle school and high school, I learned a lot of things and had a lot of very vague ideas, but no real set path I wanted to follow. A summer camp at one of my state's colleges made me think that I wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer, but that was mostly just a "that could be neat."

I got through high school, got into college, and at the end of two years, realized I absolutely hated and could not seem to understand physics classes well. In order to be an engineer of the sorts I was looking at, it would be more and more of that. Lots of the math was fun, but some of it wasn't, and the important stuff just didn't work for me. I ended up changing my major to Computer Science, and enjoying that much more.

Sadly, thanks to depression, stress, and a general downwards spiral, I'm taking a break from school. Currently, I work part-time at a Kmart (which, frankly, I enjoy quite a bit—the customer service aspects especially), and part-time writing third-party Pathfinder supplements. I fell in with a good group of people and am self-publishing, which is quite fun, but not really a "job" so much as a hobby that pays me some amounts of money to do. Been at both of these things for about two and a half years.

I think that my current prospects are pointing me towards graphic design and layout work, which is a very fun intersection between computer stuff and artsy stuff. Maybe writing will end up being able to pay the rent, but I doubt it. Still endlessly amused by it, though; when I was younger, I was the opposite of a writer... Both my older sister and younger brother loved writing stories and tuning them, but I absolutely hated creative writing of all sorts. Eventually, I became the only one of us to actually publish things. Dunno how it happened, but it cracks me up.

Kinda depressing to look back at it all, but I think I'll manage to move forward. That's what it's about, right? Steps forward, one day at a time.

RocksInMyDryer

2017-02-20, 09:15 PM

I aspired to be an architect. Instead I now work for the government.

Nemirthel

2017-02-20, 09:38 PM

I changed several times, mostly healthcare-related until I got to high school. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was really young (around 5-8) and then a physician until I was 11. After that I wanted to be a nurse, but I ended up going to an engineering-obsessed high school where I finally decided that the perfect job for me was mechanical engineering. I applied to study mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, got accepted, started... and changed my major to chemical engineering 2 weeks later.

That lasted another 8 weeks before I changed to chemistry. I have a degree in chemistry now and I'm working on a PhD in it, so I'm pretty sure I'm done changing this time. Interestingly, after aspiring to be a healthcare provider and later wanting absolutely nothing to do with healthcare, I'm now doing research that has medicinal applications, where my role is completely removed from those applications. Not something I would've predicted, but it's working so far.

Peelee

2017-02-20, 10:16 PM

That lasted another 8 weeks before I changed to chemistry. I have a degree in chemistry now and I'm working on a PhD in it, so I'm pretty sure I'm done changing this time.

Hey, that's what im working towards now! Well, the first degree that is. With the doctorate to follow, I hope.

Prince Zahn

2017-02-21, 03:29 AM

When I was a kid, everyone always told me that I was perfect to be a lawyer, because I had an answer for everything:smalltongue: true story.

later on in elementary school I also underwent several therapy treatments, which worked for me and led me to decide that I want to be a psychologist (I only knew of the clinical kind at the time)

Today, I work as a cashier, and I'm studying some courses so that ideally next year I can enroll in college and study behavioral science, which from my perspective is close enough to studying psychology, but I can start a career from the day I get my B. A.

Asmotherion

2017-02-21, 03:34 AM

I wanted to become a Robotics Engeneer. I actually made it, PHD and all, though it was far less of a Mecha Anime-like job than I had expected. For now, I'm on my second diploma in Tourism and Buisness Managment, and working in a Hotel as a Receptionist. I'm aspiring to eventually make it to Japan and follow my Dream-Career.

Velaryon

2017-02-22, 02:05 AM

The earliest memory I have of thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up was at age 5: in my kindergarten class we were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I did my best to draw a police officer, because I decided that was as close as I could realistically get to being a superhero. Somehow though, the policeman's hat that I tried to draw ended up looking more like a sombrero. I'm still not sure how that happened.

But hey, at least I wasn't the weirdo kid who told the class he wanted to be a carrot when he grew up. I wonder how that turned out for him. :smallcool:

I'm sure after that I went through various permutations of wanting to be a karate master, ninja, etc.

Somewhere around age 10 or 11 I read an interview with Ed Boon and John Tobias of Midway, and all of a sudden I wanted to be a video game designer. I got my mom to enroll me in a computer programming for kids class at my local community college (which I found interminably boring and quit going to after like two days) and to buy me Japanese-English dictionary (which I barely ever used), because at that time Japan (a.k.a. Nintendo) was still heavily dominating the video game industry.

For my later teen years, all through college, I entertained vague notions of being an author, but never took any steps toward actually becoming one. And then I ended up pissing away most of my 20's either working dead end jobs or being unemployed. I pursued a degree in political science because I found the subject interesting, even though I had no interest in teaching it or going to law school (which is basically all you can do with it if you actually want to apply the degree).

Eventually I figured out that even if I couldn't write books, I could still do something book-related, and set about trying to become a librarian. Now I'm (mostly) there, as I have two library jobs, one at which I'm a librarian and one at which I'm something less. Still struggling to find full-time employment and become financially independent, but I'm light years ahead of where I was even 3 or 4 years ago.

ForzaFiori

2017-02-24, 05:44 PM

When I was little, I had two goals for life - Either be an archaeologist ala Indiana Jones, or to take over for Jackie Chan when he retired (I was both a martial artist and into acting as a kid). Sadly, I later learned that archaeology isn't that exciting, and that its really hard to get into martial arts/Wuxia films as the main badass when you're not Asian.

