What did or do you want to be....

[Tankscout]

I wanted to be a fighter pilot/astronaut or an archaeologist. Being terrible at math I managed to become my fallback of archaeologist, but the pay sucked. Now I'm a historian working part-time in academia and getting paid about the same. This was all after having basically flunked out of college the first time through and spending six years in the Army to get my head on straight. Now I've got 12 years of military time, a BA in Archaeology and an MA in History while married to a Biology PhD.

 

[MarkII]

HERE HERE!!! Tips my glass...uh, can to you.

You mean "glass of chocolate milk" don't you?

 

[Addicted]

I never wanted to be anything,ADHD,trouble in school and spending my younger years just getting messed up i never really thought about it.Now that I'm older(33)i wish i could have gone back and done things a lot differently.Cant do that,oh well.I am a Tech at an independent auto repair shop now.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Hey, Peyton will have to retire eventually...

I always wanted to be a member of the middle class. I still hope to get there one day.

In high school and college I did really well in science classes, especially biology. A bio professor in college asked me, really bugged me for awhile, to switch my major to that field. I'm not sure what I would have ended up doing for work, but I do wonder sometimes how different my life would be if I had taken him up on the offer. During my undergraduate research courses in psych and bio, TAs and profs loved my approach to research and my reports, and told me several times that they were grad school quality. I never pursued that area any further, though. I wanted to work with people, not lab rats.

Lab rats are nicer...

OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I wanted to be an astronaut or fighter pilot. Crummy eyesight and an aversion to sports and math, along with a very uncompetitive nature, put an end to that. As I grew up and had to run the farms from about 15 on pretty much by myself (Grandpa died when I was 13 and Dad helped me about 50/50 the first couple years afterward, but he was working full time plus lots of overtime at the nuke plant and so he bowed out pretty quick after that and left the whole thing to Grandma and I to run). I wanted to be a farmer, but I knew well enough that 1) our home place was nowhere NEAR big enough to make a living full time 2) the pay sucks even if you CAN make a living at it, 3) I didn't want to be in debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars ever year and fight the rat race to get/keep rental land to farm enough ground to make a full time living off it. I love the lifestyle and living in the country, but for a living, it's TOUGH. Won state tractor mechanics contest as a high school junior in 88 and went to UTI (the one on TV) for diesel training on a full ride scholarship. Finished that and the main thing I learned is that I didn't want to be a mechanic the rest of my life. Gulf War I had just ended, and between the vets coming home and Bush I's recession, the only job I could get was working on garbage trucks in Houma, Louisiana. So I went back to farming.

Drought wiped out the cotton crop in 96 and we plowed it under in June, and so I was sitting twiddling my thumbs going stir crazy at the house. Thought long and hard about what I would have done had I not won my scholarship, and enrolled in the Wharton Police Academy. Learned a lot about myself there-- kinda screwed my head on straight from some crap I'd been carrying around for a lot of years... but I also learned that I really didn't want to be a cop either. Planted the 97 cotton crop a week before graduation while we were off from school. Got my peace officer's license but went back to farming.

I've worked retail, drove a schoolbus, and a few other jobs along the way. Bus driving would have been nice if there were NO FREAKIN' KIDS! I hate people and generally prefer my cows. So, I'm back on the farm. Don't know where I'm gonna go from here. Wife doesn't want me to do police stuff (though I'd have to get my TCLEOSE license back to do it anyway) and with the economy like it is, driver's jobs aren't growing on trees... So, I'm just "riding with the wind" for now...

My teachers pressed me hard to pursue a career in science, engineering, etc... I used to study everything I could get on nuclear technology, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, missiles, space, aircraft, etc. when I was in high school (still do as a hobby). I even designed some stuff, which kinda scared a few people... But I was never really interested in pursuing it as a career-- for one thing, I SUCK at math... I can do it but I HATE doing it. I did just enough to get by and no more. I did well in drafting, and really enjoyed it-- I was about the only one in there not in Geometry or higher (which was supposedly a prerequisite to the class but the teacher knew me and let me in even though the highest math class I ever took was Algebra I). I could knock out a drawing that we'd be given a week to do in about a day and then spend the rest of the time doodling on our (would be ANCIENT today) old MS-DOS CAD drafting program we got with an old minicomputer from the junior college (they'd updated to some new-fangled stuff at the time called WINDOWS and so we got their outdated machines-- where you had to remember all the prompts and commands and type everything in by hand! Remember those days boys?? LOL) Never really wanted to do it as a career though...

Oh well, life's too short to worry about stuff... I just take things day by day... We're in a KILLER drought now and I don't know HOW that's going to turn out... guess we'll see!

