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Thread: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

  1. #1
    Elephant CRSP's avatar
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    Default Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Mine kind of is, and kind of isn't. I was obsessed with becoming a geologist until I was about 14, and I always knew I wanted to be a scientist. But our family got a computer when I was a teenager, and I then became obsessed with that, so now I'm a computer scientist.

    I suppose I stuck with the science part (or rather, the technical part, CS isn't a real science), but just changed the field.
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    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Not even close. When I was a boy I thought that being a mailman would be the greatest job in the world. Our mailman seemed to be much happier than my dad or any of my friends dad, plus he got to bring people presents and Playboys. Seemed like a pretty cherry gig.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grow up until I was 32. Seriously. I was always baffled by the people around me who knew about enough jobs well enough to pick one and go after it, and then to stick with it for years and years. Didn't that get mind numbingly dull? How did you know there wasn't something even better out there? So I've studied and worked in lots of (dead-end) fields, but they've all fallen wayside after 5-7 years.

    I mean, I had the whacked out dreams like actress and singer and veterinarian, but even at the time, I knew they were idle dreams that would never be fulfilled. I never had any sort of "I want to be a ____ when I grow up," that I actually meant. When pressed, I'd say "teacher," cause my mom was a teacher and that'd get people off my back. I am not a teacher, thank gods!




    (And I just realized that you could substitute "men" for "jobs" in that first paragraph and it works as well... I think I have commitment issues. Maybe.)
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

  4. #4
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    No, I set out to be an Electrical Engineer. I detoured off to the Navy to raise funds and mature a bit. I spent three years after the Navy taking classes at night while working full time. What I saw was far too many friends that went and got their Engineering Degrees not getting jobs and that other friends were doing great with Computer Programming. I did some research and found a likely niche for Entry Level Programming without a degree in CS and took classes for those languages and my plan was a great success.

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Nope. My first job choice -- killing monsters -- was unavailable. After that, I always assumed my career lay in one of the hard sciences, probably either biology or astronomy. Didn't study hard enough; lazy daydreamer. So I haven't had a career, just a series of jobs.

    Trying to learn to be a writer, which was also a childhood dream. Probably futile, but I don't feel it's a waste.

  6. #6
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grow up until I was 32. Seriously. I was always baffled by the people around me who knew about enough jobs well enough to pick one and go after it, and then to stick with it for years and years. ...
    Yeah, me too. I was amazed in college and immediately afterwards at the number of people I knew (I was a biology major) who KNEW they wanted to be doctors. All the hard slog of collge, medical school, residency, the 96 consecutive hour shifts or whatever they are, watching helplessly as people die in front of you. These people KNEW, at 18, 19, or whatever years old, that they wanted that in the worst way.

    As for me as a kid I was always interested in science but I really had very little idea about potential careers until I was in college. I work for a biotech company developing new therapies so I guess that is pretty close to what I would have wanted.

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    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I remember being seven years old and telling Ms. Starkey, my second grade teacher, that when I grew up, I wanted to work in a cubicle, managing other people in cubicles, in the demanding, yet rewarding field of "meeting my child support payments." I believe I made a detailed crayon drawing of my mental image of this happy fantasy. Ms. Starkey agreed that my career dream was much more interesting than those of the other students in the class, who all wanted to be astronauts, firefighters, princesses, veterinarians or professional wrestlers.

    Little did I know that, a mere 28 years later, I would be living the dream.
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be a vet so bad that I started working for one at age fourteen, commuting myself to work on a bike and then a scooter. When I went off to college, it was to major in Animal Science with a pre-vet emphasis. There, I discovered that I loved large animal husbandry much more than the small animals I'd been working with, and started doing more with livestock. At the same time, my grades weren't quite good enough to get into vet school and the thought of six more years of school was depressing me.

    I finished the degree and worked for more vets, and eventually animal control, until I had my first kid. I was pretty burned out by then and when I went back to work, it was into a completely different field, environmental remediation. That lead directly to my actual, professional career, water systems operation and management. No, I never thought I'd be doing this. I didn't even know what this was when I was a kid. I sure never saw myself owning a business, that's for sure.
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I had Fisher Price adventure people action figures when I was a kid. I wanted to be them. I suppose I was for quite a while, as I soldiered for a while, went scuba diving with sharks, jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, camped out in -40F weather, climbed mountains, and rappelled off bridges. Now I've calmed down a lot. I'm a professional lab rat and amateur homesteader. I've got 2 vastly different college degrees, and I still have no clue what I want to do when (if?) I grow up.
    BB Rodriguez, formerly known as masterofnone

  10. #10
    troubleagain
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp
    I remember being seven years old and telling Ms. Starkey, my second grade teacher, that when I grew up, I wanted to work in a cubicle, managing other people in cubicles, in the demanding, yet rewarding field of "meeting my child support payments." I believe I made a detailed crayon drawing of my mental image of this happy fantasy. Ms. Starkey agreed that my career dream was much more interesting than those of the other students in the class, who all wanted to be astronauts, firefighters, princesses, veterinarians or professional wrestlers.