So instead, I grew up, and got a degree in History (just cause Archaeology is boring doesn't mean I don't still love history), tried to be a teacher, realized I need an education degree instead, and now I'm looking into law school. Til then though, I make pizza.

Peelee

2017-02-24, 05:54 PM

When I was little, I had two goals for life - Either be an archaeologist ala Indiana Jones, or to take over for Jackie Chan when he retired (I was both a martial artist and into acting as a kid). Sadly, I later learned that archaeology isn't that exciting, and that its really hard to get into martial arts/Wuxia films as the main badass when you're not Asian.

If you're even partly serious about that being why you didn't go for the martial arts, let me tell you about the Jackie Chan Stunt Team!

Nemirthel

2017-02-24, 09:37 PM

Hey, that's what im working towards now! Well, the first degree that is. With the doctorate to follow, I hope.

Cool! I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.

ForzaFiori

2017-02-25, 03:13 PM

If you're even partly serious about that being why you didn't go for the martial arts, let me tell you about the Jackie Chan Stunt Team!

Eh, by the time I was in HS I had dropped martial arts and acting for more... "normal" activities - I played football, soccer, and ran cross country instead. Got tired of being picked on for acting and people trying to pick fights with me when they found out I was a black belt after it got me expelled from a school.

Eldariel

2017-02-25, 05:02 PM

Eh, by the time I was in HS I had dropped martial arts and acting for more... "normal" activities - I played football, soccer, and ran cross country instead. Got tired of being picked on for acting and people trying to pick fights with me when they found out I was a black belt after it got me expelled from a school.

...this is really, really sad to hear. People having to give up their own interests and conform, or get picked on, because of teens' bigotry and idiocy. Of course I know it happens and I've been experiencing it myself (e.g. the only reason I started technical handicraft instead of textile handicraft in elementary school was because of peer pressure) - but I'd really hope it's something that can be changed in the future so people can genuinely be themselves even in the toxic school environment.

2D8HP

2017-02-26, 05:42 PM

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/outreach.png

ForzaFiori

2017-02-26, 06:52 PM

...this is really, really sad to hear. People having to give up their own interests and conform, or get picked on, because of teens' bigotry and idiocy. Of course I know it happens and I've been experiencing it myself (e.g. the only reason I started technical handicraft instead of textile handicraft in elementary school was because of peer pressure) - but I'd really hope it's something that can be changed in the future so people can genuinely be themselves even in the toxic school environment.

Yeah... It wasn't a great time in my life. Oddly enough though, getting expelled was probably the best thing that happened to me. It took me out of a very conservative, very racially exclusive, very poor town/school, and into one that was a much better fit. I probably could have gone back to my old hobbies after I switched, but by then, I'd gotten into the other sports too, and had lost my touch with the old stuff.

But, in a way, that's life. You constantly have to adapt, you have to learn to let go of old stuff to make room for new, and you have to learn when to bend or give in to pressure, and when to stand and fight. I feel like the difficulties I had in middle school and early high school helped to make me into a better person than if I had gone through life having everything work out for me.

DoctorFaust

2017-02-26, 06:56 PM

I started off wanting to be a technologist because I didn't understand what a technologist was, and once I realised what I was actually thinking of was an engineer, I wanted to be one of those instead. And now I'm a biomedical engineering student currently beating his brains out over a history assignment, so I guess things mostly worked out in the end.

An Enemy Spy

2017-02-26, 07:11 PM

I wanted to be film director and actually went to school to learn it but quickly discovered that the more technical aspects of film just aren't for me. The lessons I learned in storytelling have served me well though and my current aspiration is to write fantasy novels. Right now I am a security guard in an upscale gated community.

druid91

2017-02-26, 08:43 PM

When I was little, I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Then I wanted to be the God Emperor of Antarctica.

And now I want to be a Sys-admin. Even though I'm not looking forward to having no time to myself.

jollysunflora

2017-03-11, 06:03 PM

When I was REALLY little I wanted to be a pilot because I went out of state a lot to a kids hospital for airway checkups. Then I wanted to be a lawyer like my dad, a veterinarian for a good decade before I figured science/math is not my forte like english/history is, and a novelist. Now it seems I'm planning to go into entertainment writing (like movies) while my backup is (allowed to be married) clergy.

Trekkin

2017-03-16, 12:04 PM

When I was really little -- four, I think -- I wanted to make life better for everyone, by which I meant I wanted to be a eugenicist. I had looked it up, you see, and somehow had completely missed what "eugenics" usually connotes; I believed in genome editing like my classmates believed in Father Christmas, and was if anything more dismayed to learn that "giving people laser eyes and shark teeth and longevity and stuff" was not, and was not likely to be, a job any time in the near future.

I'm a structural/computational/molecular biologist now. It is if anything a more interesting job than the one I arguably wanted.

Appleciders

2017-03-16, 12:10 PM

An architect. Boy, did that fall by the wayside. Really disappointed my architect grandfather, too.

Zarohk

2017-03-16, 02:07 PM

Pre-teen:
Scientist, especially paleontologist. Because traveling the world, digging up dinosaur bones, and figuring out how they fit together (Lego fan) seemed amazing.
Teenager
I thought I was going to be a chemist, more because I was good at it than I enjoyed it.
Now
I'm studying Sociology, because I love the Scientific Method but don't have the math or precision for chemistry. I've worked on two political campaigns, at a social service provider, and a Jewish Synagogue, and hope to be a statistician.