What was/is your dream job?

Midpack

Midpack

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
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This could be a fun one. May seem odd on this forum (for those who despise working), but the first job thread did reasonably well so why not?

I am 55 now, but all along I've thought:

1) Lead guitar in a rock band (35 years ago mind you, and I didn't want to be the "vocalist/front man") ie, Eddie Van Halen without the drugs/alcohol.
OR
2) Accomplished restaurant chef (not a celebrity chef) ie, [-]Thomas Keller[/-] Rick Bayless or Alice Waters

...would have been my dream jobs. I was good at math & science and ended up an Engineer, go figure...
 
Algebra teacher. I was good at very quick, accurate tasks (and math/science), became a pharmacist.
 
When I was younger my dream job was video game tester. What could go wrong with playing games all day? Turns out it sucks nothing but same every day drudgery.

Then I wanted to be a chef. Turns out it's crap hours when all your friends are making plans for Saturday night you're planning on being in a hot kitchen.

Travel writer, hey who wouldn't want to travel to exotic locations for free? Nah I read a book by a Lonely Planet writer it's high stress deadlines little pay and lots of work.

I guess I'll stick with software for now.
 
SlowTwitcher said:
Algebra teacher. I was good at very quick, accurate tasks (and math/science), became a pharmacist.
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I did that one for a couple of years along the way, and you didn't miss anything. It looks like a lot more fun from a student's perspective than it really is. There is a lot of homework to grade in the evenings, the students can be smart-alec'y, and the school administration could care less if the students are mathematically literate as long as you pass the star football player.

As for me? I never want to work at another job again, but if the bottom fell out and I needed the money, I guess the job I would mind least would be a programming job that I could do by telecommuting. As long as I am designing the job, let's make it a FORTRAN programming job completely done by telecommuting.
 
As an airplane nut and private pilot, I always dreamed of being an airline pilot. I had visions of driving the heavy metal to exotic locations, staying in nice hotels and eating well between flights, a six-figure salary to allow me to live the good life.

I've also talked to enough airline pilots to know that for many of them, it's seldom as glamorous as my vision.
 
Midpack said:
This could be a fun one. May seem odd on this forum (for those who despise working), but the first job thread did reasonably well so why not?

I am 55 now, but all along I've thought:

1) Lead guitar in a rock band (35 years ago mind you, and I didn't want to be the "vocalist/front man") ie, Eddie Van Halen without the drugs/alcohol.
Click to expand...

I wanted to be Eric Clapton's bass player, but WITH the drugs and alcohol. :D And the groupies. :whistle:
 
When I was a kid, I wanted to be either a cowboy or an 'army guy'. But at some point in time, reality reared it's ugly head, and I found out that there's not too much call for a cowboy in north-central Illinois....and I didn't want go southward to places like Texas, 'cause it's too dang hot down there, and I didn't want to go to, say, Wyoming because it gets too snowy out there. :nonono:

Reality also helped me come to the conclusion that being an 'army guy' could easily make you a target for 'army guys' on the opposing team! Not my Idea of "fun"! I prefer to shoot at things that don't shoot back, like squirrels, rabbits, beer cans, and that sort of stuff! :D

So I guess I ended up in maybe not a 'dream job', but it wasn't a real nightmare either....decent pay, decent benefits, decent hours, (mostly) decent co-workers.....and BEST of all, the ability to retire early!!! BINGO!!!

Want2retire said:
As for me? I never want to work at another job again, but if the bottom fell out and I needed the money, I guess the job I would mind least would be a programming job that I could do by telecommuting.....
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I don't EVER want to be employed again either!!! However, like you say, "if the bottom fell out"....me, I'd become a 'pan-handler'....NO boss, NO taxes, NO set hours, NO set location!!! "Hey, buddy, can ya spare a [-]dime[/-] dollar or two?" :whistle:
 
Ski instructor ... might still happen if we move to the lake full time.

Golf instructor ... in my dreams (I NEED lessons).
 