    Little did I know that, a mere 28 years later, I would be living the dream.
    Heh. 8-)

    I am almost 43 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. As a child, I thought I wanted to be a teacher. As a teen, I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. In college, all I wanted was to be DONE. What I ended up as is an IT manager, at least right now.

  11. #11
    Oliphaunt Taumpy's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Nope, but my childhood dream was to be a Quantum Leaper, so I guess I'm out of luck.

    Seriiously, though, I never had any realistic career ambitions as a kid, and even now I don't really have a clear picture of where I want to be in 10 years. (27, FTR)
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    Porno Dealing Monster pepperlandgirl's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I always wanted to be a writer. I can't remember a time in my life I didn't want to be a writer. Unfortunately, I also have to be a teacher to sorta-kinda make ends meet. Maybe by the time I'm 30, I can get by writing full time.
    I'm still swimming in harmony. I'm still dreaming of flight. I'm still lost in the waves night after night...

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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be an architect. I don't know why.

    I'm not an architect. Best for everyone.

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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Sort of. Around the age or 10 or 12 I became obsessed with computers, and computer work now pays my bills. I would have rather worked in the computer game industry, but it seems that can be very dull with very long hours.

  15. #15
    Elephant
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    At 6, I wanted to work at a gas station. This was during the '70s when everyone was complaining about high gas prices, so I figured the gas station people made lots of money.

    Later in elementary school I wanted to play pro soccer, then football, then basketball (never mind I didn't play any of those sports beyond backyard games with friends).

    From about 6th grade on I wanted to be a physics researcher, maybe nuclear engineer. That lasted until second year of college when I hit the brick wall of multivariable calculus and changed my major to history. After that I had no idea what I wanted to do.

    Still don't, but I'm making a decent living as an ad writer and general creative idea guy, which is not something I'd ever imagined I'd be doing at any stage of my life.
    No cage, thank you. I'm a human being.

  16. #16
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    As a kid, I dreamed of being an explorer,a naturalist, a spy, an astronaut. I never imagined having the job I have now. Back then, if someone showed me my current job in a crystal ball? I would've been horrified and worked harder to get one of those dream jobs.

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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be a veterinarian. Even took chemics, physics and bio at school - then discovered I really didn't like chem or physics, and bio wasn't that great either. Also the 7 years of vet school was sounding a bit daunting too...

    My job now is IT application support.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    As a kid, I wanted to be a teacher.

    As I got into high school, I toyed with the idea of being a translator. I never got fluent enough at either of my language choices to make that a go.I began college as a nursing major before dropping out. A couple of years working in a nursing home burnt me out.
    I kind of drifted into quality assurance in industrial plants. Eventually, the overlap with process writing led to positions in inventory management where I am now. I've been considering going back to school and finishing my degree. Library science would be my choice of majors.

    Perhaps I'll find out what I want to do when I grow up before I retire.

  19. #19
    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be a scientist when I was a kid. Now, with around 8 months left in my bachelor of science degree, I don't know where I will be in a year. I really don't.

    Let me get back to you on this one.
    Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.

  20. #20
    Elephant
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    My first when-I-grow-up job was race car driver. That didn’t work out.
    Then I wanted to make models for movie special effects. I actually got close, being an unemployed animator. It’s rare to hear a child state they want to be unemployed when they grow up.

    Later I decided I wanted to design airplanes. If I had done better in high school I may have actually tried getting into Embry Riddle, but that never happened. Sigh.
    I do not bite my thumb at you, but I bite my thumb.

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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I always wanted to be a teacher. For a long time I also wanted to be an archaeologist, but even then my day dreams were mostly about teaching archaeology. I'm the only person ever who thought the University scenes were the best part of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

    Eventually I interned among archaeologists and saw that very smart, talented people were living hand to mouth and decided that since I thought teaching English seemed almost as enjoyable and was much more likely (and more quickly) to lead to a comfortable life, I did that.

    I didn't ever expect to teach economics, but I am enjoying the hell out of it.

