What job did you aspire to when you were a kid?

[JobsforFun]

Dinosaurs. 'Nuff said.

It's nice to see how many of us had scientific aspirations. Then again, this is a forum for fans of a D&D webcomic, so of course most of us are nerds and geeks.



Heh, cool. My local NaNoWriMo coordinator works as a nurse and makes some side money as M/M erotica writer. It seems like a good way to get a book out there, as there's always strong demand.

Agreed, I remember my dinosaur wallpaper that I had in my room. That was fun.

[JobsforFun]

When I was quite young, I wanted to have all the degrees - doctor, lawyer, clergy, and so forth. I wanted to have a dozen letters after my name.

Then I got older and realized just how many years I'd spend in school, not earning an income, before I had them all. I also asked myself what I'd actually do with so many letters in so many varied fields. So I settled on a more reasonable aspiration: Emperor.

As for what I do now, that's easy.

I rule.

I think up to that point of having all those titles you would just automatically become wealthy, or at least very intelligent.

[Tiffanie Lirle]

It seems like a good way to get a book out there, as there's always strong demand.

I'm gonna be honest. It feels like cheating at modern life.

It takes a bit of luck obviously and creative talent mostly including the skill to make a book cover. The writing part is ridiculously easy, the bar is set really really low. But there will always be a market for this stuff. People love smut.

[tomandtish]

Sorry, I meant "the funny thing is, they talk you out of college, then when you want to go into the military, they push to you college. Unless you get officer, which can be done directly with a college degree."

Also, yeah, they don't just throw commissions at degrees, but doesn't it automatically allow you to go into OCS and try to become one? Also, I think different degrees get different ranks. Don't doctors go in as auto Majors?

Depends on the branch (and country), and also how you get there.

In the US, you can go through Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, and become a 2nd Lieutenant (Army, Airforce) or Ensign (Navy) on graduation. You have a commitment expected after completion equal to the time of your education: University time plus Academy time - WestPoint, Air Force Academy, etc.).

Or you can go through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. The Government pays for your education AND a living stipend. You then do your academy time. You then have a commitment equal to time of scholorship + academy +1 year. OTOH, they start at rank of Captain (Army, Air Force) or Lieutenant (Navy). Since it's a scholarship, grade standards are higher.

(I have a friend who went the first route in the 90s, so knew a little about it).

[mr-mercer]

At first I wanted to be an actor, because I loved drama class and being in my school's plays. I wanted to be a cook at one point, though I did go back to being interested in acting after that (eithervway, I'm nowhere near as good at either of these now as I used to be). These days I'm interested in being an author because I love creating worlds and characters, but I'll be working towards a job in administration for a stable income until then.

[Red Fel]

I think up to that point of having all those titles you would just automatically become wealthy, or at least very intelligent.

As someone who has dealt with plenty of men and women of various letters, I can tell you now that neither of those things is true.

With respect to wealth, lawyers and doctors and the like tend to graduate from their programs with huge amounts of debt, and huge uncertainty about where they'll find work. And while certain specializations result in niche, highly marketable skillsets (e.g. patent lawyers, radiologists), most general practitioners are fortunate to make a respectable living. As for clergy, nobody gets rich off of that.

With respect to intelligence, I'll keep it short. There's a saying: What do you call the person who graduated bottom of the class from medical school? Doctor. (Substitute law school/lawyer, etc.) Graduating from a vocational graduate degree is no guarantee of intelligence. I've known some incredibly dumb attorneys and some profoundly brilliant soda jerks.

Me, I'll stay with what I know I do well.

[-Sentinel-]

I'm gonna be honest. It feels like cheating at modern life.

It takes a bit of luck obviously and creative talent mostly including the skill to make a book cover. The writing part is ridiculously easy, the bar is set really really low. But there will always be a market for this stuff. People love smut.

Heh. I didn't dare to say it myself as I feared you would take offense, but I see erotica as the easy way to make a career in creative writing. Not to say that erotica writers are all hacks, but ultimately, I doubt anyone reads erotica for the quality of the prose.

If I were less of a prude, I might try my hand at erotica as a Trojan horse for good writing: attract readers via the promise of steamy sex scenes, then give them quality characterization, interesting plots, deep themes, etc.

[gooddragon1]

People love smut.

Even the people in Skyrim

Example: The ... Argonian Maid

[Peelee]

I'm gonna be honest, I have the creative stamina of a dish rag. I'm terrible at long term projects, such as web-comics or full novels. That and a complex to see results immediately in things I do are the reasons I started writing trash stories.

Writing a full 60 thousand word novel can take months and brings the risk that nobody will even like it despite the invested time. Whereas I can conceptualize a cheap story and characters, write it, create a cover and put something on the market all within 12 hours. Low risk, high reward. If you want an easy way into writing, try it out under a pen-name.

I'd love to, honestly, but it appears a dish rag has far greater creative stamina than I.

