what was your dream job as a kid

[KD6-3.7]

and if you didn’t end up doing that dream job, why?

i wanted to be a cowboy, a truck driver, or a college professor.

i almost became a college professor, but i became disillusioned with higher education. i was also not smart enough.

i toyed with the idea of becoming a long haul trucker during the great recession. getting rid of the apartment and living full time out of a truck for a few years and putting every spare dime toward buying a house. i didn’t think the cat could handle it tho.

 

[BleedGopher]

Good topic. I always wanted to be a lawyer, in large part because one of my favorite TV shows growing up was LA Law.

I was very close to getting a joint JD/MBA, but opted just for the latter after speaking to a number of lawyer's in various type of roles, none of which were happy and few of them had a good work-life balance and it wasn't a path I wanted to take.

I have no regrets.

Go Gophers!!

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

Pro golfer.

Not good enough.

 

[norman dale]

Golf course designer / architect. I spent many hours of my 1980s childhood sketching golf courses or individual holes on paper based on what I seen on TV, played in real life or from a few books I had in hand. I had my own made up mini golf course laid out throughout the 7 acre piece of land that my parents house sat on.

Alas at some point I found out about chemistry and thus went and did opposite of Walter White and legally doled out drugs.

Now I just want to trim trees. I get tremendous (take a virtual shot for a Brewsterism) satisfaction in taking out a tree lopper and going to town.

 

[tikited]

I wanted to graduate college and then be adopted by a filthy rich family and never really work. That never happened.

 

[Nokomis]

and if you didn’t end up doing that dream job, why?

i wanted to be a cowboy, a truck driver, or a college professor.

i almost became a college professor, but i became disillusioned with higher education. i was also not smart enough.

i toyed with the idea of becoming a long haul trucker during the great recession. getting rid of the apartment and living full time out of a truck for a few years and putting every spare dime toward buying a house. i didn’t think the cat could handle it tho.

What happened to the cowboy dream? I know a couple ranchers and spent a summer during college as a ranch hand, so could hook you up if you still want to give it a go.

For me:

Firefighter: I'm a smaller guy and grew up thinking firefighters had to be big buff guys. Probably should have just gone for it. I'm really only slightly below average height.

HS music teacher: I was persuaded against going into teaching by my dad who only lasted two years as a teacher. Not enough pay to deal with shitty kids.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

At first, growing up in Indy, I wanted to be a racer-go figure.

Then around the third grade my aspiration was to be an historian. Watching historical documentaries hosted by well-dressed gentlemen in wood paneled rooms, sitting behind big desks in front of sagging shelves of books impressed me greatly. Although, to be honest, I could not figure out what they actually did for a living.

Then, by sixth grade, having hung around construction sites with my father (a plumber) and grandfather (a stone mason), I decided to be an architect and that was that. I did, eventually, finish a history degree; but only pursue auto racing as a spectator sport.

 

[coolhandgopher]

I went to university with a degree in Mass Communications in mind-either a sports journalist or radio DJ was my future aspiration. That lasted all of one quarter, as my intro class professor scared me off to the unpredictable future of the profession. This was back in '90, so those words were certainly prescient-I sometimes muse what life would have been like working in those fields and then read the headlines about newspapers getting bought up, downsized, shuttered and I am happy that I'm not having to reinvent my career path in my late 40's (knock on wood).

 

[KD6-3.7]

What happened to the cowboy dream? I know a couple ranchers and spent a summer during college as a ranch hand, so could hook you up if you still want to give it a go.

For me:

Firefighter: I'm a smaller guy and grew up thinking firefighters had to be big buff guys. Probably should have just gone for it. I'm really only slightly below average height.

HS music teacher: I was persuaded against going into teaching by my dad who only lasted two years as a teacher. Not enough pay to deal with shitty kids.

not into manual labor. and im not very good with my hands. i guess i was more into the aesthetic.

firefighter is a great job. especially in a well funded agency. i got into an accident that left my car totalled and my wife and 3 year old were in the car as well. the firefighters knew what i did for a living so instead of leaving us on the side of the road to wait for the rental car to pick us up, they insisted we come back to the station with them. my son already loved firetrucks and he got to ride in one to the fire station. and then he got to slide down the pole. he had a blast. firefighters are awesome. and that station was very nice.

i guess i am just as interested in those of you who did go into your dream job as well. id like to encourage my sons in certain directions, but it seems like people rarely end up in the job that they dreamed of as a child.