  22. #22
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be a father.

    Beyond that, most of my thoughts were just of not being in that school with those people.

    Now I'm an editor. And because I don't think of the paper as my baby, that fatherhood thing ain't happenin' yet.

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    Queen of the Metrolink
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I wanted to be an archaeologist or a veterinarian. I actually took some steps toward the latter (sorta) by doing vet science modules at 4-H and working with animals wherever I could. Then my dad wrecked my horse (long story) and it sorta turned me off of veterinary science.

    I took a lot of archaeology/art history courses while I completed my BA in Classics but I am off to law school. Actually when I was 7 I had an existential epiphany and knew I'd die alone so I guess it's working out.
    I'm pro-choice and I shoot back.

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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    I didn't want to be anything in particular when I was a younger kid. By the time I was 13-14, I wanted to be a psychologist or a scientific researcher. Although, in my later teens, I toyed around with some other fields, at about 19 came back around and have been working toward psychology research ever since. I'm in my PhD program now, and I honestly can't see myself doing something else. Of course, one never knows!
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  25. #25
    Maximum Proconsul silenus's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Yep. I always wanted to teach, but my father pushed me to do something else, because teaching didn't pay all that well. But teaching runs in the family, so when I found myself unemployed (having sold my business) at age 27, I went back to school, finished my degree, got my teaching credentials, and have been happily destroying the egos of sophomores ever since.
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  26. #26
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Apparently, my mother has told me, when I was a child I wanted to be a garbageman. Unfortunately, I haven't ever realized that childhood fantasy...

    I'm 41 now, and I still haven't figured out what I want to do when I grow up. I sort of fell into my current career (Systems Administration) about 10 years ago. I do really enjoy it, so I'll probably keep doing what I'm doing for the foreseeable future, but it's not "what I wanted to do". I never "wanted" to do anything specific (other than wanting to turn my life into a Jimmy Buffet song, of course...)

  27. #27
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Well, when I was a very young child, I wanted to be a fireman. You know how it is...

    But for a long time, once I moved into childhood aspirations that are semi-serious, what I wanted to do was make videogames. I was kind of obsessed; kept trying to launch off some project or another with various friends, and so forth. I got a degree in computer science and everything, but that's not what I'm doing; apart from the realization that it's not actually a glamorous job for most people, these days I'm also somehow just not that into even playing videogames anymore (which is a shame).

    That having been said, I also knew for a long time, even in high school, that I'd also like to be a mathematician, even specifically working in mathematical logic, and that's where I am. But the glory on this is dulling too... (perhaps because what I actually wanted to be was a brilliant, cutting-edge, world-class mathematician).

    And, of course, at various times, I had myriad other dabbling interests which I thought about (e.g., writing), all of which have entirely faded from my life.

  28. #28
    sleeps with Sleeps SugarPlum's avatar
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    Default Re: Is your occupation what you wanted to do as a child?

    Quote Originally posted by Suburban Plankton
    Apparently, my mother has told me, when I was a child I wanted to be a garbageman. Unfortunately, I haven't ever realized that childhood fantasy...
    I have a very wealthy acquaintance who's young son suddenly became really interested in the garbageman and started telling everyone he wanted to be a garbageman when he grew up. It was pretty amusing to watch the dad try to be a supportive dad while also trying to hide his horror! I think the kiddo grew out of it and wants to go into business now.



    I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little. I didn't even know what that was, but like most preadolescent girls, I thought dolphins were soooooooooo cute(!!!!!)

    In high school I decided to be a Latin teacher. I even graduated with departmental honors in Latin. When I got to college and took my placement test I placed into Latin 101 and all the courses were filled for the entire year. So... out the window with that dream. Thank goodness, really. Studying Latin would have been hard, and probably would have seriously interfered with my independent research on the effects of recreational drugs and alcohol on my body. As well as all the sociology I was learning by figuring out how to hook up with the hottest guys at the frat parties.

    Anyway, I do think that I wanted to be a psychologist for a little while in high school, and I happen to do some part time work on a psych research team for the local University, so I guess I sort of have an occupation I wanted. But really I had no idea what a "psychologist" might do for a job, other than be smart about people and such.

    My full time job, corporate trainer, was nothing I had ever heard of until after I graduated from college. I think that kids don't get exposed to very many career choices as a child, so they usually pick from the few things they have heard of: doctor, teacher, lawyer, archeologist, acting, professional sports. Being a trainer fits me like a glove, and if I knew about this job sooner in life I probably could have taken a more direct path to get there!

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