I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then after organic chemistry kicked my ass and I got a taste of social psychology, I wanted to be a research psychologist. Today, after a brief tour through academics, I am a research associate at a place that does studies of programs that include clinical therapists working with patients.
Not too bad.
I wanted to be a spy or private investigator. My brother and I would listen and document in secret notebooks my older sibling’s conversations with their friends. We would unscrew the mouthpieces of extension phones so that we could listen without being detected. They would speak in code, but we easily broke them. We would then extort them for a few quarters.
I now work for the Democratic National Committe- specializing in catching pervs.
Just kidding, I now listen to people talk about their private stuff all day as a psychotherapist.
When I was young I wanted to go up to be a scientist (think dinosaurs).
Now at the age of 26 I am a certified “Clinical Laboratory Scientist” (think lab tests).
Close enough I guess.
Want to hear a short but amusing anecdote about my brother?
Here goes: When he was really young, about 4, he was into violent cartoons like any normal American male child was. Transformers and GI Joe sort of stuff. So when he grew up he was absolutely convinced that he was going to be a “warrior”. I’m talking axe swinging and avenging evil kind of thing. But like most young kids he didn’t pronounce all words very well. So when someone asked him what he wanted to be he would answer “wal-lior”.
This perplexed many people, because you don’t meet many young kids that age aspiring to become a lawyer.
I wanted a job that would have me driving cool cars all over the world.
Incredibly enough, I did get almost exactly that offer from Karmann in Germany, in 2001. They offered me a position in the team that road tests vehicles going into production at Karmann (at that time, they were getting set to build the Chrysler Crossfire, alongside various Mercedes convertibles). Cold weather testing in Scandinavia, hot weather testing in Arizona…
And then the bubble burst. My application for a work permit was rejected a month later.
Now I’m a project manager in IT training. Not really close to my childhood dream, but it’s not too bad either.
As a toddler, my mom says all I wanted to do was take things apart. Remove drawer knobs, pull cords out of their sockets, pop the battery covers off every calculator and portable radio, etc.
And now I’m in auto repair. Whoda thunkit?
I still do.
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, but the Air Force didn’t need nearsighted asthmatics back then.
So I decided I’d be an aerospace engineer like my father, but somehow that never happened.
Then I decided to get a degree in Environmental Science and clean up Rocky Flats. They finished cleaning it before I got my degree.
Then I had a convenience store/gas station when I got married, but the hours were terrible for someone wanting to start a family.
So now I test software. I’m still not sure how this happened.
I wanted to be a nurse, then a doctor, then a lawyer, and then around 16, I decided I wanted to be a physics teacher, before realising that what I really wanted to do was astronomy/astrophysics. I’m an astrophysicist now. 
I wanted to be a veterinarian, to the point of collecting an Animal Science degree.
Through a strange series of events, I ended up (for now) running a small water system. I’d have never guessed, but at least both of them involve using both my hands and my brain, and I like that.
I wanted to be a Super Hero.
I manage a tech support team.
but I fight crime when I can!
I wanted to be a Marine Archaeologist for the longest time. I grew up with Bob Ballard [sell out] and Jaques Cousteau [still a personal hero] and when I got to College I started on a path to archaeology. I soon found that Psychology was my passion, not the clinical stuff but the very root of what makes us who we are. Why do we like the different environments we choose to live, work, and play in. I was passionate about that sort of stuff. I got my undergrad in Environmental Psychology, which turned into a M.A then a Phd. I immediately went to work for my alma mater and this was the first mistake I made. I wanted to keep the pretty girls around me and the fame of being a college prof. This quickly faded into an oblivion of sordid bureaucratic ilk. I loved the kids, and I loved teaching, but the constricting administration drove me away. I have come back to my roots if you will, and am now the Director of a large environmetnal advocacy and education center in New England. I run a non-profit that helps people foster a personal environemtnal ethic. It’s a feel good job, it pays well if you can believe it and it gives me time to write and do things I like to do.
Now only if I can finish that treehouse and hobbit hole I’ll be styl’in.
I wanted to be (in no particular order):
A jet fighter pilot, until I found out that it’s a combat role, and females (at that time) were not accepted for combat roles. Too bad, US Air Force. I would have been a GREAT pilot.
A medical doctor, specifically an ER physician, until I found out that you actually have to go to school and study and know what the hell you’re doing before they let you treat patients. So that was right out as a career choice.
A jockey, until I realized that it was male-only. Sigh.
An International Man of Mystery (read: spy), until I realized that once again, actual work would be involved in preparing for the career.
So here I am being an IT project manager, since they 1.) take women and 2.) I didn’t have to study very hard at all. And I’m pretty damn mysterious, considering some of the table names I’ve come up with.
I wanted to become an Aerospace engineer, working on USAF Fighters.
I’m an Aerospace engineer at EAFB, working on the F-22 and F-35 programs.
I wanted to write books for a living.
I’m on my way, though academia keeps trying to sidetrack me and I have a sinking suspicion that ultimately, I will label myself as a “teacher” and not a “writer.”
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a mechanic.
Now, I’m doing computer security - something that didn’t even exist when I was a kid. Although the kid in me gets to work with the FBI every now and then. What young boy didn’t want to be a G-man at some point?
I wanted to do all kinds of crazy stuff when I was a kid - drive a BART train, be an astronaut/chef, build giant robots. I’ve been using computers and playing video games since I was 5, but it wasn’t really until I started going to a community college that I realized I could actually make a career out of it.
Now I’m a game designer. w00+!
I wanted to be an archaeologist, a fighter pilot, and a center fielder. Now I work for a private security company while studying for what will hopefully end up as a law degree.
when i was a kid i wanted to own a laundromat/be a neurosurgeon/be mrs. frisby from the rats of NIMH.
now i am going back to school studying pre-med so i can go to medical school and be a surgeon/infectious disease person.
love
yams!!
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a farmer.
Now, I am a National Park Service Ranger. Not real close, but most people think I have a pretty cool job.
I wanted to make video games.
I am a music teacher.
I wanted to be a lot of things (ballerina, marine biologist, and lawyer, to name a few), but the first career I seriously considered was a diplomat. Then when I got into high school I decided I loved writing and that I wanted to be a famous author. In my freshman year of college I then decided I wanted to become an English Literature professor AND a famous author.
At the moment, I have an MA in Humanities and am adjuncting at community colleges. I suppose it’s a stepping stone for the professor/author part … but I might end up happy where I am, I guess. Still too early to tell.