 

[KD6-3.7]

At first, growing up in Indy, I wanted to be a racer-go figure.

Then around the third grade my aspiration was to be an historian. Watching historical documentaries hosted by well-dressed gentlemen in wood paneled rooms, sitting behind big desks in front of sagging shelves of books impressed me greatly. Although, to be honest, I could not figure out what they actually did for a living.

Then, by sixth grade, having hung around construction sites with my father (a plumber) and grandfather (a stone mason), I decided to be an architect and that was that. I did, eventually, finish a history degree; but only pursue auto racing as a spectator sport.

really cool.

i also studied history and also realized that it is less preparation for a job than a hobby. i still read history as much as possible.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Dream job - play-by-play announcer for Major league baseball team.

Reality - after spending time in BS sales jobs and dealing with addiction issues, went to broadcasting school at age 32. have spent the last 30+ years working in small-market radio covering HS sports and some small-college D3 sports, along with some work in motor sports.

Don't know if I could have gone further, but I just didn't have the drive - or not willing to take the risk - to move up the ladder to bigger markets. Not saying I regret it - had a lot of fun and covered some great kids over the years.
covered the D3 National Softball tournament one year. Covered state HS championship games in football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, and a few state baseball and softball tournaments.

i did get to call some games in the Metrodome - a HS baseball game and some State FB tournament games.

getting older now and the travel is getting to me. if I could just teleport into the gym, I'd be fine - but sitting in the car for an hour or 90 minutes just driving to some game gets really old. I'm planning to work maybe one more year and hang it up.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

Porn Star; that's a no-brainer

HS guidance counselor thought I was capable of so much more, so we discussed some different alternatives to pursue.

 

[El Amin Fan]

NBA player, that's a no-brainer.

But similar to Ogee's dream job, "you can't teach size" so it's understandable neither of us were able to attain our dream jobs

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

I went to university with a degree in Mass Communications in mind-either a sports journalist or radio DJ was my future aspiration. That lasted all of one quarter, as my intro class professor scared me off to the unpredictable future of the profession. This was back in '90, so those words were certainly prescient-I sometimes muse what life would have been like working in those fields and then read the headlines about newspapers getting bought up, downsized, shuttered and I am happy that I'm not having to reinvent my career path in my late 40's (knock on wood).

Are you me? Nearly identical. Started in Mass Comm with an emphasis in Journalism, backed with a minor in English. Took about a year to figure out I was better off with an emphasis in Advertising and a Marketing/General Business minor.
Sometimes I regret it. But I did stumble backwards into a job I don't despise, so I can't complain.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

and if you didn’t end up doing that dream job, why?

i wanted to be a cowboy, a truck driver, or a college professor.

i almost became a college professor, but i became disillusioned with higher education. i was also not smart enough.

i toyed with the idea of becoming a long haul trucker during the great recession. getting rid of the apartment and living full time out of a truck for a few years and putting every spare dime toward buying a house. i didn’t think the cat could handle it tho.

My grandpa, dad and uncles were all truck drivers, so I grew up surrounded by trucking. My plan to follow in their footsteps got quickly derailed when I discovered I couldn't back up with a trailer to save my life and my skills with a manual transmission were subpar, at best.

 

[BTChamp]

Baseball player. Got hurt in high school and never got to go after it again. Plus not being good enough also factors in.......
Now I manage LNG construction sites.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

My grandpa, dad and uncles were all truck drivers, so I grew up surrounded by trucking. My plan to follow in their footsteps got quickly derailed when I discovered I couldn't back up with a trailer to save my life and my skills with a manual transmission were subpar, at best.

If all those folks were mechanics, you would totally be sounding like Marisa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinny"

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

If all those folks were mechanics, you would totally be sounding like Marisa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinny"

It's a limited-slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothin’.

 

[Nokomis]

i guess i am just as interested in those of you who did go into your dream job as well. id like to encourage my sons in certain directions, but it seems like people rarely end up in the job that they dreamed of as a child.

My wife loves the Olympics but competing was never really in the cards. So her dream was to work for USOC. She interned at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego while in grad school. She would do metabolic assessments on people like Allyson Felix and sit in the middle of a lake monitoring the rowing team. We joke that she flamed out on her career goals before even graduating. She now works at Mayo Clinic, which isn't a bad consolation prize.