What Was Your Dream Job?
I posed a question on Twitter last night stemming from a conversation among friends: "When you were a teenager, what was your dream job?"
The answers ranged from the typical - doctor, lawyer, rock star etc. - to the more interesting. Several people wanted to be play by play announcers for various sports. Comic book author Nathan Edmondson wanted to be an F-22 pilot. Columnist Salena Zito wanted to be Lois Lane. Law student Umar Jones wanted to open a five star hotel in Times Square. Tea Partier Kathleen McKinley admitted to wanting to be David Cassidy's personal masseuse. Attorney Dan McLaughlin wanted to be a novelist - and as it happens, so did bestselling novelist Brad Thor.
Personally, I wanted to run a league of assassins when I was a teenager. And a few years later, I made that dream a reality.
What was your dream job?
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
I wanted to be a pilot since I was 4, a fighter pilot from age 13-17. Any Air Force Pilot after that. I flew B-52s from age 23-37. It was everything I ever thought it would be or more. I never wanted to fly for the airlines - But the original version of "Cheaper by the Dozen" (Frank Gilbreth was a time and motion specialist) always appealed to me and I am now an "Operations Research Analyst". I love my job.
Aug '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
When I was 16 I got a summer job working with a guy who had bought the salvage contract for the old Sears building in Tucson, AZ.
Imagine! Sixteen lb. sledge hammers, giant crow bars, and pretty-good money for smashing up a multistory building!
We ripped out the circuit boxes, the window frames, the wiring, the plumbing, the elevators, and weren't the least bit dainty about doing it. It was an ideal job for a teenager.
There is an ironic aspect to it with all the frenzy today about college and loans. A couple of years later my mother fessed-up that the guy I worked for had called her and said that I was a really good worker and he'd be willing to make me a partner if I'd take a year off and work with him building a dog track south of Tucson (which is what he wanted the salvaged material for). She had told him no, that I was going to go to college, and never told me about the call.
The guy became a big contractor. I could have been a millionaire by the time I was twenty.
Mar '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
CEO of a large corporation that I owned, a missionary, or a composer and lyricist (did not want to preform, just write really good music).
Dec '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
When I was a teenager I wanted to be a drug counselor for teens in the Palmer Drug Abuse Program. Now I just want those kids to get off my lawn. I've never really settled on anything since then. Ironically, I drive trucks (and other things) for the Navy, so I sort of have the job I dreamed about when I was 4 or 5.
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
When I was 9, I was pretty sure I wanted to be an attorney. By the time I was 15 or so, I decided I wanted to be an economist. I stuck with that through my mid-20s. Now I'm a reporter. The odd thing is that I started a newspaper at my elementary school, worked on school publications in junior high school and even was the editor of my yearbook for two years. But it never really occurred to me that journalism was something you could do for a living (I think I was wise in my teen years).
May '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
John Stocktons' running mate in the back court for the Utah Jazz or brilliant avant-garde musician. I fear too many kids today would say reality t.v star or lottery winner.
Edited on February 8, 2012 at 3:09pmMar '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Astronaut. Cowboy. Oooh! Cowboy-Astronaut! That would have been cool!
This later morphed into "some kind of engineer." For a while, I was going to do aerospace engineering, but an aerospace engineer told me that my career "would live and die on government projects." He didn't make it sound like that was optimal. So I went into software engineering, and when I got out started working on avionics software -- with aerospace engineers -- on government projects.
<sigh>
Mar '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
It certainly wasn't this.
May '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Like Percival, I wanted to be an astronaut. Then I realized most of them came from military backgrounds, and since Vietnam was going on then, I backed off of that idea. I am ashamed of that attitude now, but I was young and stupid. Well, at least I'm not young anymore.
Today, I dream of being a professional speaker on historical topics. My classes are popular but there are no "free agent contracts" in my profession.
Old men dream also...
Jun '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
What I wanted to be when I grew up? It's actually who I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be Walt Disney. I'll settle now for gentleman of leisure.
Dec '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Was I was going to be video game programmer and a writer. The former has come to past, the latter I am still working on.
May '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
I wanted to be a sports columnist. My high school English teacher was the wife of a sports writer and she talked me out of the profession. Complaints included late hours, tight deadlines, and demanding travel. Now I am a lawyer with late hours, tight deadlines, and demanding travel.
Mar '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
For years, Tony LaRussa had the best job a lawyer could have. Now that he's retired, I want the best job a lawyer can have: Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.
May '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Percival: This later morphed into "some kind of engineer." For a while, I was going to do aerospace engineering, but an aerospace engineer told me that my career "would live and die on government projects." He didn't make it sound like that was optimal. So I went into software engineering, and when I got out started working on avionics software -- with aerospace engineers -- on government projects.
<sigh> ยท 27 minutes ago
I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I was a kid. Then I wanted to be an aerospace engineer, but I got similar advice from a chemical engineer that aerospace engineering is too narrow and dependent on government funding. I tried studying other fields of engineering in college, but I realized the desire of my heart was truly aerospace engineering.
Percival, now I'm an aerospace engineer who works with software engineers on flight software, on government projects.
Sep '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Dog catcher.
Aug '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
I'm pretty sure I wanted to work in radio.
Did that one summer. Switched to television.
Did that for two years in my early twenties. Switched to publishing.
Kind of been doing that ever since.
Jun '11
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
I wanted to be either a US Supreme Court justice, or a major league baseball pitcher. Unfortunately, I had the brains of pitcher and the arm of a justice.
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
In her defense, at least you make much more money than you would as a sports columnist. And, well, you have a job, which is more than most of my sportswriting friends can say these days!
Feb '12
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
Musician. I practiced for hours and hours, said "yes" to anyone who asked me to play anything, even got a few awards, and completely burned myself out.
Then I thought I'd be a pastor, which didn't happen but it got me to a college I'd never have attended otherwise, where I met my wife. So at least that worked out well.
Nov '10
Re: What Was Your Dream Job?
When I was nine or ten, I checked out library books on ancient Egypt and thought I'd like to be an archeologist. Then from about fourteen on, I wanted to be a missionary and/or a teacher. Perhaps the idea of writer was hovering in my mind, as well.
I've been teaching and working in education for about a decade, and couldn't have been drawn into anything for which I was more well-suited.
I stink at writing fiction. And archeology would have been a poor fit.
Edited on February 8, 2012 at 4:52pm