What did you want to be when you grew up?
and what are you now?
when I was really young, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. around 3rd or 4th grade though, i got glasses. I found out you had to have 20/20 vision prior to joining the Air Force, so that was out the window.
in high school and college, I wanted to be an ER doctor. then, I actually worked in the ER and as a medic for a couple years. the amount of politics and appeasement of insurance companies was disconcerting at best.
for a couple years out of college, i went back and forth between being a pharmacist or going back to school and getting a computer science degree. I figured I'd apply to both and wherever I got in, I'd go. i ended up being accepted for both.
so, here I am, 11 years later. a software test engineer. but thoughts of being a theoretical physicist have started creeping into my head. help!
Didn't every boy want to be a professional athlete of some sort?
Turned out, I had to settle for being a desk jockey and a good dad instead.
I didn't pick my career path -- I just seem to have fell into it.
What I wanted to be: A drug lord
What I am: A banker
pro athlete never even crossed my mind. i played baseball for quite a few years and i was pretty good, but i never wanted to do it for a living. not sure why though.
You can also read the answers of a similar question posted two months ago:
From around second until about tenth or eleventh grade I wanted to be an astronaut. Then I realized that the career path was very narrow and practially required either military service as a pilot or a doctorate in some applied science, neither of which I was interested enough to pursue given the high probability that it wouldn't actually lead to being an astronaut. I realized I was more interested in engineering and that I could marry that with my love of space exploration and study aerospace engineering with the goal of working on space vehicle structures.
That was until my second year in college when I actually got into my structures classes and realized I really didn't like structures. Fortunately that was about the time I took my first aerodynamics class as well and found that I really enjoyed that as well as enjoying my controls classes.
I ended up as an aerospace engineer working in stability and controls on high performance aircraft. I went to Space Camp again a few years ago.
@cengland0: yeah, but no one said what they actually are now.
@carl669: That's why I didn't call this a duplicate question. It's only similar -- not exact.
@cengland0: my bad. that's what i get for doing this stuff before having coffee.
I wanted to be a parapsychologist studying ESP and ghosts and such when I was in middle/high school. This was before the popularity of Ghost Hunters and those reality TV shows, thankfully. Realistically college courses in this were few and far between, so I settled for actually being a biologist.
I wanted to be an Oncologist, when I was about 8. When I was 12, we did a tour of the USACE office when they had an open house day and I decided I wanted to get into Civil Engineering. I ended up getting an AAS in Civil Engineering Technology. Had some cool jobs, but traveled all the time and was never home. Now I'm unemployed and looking at going back to school for Biology and hopefully onto med school for Oncology or Podiatry.
Lottery Winner
When I was about 3, my dad asked me this. I told him I wanted to be a giraffe when I grew up. He said I could not grow up to be a giraffe. I was mad at him for years because I thought he was telling me I wasn't allowed, not that I was not able. In elementary school I wanted to be a vet, but when I learned that vets have to do things like put pets to sleep because the owners won't pay for costly care it just seemed too sad. As a teen I wanted to be a writer, and I still do it as a hobby but I have no fantasies of making a living at it. I fell into a job with the city, which turned into a career of helping those less fortunate than myself. While I never dreamed of having this job, I should have. It's profoundly satisfying work. I am almost ready to retire, and my new dream is to supplement my retirement income selling art. It's a struggle but I have no expectation of making serious money at it, just enough to finance my art hobbies and maybe some travel.
I think, 4 or 5 years ago I found an assignment I had to write in 3rd/4th grade about what you wanted to be when you grew up. I think I knew what it was all about pretty well by then, I had said I wanted to own my own comic store because I could wear whatever I wanted, Start late in the day, make other people happy, and have fun where I work.
15 years later and I still want to be my own boss, wear what I want, and make people happy. Comic books aren't like they were in the early 90's so I'd have to find something else that's fun and wont put me in the poor house.
At least I get to help people, it's not like i'm in a cube typing numbers all day long. I sell car parts at an auto dealership. It pays the bills, but there's still more to be desired in life.
I wanted to be a psychologist or a writer. But after studying psychology, I became a special ed teacher.
And then I burned out and worked in computers. Then I got married & stayed home with my kids, doing some part-time administrative & teaching work.