Later! OL JR

 

[briannajon3]

Rocket scientist for sure...:horse:

 

[bobkrech]

Age 5 - jet fighter pilot
Age 7 - jet fighter pilot ==> test pilot ===> astronaut
Age 10 - glasses ==> disqualified as astronaut ==> space physics, rocket scientist
Age 15 - aerospace chemistry and physics
Age 17 - College, Chemistry major
Age 19 - Start undergraduate research in liquid propellant kinetics
Age 21 - BS Chemistry, Grad School, continue undergraduate research
Age 24 - MS Physical Chemistry, First job after grad school - Scientist/Engineer
Age 59 - Same employer, Defense and Aerospace Researcher-Rocket Scientist, T+40 years and counting

Still haven't grown up!

Bob

 

[billspad]

Engineer or pretty much anything but a plumber. Forty years later retired plumber is my goal. I'm sure that will work out just as well.

 

[T-Rex]

4th grade: I remember telling my teacher that I didn't need to learn all that science because I was going to be a carpenter.

High school: I just wanted to live in a cave at the top of a mountain and be left alone.

Became a slave to the Government, working in the engine room of an aircraft carrier, after 20yrs & 5days, had enough of that.

Now I work as a field tech for a company that builds turbines and generators for power plants. Pretty good gig, I hope it doesn't end too soon.

Still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I seem to be allergic to early morning and hard work, which limits my choices...

 

[Bazookadale]

High school: I just wanted to live in a cave at the top of a mountain and be left alone.

.

That sounds real good to me - as long as the cave is heated in the winter and air conditioned in summer!

 

[BsSmith]

When I was really little, I wanted to be a firefighter. After about a year of that, I decided that I wanted to be a brain/heart surgeon. In about 3rd grade, when I realized that my hands were too shaky for that, I decided that I wanted to be a rocket scientist instead, and that hasn't changed yet. Next year, I'm leaving for college to study aerospace engineering.

 

[Rocket86]

When I was 5, my mind was made up: Paleontologist, hands down. I stuck with that until my teens. Then I started driving and wanted to race cars. I did that on the side for many years, and that redirected my path to engineering. My Mom always urged me to be a pilot. I've been an engineer in the aviation industry for 24 years, and still hoping to learn to fly.

 

[Beergnome]

I always wanted to be like Evel Knievel

my official beer drinking mug at the Pub, in the attached picture

When I was but a wee little beer gnome I wanted to be a scientists.. as years went on, I figured out that I really wanted to be a MAD scientist. and further research showed that my mad scientest hero's were actually more like slightly iritated engineers..

I still fiddle around in iritated engineering..

There was the stint when I wanted to be a cartoonist/comic book artist guy.I still shop my doodles around here and there, and have been published a few times.

in highschool I went out for the civil aviation class, but my maths weren't good enough, so I settled into the Broadcast journalism class instead and learned how to be a DeeJay, from there I got into audio engineering. never found real meeningfull work in that field.. but I still do Voice over work here and there and help the wife out with her internet radio show every once in a while.

meanwhile I didled around with the Bass guitar and hooked up a with a little punk rock group band and we toured all up and down the east coast, had some fun times, met a lot of my musical hero's James Hetfield called me a D**k, and I had to show Joey Ramone where the Bathroom was, hung out with GWAR for a while and are still buddies with those guys.
I still have my 500 watt personal mixing PA system and use that when I DeeJay various parties at the brewery throughout the year

All the while.. I wasnt making any money, so I got a job as an apprentece on the manufacturing floor of my fathers engineering firm.. and started to learn how to build, wire, and automate big industrial machinery. ever had a Kool-aide spuirt bottle? I built and programed the control panel for that machine when I was 22. The automations department of the company split from the mechanical wing and I went with them and in five years the boss managed to run the company into the ground. during that time I had taken up homebreweing beer. and had taken to hanging out after work at the pub of the brewery here.
So, the day I helped the boss lay off all my co-workers, "its just temporary, we'll be calling everyone back withen six months, ride on unemployment, and you'll be back at work before you know it!" I went up to the pub to console myself, got into a conversation with the brew master at the time, and he told me they needed someone to run the new bottling line. considering I used to build the dang things I said, "well, heck, I can do that!"

so I was unemployed for about two hours. and Ive been toiling in the beer mines ever since... I celebrate 11 years here in October. My role is mostly cold side cellar work. I can work the tower, I just dont normaly do so, my cold side skills are too valuable, so I mostly get to torment the apprentices, and run the other cellar men around while I experiment with new techniques for moving the beer around and getting it ready for packaging. and help fix things when they break.
since I ruined a perfectly good hobby of home brewing beer by going pro I diddle around in various RC and modeling related hobbies... just stuff to keep my fingers occupied after work.

