What do you want to be when you grow up?
 

Rexav8r made this suggestion for a thread.
"What do you guys want to be when you grow up....?? Anyone like me and go to school for one thing and end up doing something completely different.... Maybe that'd be a good thread (with a Monty Python twist) ...and now for something completely different..."

Me - I got a masters in Materials Engineering. Worked for GM and then 5 years in gummint Aerospace labs. Did some pretty exciting, cutting edge stuff. I always felt like working for someone else was holding me down, not letting me reach my potential. After 10 years of that I started a publishing company and never looked back.

I really didn't have any goals. Fell into a job as a supervisor for a dairy, became the depot manager and sales rep as guys retired, then took over more territory through a period of almost 25 years before downsizing hit.

Now I'm a contract provider, functioning as a Heritage Interpreter at the only tidal power generating plant in North America. I'm having far more fun than I ever did working for a living.

Life is good right now.
Les

I'll be danged if I'm ever gonna grow up...life is too good :)!

I spent 12 years working on a production floor as Maintenance, Robotics programmer and Manufacturing Engineer I then went back and earned my BS in Mechanical Engineering. Afterwards and currently I am nearing completion of a 2 years Operations Leadership Engineering rotation where concluding I will take on a management role within operations.

I find myself dreaming each and every day about starting, from the ground up, an automobile company following a similar path as Ferdinand Porsche. Most likely, with all the government regulations, it would resemble something closer to Factory Five Racing in its business model.

I know the car I want to build for me.

Speedy:)

Me............automotive designer. I love to draw cars. As a kid back in the early 60's, I sent sketches to GM and Chrysler. Wanted to go to the Art Center School of Design in LA, Cali. Started to put a portfolio together when I realized I had no money to go to school. Lowered my sites to automotive engineering and a local state 4 yr school. Didn't have money for that either. Ended up at a community college and finally at U of I at Chicago. I funded my tuition. A degree in Mechanical Engineering. No regrets as I am very sucessful.

I still draw; worked out of art studios for years and have a studio at home. Work in pastels and markers; it is my hobby. A marker painting: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306757938.jpg

Fighter Pilot.

I am an electrical engineer. I do exactly what I went to school for and have for a couple of decades. When I grow up I want to be a pirate or a secret agent.

In the words of Jimmy Buffett, "My occupational hazard is my occupation's just not around..."

Wouldn't mind going back to flying full time and doing architecture part time bit it pays significantly better to do it the other way around... Eventually perhaps/

good question
 

I ended up in financial services, which to be honest is not enormously fulfilling. Maximizing shareholder value....yahoo

I have a nice house, great kids and a wonderful wife and a solid pension to look forward to.

However, I don't get the work fulfillment that other folks may get.

I've considered a change of careers to perhaps teaching, but the impact financially is a bit too steep and I'm risk averse when it comes to my families finances.

Instead, I focus on saving as much money as I can so that I can retire early and hopefully healthy. In the meantime, I try to enjoy my life outside of work with the kids, travel and car hobbies.

With any luck, I hope to retire in my mid fifties (9 years from now) and enjoy phase 2 of my life:

-more time with my wife and kids
-snowboarding in the winter
-classic car restoration in the garage
-a bit of travel
-perhaps get a degree in philosophy
-more painting (of the art kind)
-more model building
-more nooners!;)

I'm still trying to figure out...


I do know I want to be rich, if that helps. :D

Currently, I'm graduating high school (in a week) and I am going to college for Computer Engineering. I wonder what I'll be doing 10 years from now.

Astronaut as a day job. Porn star on nights and weekends.

Sorry, everyone knows Superman can't have do porno: his ejaculate travels at the speed of sound causing all kinds of problems for the sound guy not to mention the co-star's head.SmileWavy

An Alaskan bush pilot or that guy who steers the back end of the fire engine.

Got a degree in journalism, spent the next 40 years in newspapers and enthusiast magazines. Have lived more-or-less comfortably but never really made much money - certainly not enough to put away for a comfortable retirement. But man, has it been a satisfying way to go.

I refuse to grow up.
I am still enjoying my childhood.
I will never be too old to enjoy my happy childhood.
All I need is a few more toys.

A better man,father,husband.........