Now I'm a paralegal, writing on the side. I have 1 child who wants to be a kindergarten teacher and writer; 1 child who wants to have her own Food Network show; and 1 child who might be the next Lady Gaga. :)
I wanted to be a physicist when I was 9. When I was 4, I wanted to be a jockey, and ride in the Kentucky Derby. That desire faded instantly when it was pointed out that I'd have to get up early every day. It's true. Even at four years old, I hated getting up in the morning.
I've done a lot of different things in life, from writing software to managing projects. The former didn't really exist when I was a little girl, and I don't think anyone imagines themselves growing up to be a project manager. I've done risk assessments, and vulnerability assessments, and been part of red teams. Those are also not things that kids would consider when dreaming about the future.
I'm still not sure of what I want to do next.
I wanted to be a journalist until I found out that 99% of journalists are just scraping by financially. My vision of being the next Barbara Walters was dashed by my desire to eat. Now I sell clothes online and my vision of writing in my spare time has been dashed by the fact that I have no interest in actually writing anything :)
Wanted to be: A Power Ranger
What I am now: An Insomniac
@capguncowboy: Not really. Never was that much into watching sports on TV. Enjoyed playing them though.
I wanted to be a hockey scout. I did some coaching for a while and worked for a NHL team for a short time (GO KINGS!), but realized this wasn't the right path for me. I am now working in education and loving it.
At one point in my childhood, a teacher had us "draw a picture of what you want to be when you grew up". For some reason,, at that time I wanted to be an artist. My mom found the picture a few years back, and it's quite obvious why I didn't end up doing that :)
Later on I wanted to be an astronaut (who didn't, back in the 70's?), a "scientist" (whatever that means), and a few other things.
In 6th grade I took a summer programming class on an Apple II+ computer, and loved it. From then on I decided that's what I wanted to do with my life. In college, I second-guessed myself, and dabbled in pre-med, but came back around to it and ended up with a Master's in Computer Science. I now sit around every day and write "cool" software for Mac's, Windows, and iOS. And maybe Android someday :)
Honestly I never really gave any thought to what I'd be when I grew up as a kid. I was never really passionate about any one subject and thought I'd figure it out later. Well, now I'm in my 3rd year of a PhD in electrical engineering and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I should probably start trying to figure it out...
What I wanted to be: A race car driver
What I am now: A man with shattered dreams and a crapload of speeding tickets.
I wanted to be a truck driver.....then a lawyer......then a FBI agent.......but ended up an accountant (though that was what I decided somewhere between the lawyer and FBI agent - lawyer went out the window when I realized how much reading was involved - not something I enjoy doing).
Happy.
Since my wife reminds me that I've not grown up yet (despite being married 33 years) I'm not sure how to answer this question.
I spent nearly 29 years in the Air Force. Since I retired I've done several things, right now unemployed (waiting for a contract to get picked up). What I do currently is investigate fraud claims.
a unicorn!
I wanted to be an astronaut, and still do (but just as a hobby).
I'm an aerospace engineer, so I guess I'm at least headed in the right direction.
When I was really young, I wanted to be Rogue from X-men. A little later, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then I realized I'm really squeamish. After that, I wanted to be a successful businesswoman. Then I realized I'm afraid of talking to people. Maybe I will go back to wanting to be Rogue.
I never really had a practical dream when I was little. In high school I decided that I wanted to be a bio-med engineer and design robotic prosthetic limbs. Then in college, based on some bad advice from a guidance counselor, I dropped that idea.
Then I decided that I wanted to be an ethical hacker and get hired to hack into people’s systems to find their vulnerabilities…and that’s what I do. :-)
A film score composer - I still want to, but it's a hard life unless you're the best of the best... not that I wouldn't be the best of the best, but I still have to think about family and all that.
My brother wanted to be one of those crash test dummies... I'm still not sure where he got that idea...
I wanted to be James Bond.
I currently am a "Quality Assurance Engineer" for a company that manufacturers slot machines for casinos.. (I design/break/fix/cheat/engineer slot machine stuff before we sell it to a casino)
A firefighting pro basketball player from Mars.
Elementary School: Airplane Pilot
Middle School: Pediatrician
High School: Registered Nurse
After high school: I became an LVN.
In college now: Going for RN.