 

[Rocketman248]

I still have no idea what I want to be.

As a kid, I never really gave much thought to what I wanted to be. When I got into high school, I realized I had a passion for sound engineering. I became the head sound guy for my high school, got an internship at a recording studio, and was accepted to a recording school. There was a 2 year waiting list for the school, so I went to community college in the meantime. Unfortunately, I was pretty immature (stupid), and I skipped a bunch of classes. Needless to say, my parents were none too happy when my grades came out. I was told that if I wanted to go back, I would have to pay for it myself. That's when I decided to check out the Navy.

Right now, I'm kind of at a crossroads. I'm looking at three options right now. I have a little over a year left on my current enlistment. The first option would be to reenlist again. If I were to do that, I would end up staying in for the full 20 years. The second option would be to try to get a job at Wallops Island. I'd be doing the same thing I'm doing now, but without the headache of being in the Navy. The third option would be to get out of the Navy all together, and go to college full time.

I'll probably end up doing a little of all three. Stay in the Navy, go to school online, and then come to Wallops when I retire.

 

[Beergnome]

have you read my stories of more or less growing up at the end of the runway at wallops? I say go for it if you can.

I dont think I could move into rocket surgery so late in life at this point, besides the fun "making stuff go whoosh and boom" that Ive taken up as of late. y'know they doa webcast out of wallops whenever they shoot up sounders right? Its dang entertaining listing to the controll room banter. the last launch, they were under a weather shutdown and somebody was out in the sound on a fishing boat.. and they were concentrating on a controll room shed that had a door open becuase the guys in there had propt open a door to smoke a couple of ciggerettes!
I was watching the countdown on my computer, having a morning smoke, diddling around with a rocket, getting ready for a midafternoon launch, the wife was just waking waking up and twisting a rollie up and we had a good laugh about the banter launch director was PISSED that the dudes in shed #5 were having a smoke at 9am waiting for the weather to clear.

 

[foamy]

When I was very, very young, I wanted to be a truck driver. My dad worked for a large trucking company and I got to ride with the guys who shuffled the trailers.

Then I figured out that I liked to draw and from age 8 or so, decided that I was going to be an artist. Of course, like many here, I also wanted to fly something, anything. Tried all the services and they all said no. I wear glasses. Had a full scholarship to engineering school, but I knew I wasn't cut out to be an engineer. So I went to art school. I've been an art director, illustrator and designer now for 32 years. I'd still like to be the next John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer or Edward Hopper---unfortunately, I'd have had to devote the last 32+ years to that exclusively. Alas, I've had a lot of fun and I don't know what will come next as I'm pretty much considered a dinosaur in this industry. We'll see.

I do wish Wallops was hiring designers. That neck of the woods is what the mid-shore used to be like twenty years ago. That and I could live at the beach very easily.

 

[skybuster]

Well, as I should start college next year, I'm torn between both law and medicine (brain and heart surgeon), and I'm considering a double major for both. I've always wanted a career that offers A LOT of travel, and from trolling the net, I've learned that surgeons with doctors without borders seem to travel, as well as an international law attorney. I have always wondered if it would be better to have money or to have power, and that debate has caused many sleepless nights! Since I'm a senior in high school, I've been paying ,what some would consider, too much time reading, researching, debating, and learning about politics. It sounds really ambitious, impossible, and optimistic, however with the way the world is going, I would love to be our great nations president and get us back on top as the nation we once were. But I guess that's just an overly optimistic dream that will eventually be discarded.

 

[rcktnut]

Always wanted to be at least a multi millionaire or billionaire but unsuccessfull. Now a retired construction worker!!! Would have been nice to have a 5 square mile or so plot of land planted in well maintained sod for a launch field!!!

 

[Beergnome]

Well, as I should start college next year, I'm torn between both law and medicine (brain and heart surgeon), and I'm considering a double major for both. I've always wanted a career that offers A LOT of travel, and from trolling the net, I've learned that surgeons with doctors without borders seem to travel, as well as an international law attorney. I have always wondered if it would be better to have money or to have power, and that debate has caused many sleepless nights! Since I'm a senior in high school, I've been paying ,what some would consider, too much time reading, researching, debating, and learning about politics. It sounds really ambitious, impossible, and optimistic, however with the way the world is going, I would love to be our great nations president and get us back on top as the nation we once were. But I guess that's just an overly optimistic dream that will eventually be discarded.

sir.. dont worry about being the president.. its a crab job that you get crapped all over for doing and you either have had to want the job all your life, and the ambition to get it.. or have been groomed for it from a very early age.
this country already has enough lawyers. folks have big dreams of doing the right thing and making a diffrence in the world for the little man. and making a lot of money for the trouble.. but, once again.. unless you've wanted it all your life, or have been groomed for the role? most folks end up chasing ambulances for a living.

