What did you want to be when you grew up? Your childhood career aspirations

Loved Submarines-got to go down in 2 Polaris subs
Wanted to be a pilot-Ended up with 1200 hours
Loved trains-Was fireman on an 1898 Steam engine
Wanted to see the world- Been to all 24 time zones and 7 continents.
Now retired with a full bucket list.
 

bowmore said:
Loved Submarines-got to go down in 2 Polaris subs
Wanted to be a pilot-Ended up with 1200 hours
Loved trains-Was fireman on an 1898 Steam engine
Wanted to see the world- Been to all 24 time zones and 7 continents.
Now retired with a full bucket list.
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My first husband was in the Navy-short marriage-anyway I got to go down into a submarine and on the aircraft carrier he was stationed on. Both were amazing. Husband was not.
 
After my little cousin died of leukemia (he was 13 months) I wanted to work in the field of biochemistry, so I could work on solving those cancer problems. I was only 13 then. I had that big dream for a long time and even wanted to become a PhD up through college! I ended up getting a biology degree, and working in the biology field, but I became disillusioned after working in the lab for over a decade. I did get my PhD eventually but in something else.
 
Over my 13 K12 years went to 11 different schools including 3 high schools. In high school, recall being confused and concerned of the prospect of selecting a career even after studying various employment information. Parents never tried to guide me into anything. Decided to just try and enter the public California college system that at the time here was still mostly free. But the Viet Nam War changed that possibility when politicians declared there would be no more draft deferments for those not already in schools. And this guy was obviously a prime healthy prospect for dodging bullets carrying an M16 into Mekong Delta leech, mosquito, and poisonous snake infested swamps. Well at age 17 with a HS diploma, took navy and USAF entry tests, scored high, volunteered before receiving a draft notice, then began an electronics career via that route without ever obtaining a college degree.
 
When I was a kid and through my 20s, I knew somehow that I would eventually become an engineer. I thought I would become a mechanical engineer, but I wound up getting my degree in computer science.

I'm not sure why I thought that I would become an engineer. Nobody encouraged me to go to college when I was a kid and none of my close friends went to college. My cousins did, though. One's a professor, one's a lawyer, and one works in finance, or they were, anyway. They're probably retired by now. So maybe they influenced me. I saw what you could do with a degree and since I was good in math and interested in mechanical stuff, I thought that was my destiny.

I didn't start the program until I was 33 and was 38 when I received my Bachelor's degree. The country was in a deep recession when I started and was booming when I finished, so that was pretty good timing.
 
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut! The Mercury space program was going on then, and we watched them take off on a black-and-white TV in the auditorium of my school. Fools that we were, we believed what the library books said about us exploring the inner planets by the 1990’s…

A little later, I wanted to be a doctor! I had one of those Visible Man models that were transparent, and you could see the ribs and organs inside. The darn thing would never stay closed, however, so I had the lying down Visible Man guy…

But snap, I wound up as an educational specialist…
 
The problem I had as a young person was I never had time to think about such matters.
My upbringing was a constant torment so all my time was spent just trying to ward off the negativity.
It was not until I was over 40 and past all that torment that I thought if given the opportunity back then to explore and develop what was inside of me I would have studied creative art.
Painting, sculpture, mosaics, photography, drawing, interior design et al.
Sure, I could try some of them now, and I have done some wonderful art works, though I do not have any of them to show.
I painted 5 metre murals on my apartment walls, never had inspections. Where I am now I have inspections. I asked if I could paint a mural and was told no.
I create stuff from what people call junk. I create stuff from flotsam and jetsam.
I see beauty all around me.
I am very creative and that is way I am rather upset that I was not given the chance to explore and develop my creativity.
These days I am rather jaded and tired.
If I make retirement age, maybe I will explore my creative side and see what comes out of my head.
 
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C50 said:
I just wanted to make money, really never gave a thought to how I would do it.
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My first aspirations were to become a priest. It gets you a lot of attention at a Catholic school.
Later at college, a secular centre for further education, my lecturer told me that I was a good people's person. He suggested that I seek managerial work. What a sound piece of advice. I joined a large conglomerate and started to climb the greasy pole. How I loved it, make that, love it. At 76 you learn to get a better grip.
 
Gary O' said:

What did you want to be when you grew up? Your childhood career aspirations​


Heh, this keeps coming up

.....and I keep posting this;

When I was about four, five maybe, all I wanted to become was a cop.
Not a Dragnet, Sgt Friday cop, but one that wore the blue, the boots, the service cap, the badge, the…gun…and holster.
OH YEAAAH
Not a doubt in my mind.
Thing is, I was never around cops per se, at least not for a few years.
So all I had for ready reference was the local service station guy. The ‘almost a cop’ guy.
He had a uniform, and if I recall, had some sorta badge.
And he had a service cap. The one with the glossy bill, and high rise front.
Yeah, he was almost a cop.

View attachment 244495

I always liked stopping there.

‘Fill’er up?
‘Ethyl?’

He’d get the pump going, cranking the numbers to zero, sticking the nozzle in, flipping the lever, filling the back seat with the glorious aroma of gas fumes of which I breathed deep (couldn’t get enough).

‘Check ‘at oil?’

He lifted the hood and did….something, appearing at the driver’s door, showing Dad the dip stick, resting it in display on a really cool red rag, then tucking that rag in his back pocket. Letting half of it stick out……cool.
Sometimes he’d go to the rack of oil, grab wunna the glass bottles with a stainless steel spout, and pour in a bit of oil.
Then he’d spray the windshield with some sorta soapy liquid, wiping all that off with the magic blue towel until the grime and streaks was totally gone. All the while talking about the weather or the ‘sorry ass Yankees’, or Joe Louis.
And he had BO…yeah, real big guy aroma…..wow.
Man, I wanted to be him, only I’d strap on a gun, as that was the only thing his was missing.
What a cool job!
Just doin’ that all day long.
‘Check ‘at oil?’
‘Whuddaya think about them sorry ass Yankees?’
tuck
wipe
pump
….kids in the back seat, lookin’ at me in awe…wide eyes ogling my holster…and ivory gun handle….and red rag.

One day me and Dad were headin’ down the road.
Just him and me,
and he sez, ‘Whaddya wanna be when you grow up?’

‘A service station guy!’

Things kinda turned south right then.
Dads.
Go figure.
Whud he do for a living? Work in a warehouse?
Prolly jealous.


View attachment 244494

After that, I never shared my true thoughts with him….for years….decades maybe.

Heh, turns out folks rather frown on service stations guys….with guns.

But, hey, if that ever happens……..
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Check out the guy's tie! :ROFLMAO:
 
Don M. said:
I always wanted to be an Air Force fighter pilot, but I had to start wearing glasses in my teen years...so that dream was gone. However, I did join the AF, and got a good education in electronics which set me up for a nice career.
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@Don M. , did you after Lackland AFB basic, also go to school at Keesler AFB?
 

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