Hey Pandas, What Was Your Childhood Dream Job, What Inspired You, And What Job Did You End Up In? (Closed)

To anybody out there who might have posted a submission to this thread or who might feel that they will never get their dream job because it is "unrealistic" go check out the Bored Panda article about the Australian zoo keeper. Remember, the loudest voice telling you that you cannot do something is usually your own.

My dream job as a child was to be a Spanish Teacher - inspired by my amazing Spanish Teacher (who I heard has sadly since passed). She had such a love of the subject, and she made every lesson fun and exciting. It took a long time, and several deviations along the path (including but not limited to failing my finals at University due to unrecognised and severe mental health issues - v taboo in the 90s), but at the age of 40, after restarting my degree, I graduated with a BA Hons in Spanish and French, and qualified as a teacher just over a year later. I'm now a teacher of MFL in a wonderful school, and I'ver never been happier in a job - even with all the Covid restrictions and insanity!

I'm still a kid and don't have a job but, I want to do something with art like, voice acting, acting, tattooing, or even just a freelance artist! I feel like I have some sort of talent and people have complemented me on my art before so I feel like I should.

Since I was little i’ve always had a love for horses. My moms side is all Southern and I’ve always looked up to my grandpa because of all the accomplishments he’s done. He was a rancher and did all of the rodeo events you could think of growing up. Late 2020 his life was at risk and nearly died 3 times, but I got really inspired to be in the rodeo industry. So about 7 months ago I joined and now I’m a team rope

Initially, I considered being a part of the local law enforcement in my area. Of course, with all the protests now, that would indeed be a very questionable choice, rightfully and respectfully so. Fast forward to my sophomore year, I found out about music therapy through a current music therapy student who was our band's percussion coach at the time. He helped further spark my interest in the field, and here I am pursuing it today. 4 years, 1200 hours, 6 months, and a board exam until I get the certification and degree!

I went through a lot of phases, like I wanted to be a police officer, an author, an astronomer, among many others, but now I reeeeeeeeally want to study ancient civilizations, or something in anthropology. I've always loved learning about the language, diet, religion, traditions, housing, art, cultural impact, etc. of any civilization in the world and I have an intense hunger for that knowledge. I'm still young though, so we'll see what the future holds.

I've just read a lot of the posts that people have entered here. There seems to be a recurring string of thought, especially by you younger ones. That you want to be someone or do something but you know it won't happen or that it's unrealistic. What you do with your life, what you become is more than just a paycheck or a title. It's an expression of who you are, what your values are, where you stand in life. And to aspire to do something you feel is unrealistic isn't something to look at negatively, don't feed that, negativity feeds on negativity. Feed it only positive. Say you want to become an artist. Maybe you can't live on an artists income, but that doesn't mean that it is exclusive to any other type of work you may choose to do. I'm old now, my work days in the shop are over. But during the coarse of my career I worked in the shop during the day and did my art work and wrote at nights and on weekends. I made money doing both but my main source of income was my ability to fix things. So don't think that you can't have a job because you think it's unrealistic. Just think of ways to get there.

I wanted to be a published author (preferably famous lol). I wound up becoming a paralegal, which is actually a fantastic use of my writing skills, but it's not really creative writing - at least, not in the sense that novels are. I still write short stories and poems on my own time.

I wanted to be an author/writer. I had a great aunt who worked for the Chicago Sun-Times. She sent me books for presents and encouraged me to write. What did I end up being? I'm 73 and have had a lot of jobs: librarian, teacher, publicist, theatrical costumer, and book reviewer among others. After I retired I wrote a series of books that were published, so now after a lifetime of being a writer, I'm also an author. My message to you: Never give up! You'll get there if you work at it. Peace.

I wanted to do something in theatre. Not on stage, but "something else". I'm a stage manager now.

My first dream job as child was to become a scientist on Board of a space ship like the Enterprise.
I knew it was a tv-series but was to young to realize there are no spaceships yet, I thought there was a filmstudio somewhere in the earths orbit. ^^' - my mother had to explain it to me that it's all fake and SF. Sort of devasteted me, I so wanted to be like Spock.
I'm now a teacher and it's very satisfying to help others gain knowledge and help them find their dream jobs. ^_^

I always wanted to work in a scientific field relating to animals, conservation etc. Things didn't go to plan, I didn't go to uni, and have been working in IT for nearly 10 years an dit made me miserable. Anyways, I quit my job and am starting a degree in environmental science in a few weeks! Follow your dreams people!

I wanted to be a mechanic. I'm a female, so my parents talked me out of it so I became the worst accountant ever. I got fired, went back to school and now I'm a mechanic.

I wanted to be a cartoonist like John (from Garfield) but low-key I thought it wasn't a real job at all.

Now I'm 27 and I'm a professor illustrator 😁

I want to be a therapist, so I can try to help people overcome challenges. Right now, though, I babysit, and am looking forwarded to becoming 14 so I can get an actual job. (I'm 12 now)

For most of elementary school I wanted to be a book editor, so that I could get paid to read. Then I decided that I wanted to make video games. King's Quest, Space Quest, Full Throttle, I wanted to do that. I went into computer science and my day job is a programmer. I did not, as originally planned, leave my province after a few years to get a job with EA or some other big game company. By that time I knew too much about how terrible those companies treat their employees, and was too invested in family/friends where I am. But I *do* work feverishly on games in my spare time. Books too. In addition to a couple dozen less-complete projects, I have one book at like 6th draft (nearly ready to send out!) and one tabletop RPG at blind playtesting stage (also nearly ready!). I'm also working on a multi-game adventure game series. So... I think I did pretty well for myself!

I wanted to be an astronaut...I'm a mortician.

My dream job was to be a cowboy like my dad. I did clean stalls for quite a while but I still wasn't a cowboy. I am now answer the phones for 811 Call before you dig. I did have horses though and am now looking for another.

I wanted to be an astronaut, but I am not physically fit. I am very dramatic, so I became an actress. Tecnically, this is not my job, I pay to be in programs because I am a child. But I see this as my future job. Emma Watson inspires me.

I've wanted to be a Youtuber. Got my account in November, currently 100+ subs. Learning how to record better and do better editing.