An adult. I didn't have specific career aspirations.
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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It shifted a lot.
very early on, a firefighter. Not an unrealistic goal, I had relatives that were volunteers at it, and a few pros. But I got entranced by other things fairly quickly.
The first serious desire was veterinary medicine. I'd seen animals hurting and couldn't help them, so I had a very strong urge to learn how.
But at some point, that urge transitioned into human health care. Doctor, nurse, I was on the fence about it over the years.
At one point, the Navy wanted me, and I was seriously considering it. But what I wanted the most, I couldn't have, and I didn't want what they wanted me for, so that was that.
After that, I considered going for an English degree with the idea of teaching. Then I discovered how shitty it is to be a teacher, and how useless an English degree is outside of that, and it was dismissed.
By the time senior year of high school rolled around, I knew damn good and well that med school was not going to happen. Too poor, had difficulty in school (not with learning, but with stuff that indirectly interfered with it), and frankly had zero desire to spend that much time chasing something that would be an uphill battle the entire way. Too damn manu barriers to make it worth the outcome. I could achieve my actual goal of helping people without the bullshit.
So, nursing it was. Didn't work out, life got in the way of the actual nursing degree, but I did end up a nurse's assistant that was just grossly over qualified for the job.
Mad scientist inventor.
Low overhead, low accountability, results-based work with ambiguous morals and financial opportunity.
Same! Obviously with lots of Tesla coils.
I used to say happy as very easy to achieve goal. It was kinda a joke. Turns out it’s actually really hard to grow up and be happy.
When I was a kid I asked my mother what I would have to be to be outside all day. I love nature and caring for plants, spending time outside ... she told me I could be a forester, so for a long time that's what I wanted to be. People always laughed at me when I said that, I come from a very career-driven family and people assumed I would naturally study for a business degree and probably work at my fathers company. I did not become a forester, but I did study music and become a dirty hippie, so I think my childhood-me would be pretty okay with that. 😁
I've wanted to be a train driver. No idea why, I wasn't even into trains that much. Probably just liked the idea of operating something large and heavy.
Instead, I've become a programmer - as one does on lemmy -, and don't even have a drivers license. I'm literally unqualified for operating anything past a bike.
Follow your dreams and play "Densha De Go".
A comic book artist. I so desperately wanted to make indie black and white comics for a living so much so I had scanned and built a geocities site for one of my comics purely to send to Dan Harmon (of Community fame)in like 1997 (He was writing La Cosa Nostroid at the time) he actually emailed me back and said he loved it.
and then...nothing. haven't drawn anything in years. just, kinda gave up on it.
Happy! And I’ve been successful!
I wanted to be a shapeshifter that could turn into an eagle so I could fly to school instead of riding the bus.
My dream was ruined when I realized that an eagle—as badass and majestic as they are—can't carry a backpack full of books ☹️
Lol I wanted a mechanic robot horse to ride to school, less maintence then a real horse in my eyes, I did not want a living creature lol
Entertainer/performer. I started modeling professionally at 14, but it only got “serious” when I turned 16. Later on, I got into escorting, which is my current profession, because it offered much better money and I genuinely enjoy the human interaction (plus the perks like traveling, the freedom to work on your own terms, etc.). I consider myself an entertainer/performer, so in a way, I did become what I wanted to be when I grew up. Hahaha.
I always hated escorting missions in video games. The NPC kept hitting walls and dying.
Scientist, and then I discovered the fun of modding Nintendo consoles so now I'm in Computer Science
Architect, because I loved Lego. I'm in IT now.
Wanted to be a mechanical engineer because my father is one and my grandfather is one. I had a dream to invent flying cars that would use magnets to push themselves off the ground using the electromagnetic field of the earth or something cute like that.
Realised during my final years at school that I suck at physics, maths, chemistry and that I'm not interested in pursuing this field in the slightest. Partly because I wanted to walk my own path too, probably.
I went to university for a bachelor's degree in English instead and now I'm a a speech and language pathologist in training. Couldn't be further away from my original goal :D
Lmao same I drew the blueprints too, plus the manets would slow cars down and prevent them from hitting each other, we already saved cars as kids smh
I've never really aspired towards a career per se, when I was little I thought I wanted to be a firefighter, but I was maybe 4 or 5.
I wanted to be an inventor. I didn't particularly like inventing new things, but I loved making mechanical stuff (still do). I think when I was like 10 I learned what an engineer was and immediately decided I wanted to be a mechanical engineer instead.
I always wanted to be a programmer and live in the mountains. Got pretty close as a Systems Engineer in Denver a few years ago.
I wanted to be a nurse. Still think I'd have been good at that.
Marine Biologist.
The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.
Either a veterinarian or an architect. Ended up in tech, but should have architect in my title with my next promotion.
Entomologist or a priest. These days I'm an atheist but I still think insects are pretty nifty. Except mosquitoes.
A veterinanrian. Worked at vet clinic in high school and hated it. Ended up being a therapist and love it.
I think my earliest dream was to be a pilot.
I just wanted to be grown so I could do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.
Engineer. Got my engineering degree. I'm just good at math and science, literally never studied in my life. Now I'm a homeless unemployed dirtbag that just rock climbs. This is more fulfilling than working tho. I guess now I wish I could be a monk or something, because when they decide to fuck off its some righteous noble maneuver instead of just being a lazy bum. Which is how I want to live my life.
As a middle kid, I got free choice in my "profession" so I wanted to become a park ranger after a school field trip.
I eventually studied natural sciency stuff, realized research gigs paid poorly and switched to a souless IT job at a lesser evil corp.
I avoid telling people that I work in IT, I fixed enough VCR clocks for a lifetime.
Writer
How is it going?
He wrote that comment, so I say he succeeded
I wrote.
Tbh as a kid and even know a lot of the fascination behind the job as writer was all the freedom you get. How mundane you can be while creating something that will resonate even 50-100 years after you passed. You can write everywhere, while you enjoy life and travel to your favourite places and just chainsmoke cigs and binge drink alcohol. (This is the idea i had of a writer, damn you Hemingway) Having said that, i would love to write something that makes other feel like i feel when i read some good books. The feeling that reading that book in that precise moment is the best thing i could do with my life.
But to write something that isn't complete and utter shit like a lot of books i see, the first thing you have to be is: very cultured and you have to master the language in which you'll write. In order to get to that point the only thing you can do is educate yourself and read, so as of now i try to read both because i enjoy it and because i feel like i need to get a good vocabulary and idea on how to express a coherent tought that isn't the most cliché thing you've read in your life.
The few writers I know always tell me that the three things I would need for writing are:
- Reading a lot.
- Writing a lot.
- Discipline.
I was told that anything extra I could do like writing workshops, etc, are nice to have but definitely not mandatory.
Iirc another common advice was writing short stories initially, then review them, analyze and piece them appart in a nice structure, then re-write them again. I think it had different versions of it, but the gist of it was that the Afghanistan of new writers are long novels and short text writing, then reviewing was the exercise necessary for improvement before trying to write the Great American Novel.
In other words, please write and share it with us ;)
Thank for your advice! I've never written anything so ill definitely have to try one day or another. We have to start somewhere anyways.
Ping me when you have it. 👍️