After college: Wants to be an ER nurse, an actor and a business owner. No joke. I always wanted to be an actor or at least one of those cameo people and own my own business off a franchise or something like Woot. :D
My plan is.. with the money I make as a nurse I wanted to create a business that gives back to the community here and maybe a casting company will see me as a potential person to be on the big screen. The possibilities are endless and my hopes are always high as ever.
Since elementary school I wanted to be a clinical psychologist. I want to college on scholarships (I used to be smart, but then I had kids and they sucked the IQ points right out of me), and studied psychology as planned. Unfortunately, I found the undergrad psyc classes to be underwhelming. The ones I liked most were the neuropsych classes I referred to as "rat brain dissection" courses. Graduated summa cum laude, did great on the GRE, but by this time I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I looked around at the grad students living hand-to-mouth, saw my parents struggling to pay tuition for my younger sister, and decided to work in HR for a couple of years to save up for grad school. That was 33 years ago. I worked will be retiring from that field next month. Still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but strangely enough, I DON'T want to be retired!
A dictator...I figure the times almost right for me to make my move :-)
A dancer in films - my idols at the time long ago and far away were VeraEllen and Cyd Charisse.
when i was younger, i wanted to be an inventor. then i found out that the process for obtaining a patent is kind of ridiculous, and someone probably already came up with my ideas. now i'm in college hoping to get into law school in the near future.
@belyndag: I absolutely love being retired and each and every day that last year of work seemed like a week! I love being able to sleep late if I want to (seldom do, but I can), read the paper over a second cup of coffee, do pretty much these days exactly what I want to do and when I want to do it. Jeeze, I surely do sound selfish; but I do take the time to volunteer and help others as much as I can - but not on a schedule that cannot vary. Don't ever want to live that way again. Gemini here.
@klozitshoper: Thanks for the response. I guess my big objection to retiring is that I'm not leaving on my own terms. There's a hostile takeover in progress (politics is playing the largest part, and yes, I do mean REAL politics, not office politics). It's rather sudden so I didn't get to enjoy the "countdown to retirement" thing, and so many of us are leaving that NO ONE wants to have a party. It's more of a funeral.
I am seriously thinking that, for my next career, I want to play Winnie-the-Pooh at DisneyWorld. If I start eating more now, they won't even have to stuff the costume by the time I get there!
When I was young I wanted to be older because grown-ups got to do all the neat stuff.
I guess I am what I wanted to be, even though it's not as neat from the other side of the fence.
@belyndag: From what I used to hear from friends' children who worked for Disney (one gal was Alice in Wonderland), it is not a really fun job, and you are under the gun so to speak especially when you play one of the characters. Alice was fired because she had her hair cut too short (I can see that though, because I do believe that Alice did have long hair - but and however).
Working in an environment of sadness and disillusion (which I, too, have done more than I care to think about) is really draining, and I understand how you feel. Retirement is such a personal decision - some, like me, cannot wait, and some just cannot stand it. There are so many, many really old people working down here in Florida. Some undoubtedly have to in order to live. Others just cannot stand have an "entire day stretching out in front of them" every morning. Only you will know when and if you are ready to stop working.. I hope at least you are getting a good severance pkg. and will find something you (contd)
like and are comfortable with. It is pure joy to have a job you love - been there, done that. It is pure hell to have one that you don't - been there, done that as I said before. Anyhow, good luck in finding a landing spot that affords you the comfort and money you want and need in order that you can go in each day with a sense of anticipation (not dread).
gynecologist.............but now I'm a plumber
My first job list: a mommy, a monster, and a teacher.
Well, one out of three isn't bad. I have two wonderful sons. As for making money, I work from home doing billing for the company my husband works for also.
@klozitshoper: Well, dang! If they can't fit a tiny high tech air conditioner in that Winnie-the-Pooh costume I will just have to come up with another plan!
This essay by Marina Keegan answers this question so well. http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/may/27/keegan-opposite-loneliness/?cross-campus
She died at age 22 on May 26, 2012. This essay has gone viral because of how insightful it is and tragic that she is gone.
"For most of us, however, we’re somewhat lost in this sea of liberal arts. Not quite sure what road we’re on and whether we should have taken it. If only I had majored in biology…if only I’d gotten involved in journalism as a freshman…if only I’d thought to apply for this or for that…
What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over. Get a post-bac or try writing for the first time. The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious."
I'm still trying to figure that questions out
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