As I am currently in a "phase of transition", in which I am re-evaluating all my career decisions from the past for future "change of course", it made me wonder: am I the only one who ended up being qualified in something he hates?

 

So I'd like to ask you:

 

What did you want to become when you were a kid?
What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

What did you end up learning for/studying

What is your current age, and what did you become?

 

I dreamt of a live of adventure as a kid, thinking that being an pilot was the coolest thing ever, getting to fly those huge planes and being served coffee by stewardesses (I was 5 yo, so my dreams didn't go much further than coffee, okay?).

Then, it turned out I couldn't be a pilot due to eyesight, so I figured I'd be an army officer, but alas, I was one of the 80% being turned down. I was going to be accepted as a sergeant, but I didn't like that, because the sarge in Tour of Duty had a hell of a life.

 

So I ended up studying something, not knowing what I wanted to be. And basically, that has been my career: not knowing what I want

I did discover that Planning and Control, as well as Bookkeeping *suck* !!!! So that's where I am now (at 35).

 

Your turn

 

Let's see, back when I was a kid I wanted to become a Marine. Dont ask me why, they just fascinated me and the word "Marine" sounds awesome. Though, as I grew up, I discovered the thing that people call "games." So, I played and played. And gained a lot of weight and had a lack of excercise, I gave up on enlisting.

Anyways, I took up a computer course for the heck of it. I can program, but Im no pro. I did also learn how to play the bass guitar when I was 14 and learned a few more instruments as I grew up. Now Im 20 and have no Idea what I want to pursue for my future career. Im trying to see if my musical career can help sustain my future though.

Im really boring, wanted to be a Radiographer as a kid, went and studied it, now doing it. Also moving into Cardiac and Interventional Radiography, which is awesome. Only 23, so who knows where my road will go.

What did you want to become when you were a kid?

Baseball player.

What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

Professional fireman.

What did you end up learning for/studying

Enlisted in the US Army for 3 years. Got a degree after I got out in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health.

What is your current age, and what did you become?

29+1, Industrial Hygienist.

Edited February 11, 201412 yr by sapper

What did you want to become when you were a kid?

Inspired by my father and other family members,I wanted to join the military.

 

What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

Supreme dictator of the entire planet. (No, really)

 

What did you end up learning for/studying

A few things. Networking, graphic design, cosmology. Never made up my mind.

 

What is your current age, and what did you become?

22. An average person with a boring life, no career and no college degree.

What did you want to become when you were a kid?
007


What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo
death. the destroyer of worlds. i'd also have settled (and would still settle) for the title of supreme dicktator

What did you end up learning for/studying
economics


What is your current age, and what did you become?
i do tech support for a crappy american company you probably heard of.

Seems that we are in similar situations, Cadana.

 

What did you want to become when you were a kid?

Football (soccer) player

What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

Scientist

 

What did you end up learning for/studying

Science, but I quickly became disillusioned and never finished.

What is your current age, and what did you become?

34, and I'm an operator in the hospitality industry (family business)

 

Thinking of going back to school and doing a 'take 2'.

(...)

Thinking of going back to school and doing a 'take 2'.

 

How are you going to do that? How will you fund schooling AND keep the bills paid? I've been thinking of that too, but then the mortgage bill comes in :s

 

What did you want to become when you were a kid?

Soldier

What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

Soldier

What did you end up learning for/studying

Enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces became an officer. Injured myself and got out on med leave. Got a degree in Engineering

What is your current age, and what did you become?

21, finishing up a degree in Computing Science and now have a job working for microsoft.

 

(...)

Thinking of going back to school and doing a 'take 2'.

 

How are you going to do that? How will you fund schooling AND keep the bills paid? I've been thinking of that too, but then the mortgage bill comes in :s

 

With great difficulty I suspect. Thankfully I'm not burdened with any debt at the moment so there is wiggle room if I play my cards right. It's quite scary to be honest!

 

 

 

 

(...)

Thinking of going back to school and doing a 'take 2'.

 

 

 

How are you going to do that? How will you fund schooling AND keep the bills paid? I've been thinking of that too, but then the mortgage bill comes in :s

 

 

With great difficulty I suspect. Thankfully I'm not burdened with any debt at the moment so there is wiggle room if I play my cards right. It's quite scary to be honest!

This is why I haven't gone to college. Hell, if I had the money Id go to school my whole life and learn everything I can.

I've seen several friends go to college, they always come back in debt and half of them never get the job they just learned.

Its not very encouraging.