With the definition of a job being an activity that someone pays you to do, I am afraid that there is always a gotcha in there somewhere. Well, if it is all fun, why doesn't the person who pays you do it himself?

For a time, I followed Anthony Bourdain's TV episodes. Being somewhat of a foodie (but I am not yet ready to pay for Thomas Keller's expensive dinner like the OP has done) in addition to loving travel, I got interested in his adventures despite his often vulgar language (it is already tamed down on TV - he appears a lot worse in real life). You would think that Bourdain's was a good job to travel to interesting places, and to eat "interesting" food at somebody else's expenses.

I read a couple of his books, and yes, he loves what he is doing now a lot more than being a chef, but it is not without drawbacks. He lamented of several times being told by his insisting producer that he had to eat some gross local food for shock effects. Thanks, but no thanks. Though nobody will ever pay me to be a traveler like Bourdain or Zimmern, I'd rather pay my own way and travel more modestly in order to be allowed to choose my own food.

I like my part-time work now. It allows me extended free time off to contemplate the meaning of life, to do house exterior staining :rolleyes:, and to BS here in this forum. I have nobody to supervise, no budget to manage. I was spared of most bureaucratic BS. Performance assessment is most simple; if they like what I produce, we continue. If we cannot come to a mutual agreement, I walk. It works well for my clients, and it works well for me too. And I can "afford" to have this job because of the money saved by a life-long LBYM philosophy.

Now, only if I can have a bit more control over my time-off periods. There are always fractious infighting at any Megacorp, and they have to settle between themselves on what and how to do things. Hence, I have to wait and be on call. A smaller client I have for 1099 jobs is affected even more by the economy, and they have little control over their work load.

So, I get to go to interesting places, meet "interesting" people :rolleyes:, doing things that are easy for me, and get paid reasonably well. It is not a dream job, but I am not complaining.
 
I would have liked to teach Spanish in one of your small historical prestigeous college towns. But teenagers no....please:cool:
 
Maybe a Park Ranger. Have no idea about the hours or pay. But the view would be great. And you get to meet folks from all over (and they think you're an expert :))
 
Resident poet at a small college on the New England coast.
 
NW-Bound said:
I like my part-time work now. It allows me extended free time off to contemplate the meaning of life, to do house exterior staining :rolleyes:, and to BS here in this forum. I have nobody to supervise, no budget to manage. I was spared of most bureaucratic BS. Performance assessment is most simple; if they like what I produce, we continue. If we cannot come to a mutual agreement, I walk. It works well for my clients, and it works well for me too.
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What do you do?
 
Designing electronic "stuff", both hardware and software. Analytical work on large systems. No Web software, no Windoz stuff, no Oracle, no database, the kinds of things that other people do. I wish I could say more, but can't in order to maintain anonymity.
 
My dream job would be to be a writer . I picture myself working and living in a brownstone or another old house somewhere in New England .
 
Moemg said:
My dream job would be to be a writer.
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Then, you would have writer's mental block, and have to avoid phone calls from your editor reminding you of the advance that you have already spent. :nonono:
 
I always wanted to be a pro baseball player. I'm starting to think I'm too old and not good enough for that.
 
I really don't know. I have a lot of hobbies that I rotate out in in. Then pick up new ones, lose interest, move on. Not sure there is something I'd really like to do as a dream job.
 
I wanted to be a seismologist when I grew up, studying earthquakes and volcanoes and doing data collection out in the field. :D USGS was my target as an employer, or an oil exploration or geophysical service companies as second tier choices.

I had to settle for engineer, stuck behind a desk, going to meetings, running contracts. :( But I did manage to stay in the laboratory 50% of the time. :cool:
 
MuirWannabe said:
Maybe a Park Ranger. Have no idea about the hours or pay. But the view would be great. And you get to meet folks from all over (and they think you're an expert :))
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My original "perfect" job was to be a Ranger, spending long periods of time in a smoke tower, communing with nature, taking care of the environment, and in general being paid to be a hippy. Marriage pretty much put an end to that particular fantasy. ;)
 
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