Medicine.. doctors with out borders.. do the right thing, for yourself, and the world and be a healer.

but hell, Im a bit of an idealist in a lot of ways, some folks have even accused me of being... a liberal..

I, personaly am a brewer... I make beer... and I always like to tell the wide eyed folks that the hours are long and hard, but at lease the pay sucks.. but for it all.. I get a great bit out of my life. Im usually surrounded by joyful people celebrating the victories of thier lives, I also get a fair share of folks lamenting thier failures but the good seems to always outwiegh the bad.

the political types that use the pub and the brewery as a stomping ground, and ive met and hob nobbed with a lot of notable folks... tend to be of a hollow and superficial type. they are vampires. avoid this lifestyle. Be a healer of body an souls, and take as much fun and joy out of this world as you can, and spread it back out to those that need it.

 

[user 13]

I have always wondered if it would be better to have money or to have power, and that debate has caused many sleepless nights!

Please be careful. People who crave money or power often end up with neither.

your career needs to provide you with enough money to live. The important thing is to find something you like. You will be doing it for a LONG time. Thru good times and bad.

Find something you like, be good at it and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[gpoehlein]

When I was younger, I wanted to be a medical researcher (the once and forever geek, eh?). As a result, I ended up getting a BS in Biology, with a minor in Chemistry. Unfortunately, without grad school (which I couldn't afford) that was as far as that went. Ended up spending my entire work career (to date) in Quality Assurance).

If I had to do it all over again? Mathematics (which I do have an aptitude for). Would have been interesting either being a high school Math teacher or college instructor. Ah well... We know not where the Journey will take us...

 

[luke strawwalker]

When I was younger, I wanted to be a medical researcher (the once and forever geek, eh?). As a result, I ended up getting a BS in Biology, with a minor in Chemistry. Unfortunately, without grad school (which I couldn't afford) that was as far as that went. Ended up spending my entire work career (to date) in Quality Assurance).

If I had to do it all over again? Mathematics (which I do have an aptitude for). Would have been interesting either being a high school Math teacher or college instructor. Ah well... We know not where the Journey will take us...

That's neat, Greg...

But as for the teacher part-- you're better off at the dairy company... trust me.

Teaching is a $6 an hour job that requires a $100,000 college education... hell I don't know WHY my wife and sister and BIL stick with it. My sister hardly ever sees her own kids-- my parents are practically raising them (granted she's a junior high band director/asst. high school director, the pay is SLIGHTLY better but the hours S-U-C-K!!!) At least my wife gets the summers off (so far, until they decide to go to year-round school).

I thought about it once upon a time, but I'd want to teach history-- teach kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think like modern schools do... My BIL is a HS history teacher... he got his principal shingle but he can't get a job now that the gubmint is broke and the schools are broke with them. Heck, they all live in mortal fear of losing their jobs, and NOBODY is hiring-- you may find ONE position actually being refilled in the area, and about 150 teachers applying for it. Nothing matters anymore except how well your kids did on the standardized tests, and if you teach in a school with the wrong 'demographics' where kids of certain racial/cultural backgrounds DO NOT value education (it's not "cool" to be smart, and they're constantly striving to achieve a "rep" (reputation) rather than achieve anything but making "the man's" life miserable) when they inevitably score poorly, YOU as the teacher MUST be to blame! God forbid we put blame where it TRULY lies, in bankrupt culture and morals, or idiotic racial proclivities and a "gimme" attitude that causes kids to get grades in the 20th and 30th percentiles ON OPEN BOOK TESTS, h3ll with the answers practically GIVEN to them, graded on a CURVE, credit given for putting your NAME on the paper-- because they're just TOO LAZY to do ANYTHING... Meh, it drives me NUTS and I just have to deal with the emotional fallout from the three of them (wife, sister, BIL) coming home crying and sobbing about the latest load of crap dumped on them, kids, parents, other teachers, administration, state, etc.etc. etc...