Younger...

satisfied.

musician

took 4 years off after HS to try the rock star thing - didn't go so well. Entered college as a music major, left with a degree in chemistry. After a phd, postdoc, and 5 years as chemistry professor I gave my 6 months notice (I'm responsible) and moved to a gig as a web developer. Quickly moved to running a new media research center and now design/build interactive training systems, mostly for the military. The only time I use my chemistry is to put the fear of gawd into people at dog and pony talks. I use the critical thinking and analysis skills learned in undergrad/grad every day.

I'll play music until my body quits though. Already 50+ gigs this year. It won't cover the rent though...not even close. But hopefully if I ever retire I'll just keep gigging...

Grow up? NEVER!

What is this "Grow Up" that you speak of?

I want to be retired and enjoying everyday doing whatever strikes my fancy. I've just got to wait another 15 years or so for it. :(

Both good answers. Keith's is basically reality for me. And Supe's are real goals to shoot for but I believe we'll have to rethink the astronaut thing. :D

Ian

either a hockey puck or a dinosaur...

I always wanted to aim high....a Mens Room Attendant...think of all the tips..or failing that a Pet Food Taster...

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

Looks like Nostatic's career exemplifies the courage I know he has. I'm looking for something similar, as I have realized that the industry I was in is not for me. Totally rethinking what I want to do. I realize now that stress is not as fun as it used to be, so the remaining chapters in my life will have a decidedly selfish and "simplify" theme. I am helping my GF put up wood for winter-after-next. I've always loved splitting wood with a mall. Today I will get a load of compost and plant my tomatoes. At age 53, I've decided it's time for me to be happy.

Ninja assassin!

When I retire I want to be that annoying guy playing guitar in the corner of the bar.

Currently an under paid and under appreciated tech for the evil state government.

my serious answer is; HEALTHY.

as i have aged, i realized my stupid youthful bliss was just a fantasy. at this point, i just want to be friggen super healthy in my golden years.

my fun answer? i want to be stable in retirement, so i can be a pirate, big game hunter, ninja..bounty hunter.

all that fun will take a steady retirement income. fuk.

I went to work, at 18 for Southern California Edison Co., in field construction, got an apprentice bid a year later and became a journeyman lineman after four years. At nine years I was recommended for an interview for a new department called Energy Services Load Management and was one of ten interviewees out of 270 to get a position. I became a supervisor after three years in that department, became a division training instructor and took an early retirement in 1987. That's when real life began as I started doing some of the things I had dreamed about while working for someone else. Five years of travel including a half dozen archeology digs, a paleontology dig with Jack Horner, a whale census on the St. Lawrence River , a field manager for a company that sponsored scientific expeditions, two years of cruising up and down the California coast in a VW van, surfing and doing market research for sportswear companies like Billabong, Stussie and Quicksilver. Photography was always a hobby and now it is a third or fourth career (I've lost count). I managed to get a BA in management along the way and the degree and $2.75 gets me a Tall Latte at Starbuck's.
What do I want to be when I grow up? An Astronaut what else.

BTW I do NOT recommend the correspondence course for "male exotic dancer"

Just sayin...

You want to live in a stable? With or without the horses? I suppose the rent would be cheap...

And a Pirate-ninja-bounty hunter... now that has reality TV series written all over it!

I'll be the last one to know...once the kids are well settled into their sail, I'll think more about it. But, come what may and health, I know this: I'll labor at something, attend to my loves and friends, laugh with them as much as practical, never not look someone in the eye.

"We make our plans...

and God Laughs...

As a lad I wanted to be a proctologist... but when it came time to go off to school... I just couldn't leave my brothers behind.

Cowboy, Astronaut, Spy ---hard to decide ?


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306875822.gif

ohhh no not another abe lincoln..

Fighter pilot...Did it.....it sucked....mostly due to the peers you had to work with.
Switched to Army SOCOM....much better......leading world-class Soldiers.

I get paid well to travel the world, watch people blow things up, have car chases and wreck stuff. Why would I want to grow up?

Much like Superman and Nostatic.

I have spent the first half of my life in a trade that stems from duty and pligh to my fellow man. Although it is all good in a number of ways, it does not tick all the boxes in my heart. Deep down I am a Soul Man, in the sense that I get the most from art and music, particularly the latter. Nothing excites me more than composing and playing music. That said, it won´t pay for dinner..