[Jay R]

I wanted to be an astronaut. Well, John Glenn circled the globe when I was six, and Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon when I was 13.

I wanted to be a professor. I'm not sure, but I think this was originally inspired by Gilligan's Island.

I wanted to be a scientist or inventor. Tony Stark. Reed Richards.

After my first Philmont Trek, I wanted to be a Philmont Ranger.

I spent two summers as a Philmont Ranger.

I've been a telecom engineer and a "Member of Scientific Staff", getting seven patents.

I've been an Adjunct Professor, and an Instructor at four different colleges, and in fact I'm teaching graduate statistics now.

But I'm still stuck here on Earth.

3 out of 4 isn't bad.

[Peelee]

I wanted to be an astronaut. Well, John Glenn circled the globe when I was six, and Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon when I was 13.

Man, I wish I was alive when that happened. Even the old news clips of it seem amazing and world-shocking now. Very envious of you.

I can relate to being earth-bound. But I figure, I can still go into the space sector and help others who can get up there.

[Starwulf]

Professional Major League Baseball Pitcher ^^. I actually had quite the arm when I was younger, I was throwing 79mph at age 11(technically I was like 2 1/2 weeks from 12, but it sounds better saying I was 11, lol), and I was very accurate.

Nowadays I have no job, I'm technically handicapped(broken back).

[Lycunadari]

I wanted to be a messenger pigeon. I... might not have understood the concept of "being human".

Now I'm studying biology, and, interestingly enough, I might actually become a palaeontologist even though I was never particularly interested in dinosaurs as a kid.

[JobsforFun]

As someone who has dealt with plenty of men and women of various letters, I can tell you now that neither of those things is true.

With respect to wealth, lawyers and doctors and the like tend to graduate from their programs with huge amounts of debt, and huge uncertainty about where they'll find work. And while certain specializations result in niche, highly marketable skillsets (e.g. patent lawyers, radiologists), most general practitioners are fortunate to make a respectable living. As for clergy, nobody gets rich off of that.

With respect to intelligence, I'll keep it short. There's a saying: What do you call the person who graduated bottom of the class from medical school? Doctor. (Substitute law school/lawyer, etc.) Graduating from a vocational graduate degree is no guarantee of intelligence. I've known some incredibly dumb attorneys and some profoundly brilliant soda jerks.

Me, I'll stay with what I know I do well.

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

[Red Fel]

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

Fair point.

Interestingly, though, that's part of why I decided to become Emperor. I figured that god-kings get free schooling, which struck me as a pretty neat benefit. Plus the whole "absolute power" thing.

[Peelee]

I was simply making a joke, I can't even imagine the amount of debt someone would be in with going to school that long.

None at all, if you do it right. First, get the qualifications to teach at a university. Then, teach at a university that grants free tuition to faculty and staff. Dude in India has something like 145 degrees doing that.

Live the dream!

Spoiler: Them letters after his name

Show

[DataNinja]

Interestingly, though, that's part of why I decided to become Emperor. I figured that god-kings get free schooling, which struck me as a pretty neat benefit. Plus the whole "absolute power" thing.

Not to mention there probably wouldn't be any teahers who would dare to, ahem, fail you. Not that you would need classes, being god-king, of course. You're just testing their teaching abilities.

Nice to know someone sees absolute power as a benefit. I see it as 'more power means there are far more ways for me to irreparably screw stuff up'.

[Peelee]

I am so glad to not be American when it comes to education.

I can literally apply to any college here in Germany, save for a few private institutions, and get paid 400-600€ a month from the government until I have the degree, more if I had a disability or children. Meaning I don't have to work during and can focus on learning. This system keeps rolling on until you acquire you desired level of education. Around 12 years after the fact, you have to pay back half of the money you received over a period of 3 years. But only if you have the funds at that point, if you don't.. well no biggy.

Not trying to make a statement, but the concept of paying thousands upon thousands of dollars just to get higher education is mind boggling to me. I don't really understand why people still put up with it over on the left side of the Atlantic.

Just about anything I have to say on the matter would fall on the wrong side of the forum rules, so I'ma hold my peace.

[Iethloc]

When I was little, I kept changing what I wanted to be when I grew up. Mostly, I flipped between wanting to be an astronaut or a paleontologist.

Eventually I settled on something completely different: genetics research.

But then I became very depressed and didn't care about my own future, and that lasted until a couple years ago. Right now I'm just a student, but my end goal is to be able to prescribe hormones to other trans people. I know there's multiple ways to do that, but I haven't completely settled on one yet.

[Florian]

As a kid, I wanted to be an artist.

I have family workings as AD in the right companies so I knew what I´d getting into and how harsh life in a respectable company would be, still I chose to train for it, majoring in Art and Art History.

Three weeks before being accepted into Higher Art School, I got into an industrial accident and my eyes got hurt, damaging my ability to differentiate shades of red.