Of course, if one is so inclined and a glutton for punishment, the school systems are hurting for math/science teachers SO bad that they'll take practically anybody. If you have a batchelors it's not hard to get in. Here in Texas we have alternative certification programs that will get you your teachers license in less than a year, and you can do it while still 'on the job' whereever one happens to be now. My uncle went to work for Region III doing alternative certification after about 20 years as a high school ag teacher... teaching the teachers is much better! In fact, when my wife got 'the itch' again (left retail dept. manager position after about 15 years, taught in Tennessee after graduating college and had to work RETAIL nights/weekends just to pay the bills because teacher pay sucks so bad in Tennessee) she went through alternative cert with my uncle. She had her degree and certificate from Tennessee, but most states don't 'reciprocate' their teacher's licenses, forcing people to blow a bunch of money to get 'certified' to teach in another state. (money making scheme-- when I was in the police academy, we learned most states have 'reciprocal agreements' where you just take a little test on the law and maybe a refresher course to bring you up to speed on the differences in the law in the new state vs. the old state and your good to go-- for teachers they make it hard so they can make a boatload of money off them before 'allowing' them to go back to work). Basically if you want to be a teacher, especially a math/science teacher, they can get you in and certified if you have a couple thousand to drop on the process and want to take the time to do it. I've told my sister time and time again she should just go do alternative certification and get her math/science teacher's credentials and take a nice classroom job and drop the band crap like a hot potatoe... too much before school/after hours/summer crap! But despite her whining, I guess she loves it or she'd do something else. I DO know that she wanted to go back to college a couple years ago to become a nurse (like Dad suggested she do in the FIRST PLACE when she was at Texas Tech) so she could make some REAL money and have better hours, but she's still paying off college loans and they're up to their eyeballs in debt... So that was a non-starter...

Later! OL JR

 

[MarkII]

When I was young I wanted to be Pharaoh's chief pyramid designer.

But I eventually gave up on that dream when I realized that I didn't have the Cheops for it.

 

[harsas]

When I was young I wanted to be Pharaoh's chief pyramid designer.

But I eventually gave up on that dream when I realized that I didn't have the Cheops for it.

BA DUM BUM

 

[MarkII]

BA DUM BUM

Awww Khufu!

 

[luke strawwalker]

Awww Khufu!

Where's the smilie for the "snaggle tooth hillbilly laugh"

Hurrrr, hurrr, HURRR.... (sticking snaggle tooth grin out while slapping chest with hand palm out) :dark::neener::bat:oint::rofl:

Later! OL JR

 

[quickburst]

I wanted to be a Veterinarian, settled for being a Plumber (17 years). Then went to work as an operator at Dow Chemical, later Dow made me a Project Coordinator. Now I'm retired and sell rocket stuff.

Both the plumbing field and Dow were very good to me, however retirement is the best job I ever had.

 

[bobkrech]

That's neat, Greg...

But as for the teacher part-- you're better off at the dairy company... trust me.

Teaching is a $6 an hour job that requires a $100,000 college education... hell I don't know WHY my wife and sister and BIL stick with it. My sister hardly ever sees her own kids-- my parents are practically raising them (granted she's a junior high band director/asst. high school director, the pay is SLIGHTLY better but the hours S-U-C-K!!!) At least my wife gets the summers off (so far, until they decide to go to year-round school)....

Later! OL JR

Here in Taxachusetts (not really) we value education a bit more than other parts of the country. You can pay $50K-$60K per year to go to a private university in Boston (includes R+B), but you can also live at home and attend a 2 year community college for $4K per year and/or a 4 year state college for $8K per year. (The 4 year state colleges were initially state teachers colleges.) So for about $32K you can earn a BA or BS in education and obtain certification to teach grades K-12.

We also pay our teacher a reasonable starting salary of ~$30K which is ~$14.50 per hour on a 52 week year or ~$21 per hour on a 185 day mandated year. Teachers must earn tenure after 3 years in a school system or they loose their jobs, but they also have to earn a master's within 5 years, and they take at least one continuing education class per year to maintain teaching certificates which are renewed every 5 years. Teacher who let their certificates expire are ineligible for retirement benefits so there is a great insentive to stay current. Experienced teachers that stay in the system are well rewarded and are earning $75K per year after 10-15 years. They also can retire at 75% of top 3 years pay after 30 years at 55 or older. (Perhaps a bit too generous but they must contribute 11% of salary into retirement benefit contributions.)

But that's what it takes to rank near #1 in most educational testing comparisons.

Bob

 

[ClayD]

Both the plumbing field and Dow were very good to me, however retirement is the best job I ever had.

When i was a kid, i also wanted to retire at 30... i failed...

 

[SteveA]

Like most already, an astronaut. Then, take over the family farm. I ended up in the military for eight years, worked in law enforcement, decided I had seen enough of the bad side of humanity, worked in the oil field, got out of debt, went back to school and got a degree in history, am back in debt, and the director of a library...