People toss around the term "dream job" awfully lightly nowadays. You hear someone talk about being a chocolate taster, or a race-car driver, or a video-game tester and suddenly people around you are all chiming in that one of those would be their dream job. But in reality, almost no job is all it's cracked up to be, and a lot of what makes a job your "dream job" is not so much the perks of the job itself, but your attitude and aptitude for the work.
However, looking into that last statement in greater detail is really not what this post is intended to be about; instead, I want to give you a list of some of the professions I, growing up, might have answered to the question:
What is Your Dream Job?*
Age 5: Fireman, Policeman, Astronaut, King
Age 7: Archaeologist, Astronaut, Writer for Nintendo Power magazine
Age 9: FBI Agent, Astronaut (What can I say, I was big into space!), President of the USA
Age 11: FBI ("Female Body Inspector" – I think 11 was when I realized the ladies were the most fascinating subject in the entire world)
Age 13: Doctor, Professional Baseball Player, Fighter-jet Pilot
Age 15: Chemist, Biologist, Surgeon
Age 17: Professional Runner, Doctor, Lawyer, Submarine Captain
Age 19: College Professor, Engineer, Any job that would enable me to sleep until 11 AM every day
Age 21: Bartender, Pizza Delivery Guy, Radio DJ
Age 23: Engineer, Computer Programmer
Age 25: Engineer, CEO of a large corporation
Age 27: Engineer, Coffee Taste Tester
Age 29 (Now): Father, Husband, … and maybe … an Astronaut
*My dream jobs did not focus on compensation at all – assume that any/all of the above were earning me enough money to keep me financially solvent, and my reasons for selecting them as my dream job(s) were purely for other reasons.
Now it's your turn. What was your dream job when you were younger? What is your dream job today?
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #15/30]
Possibly related posts (auto-generated):
November 15th, 2008 on 2:33 PM
Hmm. I remember in 5th grade, everyone in my class wanted to be a lawyer, and I was the only who wanted to be an artist (in the broadest meaning possible).Since then, until I got into college, art or graphic design was my goal. Writing comics, being an illustrator, and eventually making my own studio…really far out and lofty goals.Nowadays, I still hold onto that dream, but I also love journalism (and video games)! So a combination of the two would be the total ideal!
November 15th, 2008 on 6:12 PM
Mostly I wanted to be an architect, until I found out how much math is involved and how little aptitude I have in that area. There was a large chunk of my childhood that I wanted to be a florist. Hmmm.Now I'm an editor. Go figure.
November 15th, 2008 on 6:47 PM
Excellent post. If there was one piece of grade school art I wish I could retrieve, it was one I did in 3rd grade about what you wanted to be when you grew up. I wanted to be an astronomer. The picture had me walking to the telescope in the observatory (open to the night sky of course) — with a big smile and long hair.I still smile about astronomy, but I think I was a bit off base with the hair.
November 15th, 2008 on 11:25 PM
First I wanted to be an artist.Then I wanted to take over the world.Then I wanted to be an architect and/or take over the world.If I had a little more stick-to-it-ivness and been better at math I might have been an architect. (In school I was the best student as far as design and drafting went but my math was crap. A+ in architecture D- in any math class.)Then I wanted to be a journalist, but alas I have poor spelling and grammar skillz. I still dream of that though. These days I'm a document management and archiving…uh…expert? "Document management manager" doesn't sound right.And I still would like to take over the world.
November 16th, 2008 on 12:43 PM
of all the many jobs and professions I used to speak about as a child the one I remember is wanting to be an astronaut. a lot. or a race car driver.
November 17th, 2008 on 2:33 PM
as a kid, i thought i'd be a lawyer… possibly moving onto being a judge.then in college i switched to a business major. i figured i'd work for a couple of years then move onto grad school to get my MBA… kids and marriage never figured into the equation. ever.instead i met steve, got married, had a kid… and i'm a SAHM. it's interesting how our lives turn out… hehe.