Out of the hospital, with one day left, I did what I could do an went for the Management School, going into project management for the same companies I couldn't´t work for as an artist. T´was a fun time I learned a lot about human nature and I don´t regret it.

[Domino Quartz]

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.

[Artemis97]

When I was younger, I went through phases of wanting to be a paleontologist (thanks Jurassic Park), a Marine Biologist, a lawyer (I was always good at arguing), and even a movie effects designer. But the one that really stuck with me was Indiana Jones. I wanted to be the female version of Indiana Jones, with the whip and the hat and everything.

I presently have a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Arts and Humanities and a minor in Anthropology. I've been on a dig in Sicily and spent countless hours washing pottery. Archaeology may not be as glamorous as the movies make it out to be, but I really enjoy the study and I've even got the hat!

[Scarlet Knight]

I remember being a kid and being in Kinder-garden and they had us dress up in the career fields we wanted to do and up to that point I had no idea what I wanted to do so I said I wanted to be "Animal Patrol" then after that I discovered Steve Irwin (RIP) and I wanted to go to Australia and work at the zoo....

When I was a child, I watched "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins. I wanted to be a zoologist and save animals all over the world.

Later, like many young boys, I decided I was going to play for the New York Yankees...until I got cut from my high school team.

I'm now a pharmacist. Little did I know, you could be a pharmacist AND play for the Yankees.

[danzibr]

When I was quite young, I wanted to have all the degrees - doctor, lawyer, clergy, and so forth. I wanted to have a dozen letters after my name.

Then I got older and realized just how many years I'd spend in school, not earning an income, before I had them all. I also asked myself what I'd actually do with so many letters in so many varied fields. So I settled on a more reasonable aspiration: Emperor.

As for what I do now, that's easy.

I rule.

Admittedly, one of the reasons I got my PhD was for the title. Love of math, but also 'dat title.

I wonder how one would actually get the title Emperor, though. Assuming you're not born into it, or do some nonsense like founding Petoria.

I'm gonna be honest, I have the creative stamina of a dish rag. I'm terrible at long term projects, such as web-comics or full novels. That and a complex to see results immediately in things I do are the reasons I started writing trash stories.

Writing a full 60 thousand word novel can take months and brings the risk that nobody will even like it despite the invested time. Whereas I can conceptualize a cheap story and characters, write it, create a cover and put something on the market all within 12 hours. Low risk, high reward. If you want an easy way into writing, try it out under a pen-name.

Plus it's surprisingly fun to write the stuff.

Whoa, 12 hours. If you don't mind me asking, how lucrative is this?

None at all, if you do it right. First, get the qualifications to teach at a university. Then, teach at a university that grants free tuition to faculty and staff. Dude in India has something like 145 degrees doing that.

Live the dream!

Spoiler: Them letters after his name

Show

Daaaaaaaaang. Yup, there's that PhD at the bottom.

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.

Oh yeah! I forgot I desired this for some time.

[lylsyly]

Philosopher, even got my bachelor's.

Of course, there are no real job openings for that (although the degree helped with promotions when I was in the Army).

Soldier, worked out great for 13 1/2 years, then Uncle Billy's Congress decided to make the Army smaller and I got cut.

Carpenter, then age starts to get to you and you really don't want to work that hard anymore.

Itinerant Bum, working out okay so far .

[2D8HP]

It pays the rent here, but it isn't enough to buy a house with.....

With how much prices have gone up lately where I live and work millionaire is not enough to buy a house.

[tantric]

i had this little book i was supposed to fill in. where it said "What do you want to be when you grow up?" i wrote, HAPPY. basically, born buddhist

more informatively, i wanted to be a naturalist. i had this amazing book, 'the amateur naturalist' it had this outrageous appendix that showed you how to, among other things, take a dead mouse, dissolve the flesh then mount the skeleton....

[Corlindale]

When I was very, very young I wanted to be a wizard, but unfortunately I soon discovered that this was physically impossible. This was years before Harry Potter, so I don't know where it came from. I've also wanted to be a scientist, a librarian and a programmer. I still dream of being an author or otherwise creating something.

I mostly teach English as a second language to teenagers, although my Major is actually Philosophy (profit??). It's a pretty good job, all in all. Flexible hours and a lot of creative freedom in how to teach and what materials to use.

[Peelee]

When I was very, very young I wanted to be a wizard, but unfortunately I soon discovered that this was physically impossible.

Should have become a physicist and made it possible.

[Arutema]

I wanted to be a game programmer/developer.

That was my aspiration for the longest time too. Then I actually got in to the video game industry as QA and saw how ugly the industry was on the inside. (80+ hour work week crunches to finish a project, followed by layoffs now that the project's done.)

So I took my degree in general computer programming sideways a bit, and settled into a sysadmin job in the web hosting industry. I'm content to write videogame mods and tabletop game homebrew in my spare time.