Kid (05-13) - Wanted to be a professional athlete....either Soccer or Baseball

Early Teen years - Did a survey/thing at school that told you jobs that you'd probably like, 1 of them was pyrotechnician which sounded awesome and wanted to be

Late Teen - Physical Therapist 

20's - Golf Course Superintendent

 

This is why I haven't gone to college. Hell, if I had the money Id go to school my whole life and learn everything I can.

I've seen several friends go to college, they always come back in debt and half of them never get the job they just learned.

Its not very encouraging.

 

That seems to be the trend, unless what you study is very specific (Doctor, Engineer) and even then a lot of people end up in different industries!

College has become very unattainable for most.  Most jobs require a college education these days, yet now a days to get a degree you have to come out owing your life to banks and loan companies and struggle to find a job, and if you do, the starting salaries are hardly enough to pay for the loans.

 

Hell, I went to University of Pittsburgh for a year before I transferred to the Turf Program at Rutgers, and 1 year for school/board/food even after a $10,000 grant was $35,000 for me being out of state.  If i would of simply stayed and got just a Bachelor degree, I would of $140,000 in debt.  And people wonder why people are now living with their parents longer and longer, it's because it's not possible for an individual to pay student loans, and also pay a mortgage or rent.  And the loans are usually 10-15 year terms...not 30 years like a house.  I ended up finishing college with about 65k in debt...and i pay around $800 a month is just student loans.  It's become unreal, and those are just numbers for a Bachelor degree..tack on quite a few 10's of thousands more for a master's degree, and even more for PHD..etc.

 

It's becoming where either someone has well off parents who pay for their college, or students come out swarmed with debt and debt collectors, and cannot start their life on their own til longer and longer in life.  My advice to anyone is to go to a community college for 2 years, get pre-reqs out of the way, then transfer to a 4 year and finish your Bachelor there.  As well as, out of state tuition is so much higher then in state...i certainly wish I would have chosen an in state college.  But at the time, I was so keen to go to a college ranked high in what I wanted to do, I didn't think of the cost til after I was done and suddenly the payments are due.  

 

My sister basically screwed her credit up, along with my mom who co-signed to get her college loans, because she came out and couldn't get a job to pay for them, and ended up defaulting on them.  Now, she can't get shit because it has ruined her credit for years and years, as well as my mothers.  It's almost becoming better off to not go to school, work at a place and slowly work your way up in a manger position, and not make bank, but not be swamped in debt and paying it off well into your 30's

Seems that we are in similar situations, Cadana.

 

What did you want to become when you were a kid?

Football (soccer) player

 

What did you want to become when you were 16-17 yo

Scientist

 

What did you end up learning for/studying

Science, but I quickly became disillusioned and never finished.

What is your current age, and what did you become?

34, and I'm an operator in the hospitality industry (family business)

 

Thinking of going back to school and doing a 'take 2'.

Can I ask what made you feel disillusioned, and so rapidly about science?  What would you pursue the second time around?

I can't remember...didn't really have a firm ambition as a child. 

 

16-17-Lawyer

 

What I studied-Law

 

Job I have now (age 22)-Local Government Project officer, working under an European Union contract to implement several hundred million euros of money from the European Regional Development Fund. I also worked as a Paralegal for a while. But my current job is

 

1) Better paid (2-3 thousand a year more than a Trainee solicitor 7 1/2 thousand a year more than a Paralegal) 

2) Involves more of my skills from my degree than being a paralegal

 

Couple of things I would say about degrees and university; 

 

1) A degree does not guarantee a graduate job anymore. In the UK 50% of the population goes to higher education, you have to be better than just having a degree

2) Graduate jobs are very attainable with your degree provided that you did a degree that provides useful skills (ie law not literature) and did enough extra-curricular type activities (in my case running academic societies such as Model UN and Student associations) to make you stand out 

Can I ask what made you feel disillusioned, and so rapidly about science?  What would you pursue the second time around?

I started with general science in my first year, leaning towards Biology, and took the Microbiology and Molecular Biology path as a specialisation into my 2nd/3rd year. Then I realised that the passion required to take this path into Masters and towards a PhD was something I just didn't have. At the same time matters back at home and with the family business (I studied abroad) needed my help, so I decided to pack up and cut my losses and return home. That was more than 10 years ago!

 

I've made a good living but now I'm having a bit of a quarter life crisis and considering taking a shot at everything again whilst I'm still relatively young and able bodied

 

As for your second question...that's the tricky part. I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. Not Science again, is all I really know at the moment.