Jobs: Dreams and Reality

[somegirl]

My dream job is playing violin in a professional orchestra, but it is extremely difficult to make a living doing that in the US.  My more realistic dream was to be a scientist, which I am.  I'm also playing violin in a non-professional orchestra for fun so it's all good.

[El Matador]

Ever since I can remember I've been taking shit apart and then putting it together again. I love machines, and  I used to be a screwdriver-wielding tornado. It got to the point that my family members used to have to hide electronics from me   I started designing and building stuff ever since I was 5.

Then, I fell in love with numbers. I was the odd kid that actually enjoyed math. My father taught me how to do calculus when I was 14.  

When I realized that everything I likes pointed towards engineering, that-s what I set out to be. Right up until the  moment that I realized that all engineers do is sit behind a desk and place orders. I refuse to be a desk engineer. That's when I realized that I would never be happy making other people's dreams a reality.

Right now, I'm 21. By all standards, I'm still a kid. But I am pretty happy with where I am in life. I started my own small company, I'm well on my way to my Mechanical Engineering degree and I'm starting a double major with Aerospace Engineering next semester; and I have two years to make my company flourish before I hit the real world. Hopefully, I'll be doing well enough that I don't have to take a job. Maybe I'll be burned out and hate it by then. But right now, I'm pretty damn pleased.

[Porsche Monkey]

Ever since I can remember I've been taking shit apart and then putting it together again. I love machines, and  I used to be a screwdriver-wielding tornado. It got to the point that my family members used to have to hide electronics from me   I started designing and building stuff ever since I was 5.

Then, I fell in love with numbers. I was the odd kid that actually enjoyed math. My father taught me how to do calculus when I was 14.  

When I realized that everything I likes pointed towards engineering, that-s what I set out to be. Right up until the  moment that I realized that all engineers do is sit behind a desk and place orders. I refuse to be a desk engineer. That's when I realized that I would never be happy making other people's dreams a reality.

Right now, I'm 21. By all standards, I'm still a kid. But I am pretty happy with where I am in life. I started my own small company, I'm well on my way to my Mechanical Engineering degree and I'm starting a double major with Aerospace Engineering next semester; and I have two years to make my company flourish before I hit the real world. Hopefully, I'll be doing well enough that I don't have to take a job. Maybe I'll be burned out and hate it by then. But right now, I'm pretty damn pleased.

Sounds like you got your shit straight. 

[Grampa]

I dreamed of being a super hero... and my special skill was throwing sticks with lethal accuracy.

I've since altered the dream a lil....sticks have been replaced with a rusty spoon, and it's more gouging that throwing theses days.

[Big Troubled Bear]

Doh!!   nah you got me figured wrong Bear.  I work 7:30 to 5:30 weekdays only. The poor part, well I wish I made more but in reality I'm one of the highest paid auto technicians in town.

Porche Tech at dealership if I remember correctly ?

[Porsche Monkey]

Porche Tech at dealership if I remember correctly ?

Yup. So far the wonderful economy on this side of the planet has not really affected us. Yet.

[KnightofNi]

i wanted to be a pilot in the air force. then i realized that i have a major problem with authority and wouldn't survive basic.

i decided that since i like science and flying i should go for aerospace...found out that was basically a double with Mech engineering so i tried that. i realized that i suck at math, but that has never stopped me from doing things before so i plowed through until i ran out of money and left college.

now i sit at a desk and get yelled at for doign things wrong, doing things right, or not doing anything.

i have no idea what i want to be when i grow up now. the thing that brought me the most joy was being a bike messenger. it also paid the least.
i think i want to be a lottery winner or find outi have a rich relative that wants to give me money. (or find a rich old woman who wants me to be her poolboy and will leave me her money when she kicks)

[Triple J]

I've always wanted to be a military pilot (preferably Navy due to the F-18 and carrier landings, but any service/plane would have worked). I grew up around airplanes, as my dad was a firefighter at Nellis AFB, so we were always out there. I tried at the end of High School, but I have asthma, and it was fairly bad at the time...so the military said no thanks. Bummer.

Professional drummer would be my 2nd choice (ya...drummer and fighter pilot...odd combo ). During college, and for about 5 years after, I played drums in a few local bands...a couple of which were pretty popular...too bad it was in Reno. I tried to convince the guys in the last one to pack up and give it a go in SF for a couple years...they all thought it would be fun, but wussed out. I wasn't balsy enough to do it on my own. 

So, I got a couple engineering degrees (BS & MS), and am doing well at that. Someday I'll do something else, but it's hard to leave a job that you don't hate or love, but pays well. Engineering is actually fun in school, and is fun 10% of the time in the real world. What they don't tell you in school is that engineers (at least civil) spend a large amount of time writing memos. So it goes.

If I did it over I think I would have gotten a music degree in college, and practiced my ass off all the time. If I didn't make it big, I could have been a studio drummer...which would probably be pretty fun and pays decent.

[jdubbs32584]

I wanted to be on the women's national team for soccer. I almost made it.

I was also an uber geek who grew up in a house that started getting the earliest consumer computers available. We still have one of these working:



So I went through school and became a professional geek. Its an ok job, I like learning about the new technology coming down the pipeline, but I don't like being stuck sitting all day long.

[turtherlips]

I design defense systems for the military (mostly missiles). It's pays the bills, but my childhood dream of being in the FBI seems like it would be more fun. 

[causeofkaos]

when i grow up....... no i wont be doing that, im really happy where im at could be better could be a lot worst.

[KnightofNi]

I design defense systems for the military (mostly missiles). It's pays the bills, but my childhood dream of being in the FBI seems like it would be more fun. 

hahaha, you build things that take down in seconds what takesd triple j a while to plan and draw up.

(this just proves that civil engineers build targets  )

[Drjones]

My outlook morphed from architechture to pipe drafting to mechanical drafting and ended up as a mechanical engineer.  I guess I set the bar too low when I was younger.  Glorified electronics and sensors packaging, but but when your operating environment is 20,000 ft below the surface, 350F - 500F and 20kpsi - 30kpsi it isn't that boring.  NASA doesn't have anything on the wireline logging and MWD/LWD segment of the oil patch.

[swampduc]

I wanted to be a doc, and now I do Retina Surgery, so I'm pretty happy with what I do. I'm 34 now, and I would like to maybe do something else when I turn 50 or 55.
Nitewaif, health care ain't all bad. I'm one of a lucky few who actually enjoy their job. Yeah, there is some cya and some paperwork, and your reimbursement gets cut every year by a bunch of wankers who wouldn't know the 1st thing about what you do, and the public continually derides you for being "greedy."    But I spend most of my time seeing patients, most of whom I like, and doing procedures, and operating. And it pays for a couple of Ducs, travel a couple times a year, and a few other things  

[sugarcrook]

I was in the Navy but didn't like the bureaucracy.  Then I got out and went to work in IT but didn't like the bureaucracy.  

Now I'm self-employed and my boss is an asshole.  I don't enjoy what I do and the freedom I thought I'd have being on my own has been replaced by endless hours and pregnant doging about taxes.  I get a one week vacation about every 30 months and live in dread of my inbox and phone.  

What was the question?