I should have been a Construction Worker: Poll.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yep, throughout college, graduate school and on an on, I have wanted to be a carpenter. I love doing projects at home [reference past threads of mine on tree house, hobbit hole etc…etc…] My shop in the barn is as good as any cabinet makers, my love of the hammer and nail is second to none, and yet I became a psychologist.* The closest I could get to construction worker was majoring in environmental psychology, designing the places we live, work, play etc…etc…I’ve constructed much of what is at my own house. including a large 25 X 25 granite chat pit in the back yard. Recently covering half of it, I put a hammock in it and it looks pretty cool. Large hearth on one side, wrap around bench around the entire thing, chairs, table hammock on the other side.

So what are your “should have been’s” Anyone a Lawyer and want to be something else? :slight_smile:

Is anyone in a profession they are not totally happy with and want to do something else ? Anyone in their dream profession?

*I love my job as a teacher of young minds. As an instructor in a small liberal arts college, I enjoy my work very much. I would not really change a thing with regards to my education…I just love working with my hands…[sub]got the scars to prove it[/sub]

2

What I wanted to be was a dancer, but my folks couldn’t afford lessons when I was a kid, and when I could afford lessons, I was too old and not flexible enough.

But, on the more practical side, I think I should have been a teacher. I did teach a semester in a local junior college, and it was a good fit. Unfortunately, the pay sucked swampwater and as an engineer, I’m making way more than I ever would have in education. I’ll be retiring in 2010, and between now and then, I intend to get my teaching certification and have a post-engineering career in the classroom. At that point, the money won’t be the issue, and I can do something I think I’ll love.

If I was being a real smart ass, I’d say I should have been independently wealthy… but I won’t. That would spoil the spirit of the thread. :smiley:

3

Should’ve been a professional musician. I don’t hate my job teaching English, but I very much regret not going into music. It’s the only thing that ever really made me happy. I enjoy it as a hobby, but why not do what I like all the time?

When I started college after several years of labor-type jobs, I was told by a thousand people that music would be a good choice only if I were one of the very few who make it big, and let’s face it, I probably wouldn’t have. No argument there. I don’t think I had any outrageous talent, and I was never very aggressive about promoting myself anyway. You’ll spend your life playing in some Holiday Inn night club, or selling clarinet reeds in a music store, or teaching teenagers how to play 3-chord rock and roll songs, they all told me.

I listened to them, and chose to major in English. Now I teach English, mostly writing, to students who don’t really want to study writing. What if I had ended up playing in some smoky night club, or working in a music store, or teaching music lessons to teenagers? I happen to like smoky night clubs and music stores. Teaching kids to play music? Well, at least the students would be more likely to be interested in what I had to teach, since they would presumably be studying by choice. The things that I now consider toys would have been the things that surrounded me every day. That wouldn’t have been so bad.

One reason I listened to the advice of those who urged me to choose something marginally more “practical” than music is that I loved music so much. I reasoned that if I made a career out of it, it might lose some of its appeal. I decided to keep music pure, to set it aside as a hobby, and not ruin it by turning it into a business. When I was making this decision, I had never had a job that I didn’t hate, so I assumed that all jobs were hateful. I don’t think so anymore. I don’t hate the job I have–I always liked language, words, and writing, and I still do. But I think I would have been much, much happier as a musician, even a small-time musician. After all, I’m now a small-time English teacher. I never wanted to be famous; I just wanted to be a musician.

Now, at 46 years old and without much professional musical experience, it would be real hard to break into the music world, even at the small-time level. Oh well. I have some papers to grade.

Incidentally, Phlosphr, that back yard sounds really cool. I spent some time in carpentry work, and aside from sweltering all summer, freezing all winter, and dealing with splinters and smashed thumbs and power tool wounds (got a couple scars myself), I loved it too. I have a lot of respect for carpenters, and I have some beautiful hammers, though they don’t see much action these days.

[sub]Being independently wealthy would’ve been fine too.[/sub]

4

I was just thinking about this very thing this morning. I got into this industry because of my love of geology but have veered into the software side and rarely ever even see a rock anymore, aside from vacations.

I miss the old jobs where I’d carry a shotgun and a sample bag across the wilds of Alaska all day, alone in beautiful country or when I’d roughneck for 8 or 16 hours and would be completely exhausted by day’s end.

The pay’s better now and it’s safer but I’ve also given up a lot that I really enjoyed.

5

I spent the first few years after college doing a lot of different things, only to end up managing construction projects for a major firm, plenty of money, etc. But I should have been a pilot, so I decided to actually do it. Quit my job, spent WAAAAYYYYY too much money, but I have never looked back. I can’t imagine anymore the idea of hating going to work.

6

I think it’sgreat that you all at least think you know what you should have done career-wise. I don’t hate my job but I don’t love it either. I also don’t have any fulfilling hobbies or interests. I’m trying to cultivate one. I feel like I should have done something else professionally, but I have no idea what, and now I have enough financial responsibilites (family, house, etc) that it would very difficult to drastically change careers.

7

I have yet to chart my course and my own personal ship has not found a port to call home.

This isn’t about me, however. ( I can sense your disappointment.)

It is about two friends of ours ( who are married) who are living their dream.

My husband met Annie in High school. She was just learning to play the guitar. She went to college, got a good job ( can’t remember - something in office management, I think) and started playing in a band or doing open mic nights. She sang at our wedding.

Eventually she met her husband, a very accomplished musician, they married, settled into the 9-5 job of Normal Life while forming their own band and playing cover songs on the weekends. Writing their own stuff all along.

Somewhere in the Land of Disenchantment, they realized they were always more happy with the music of their lives than the work, work, work, mentality. They could always get another job it didn’t work out. They quit their day jobs and threw themselves into the not-exactly lucrative world of bar gigs.

Everyone said they were insane.

They’ve always felt, " Jump and the net will be provided."

She (well, they) sings at art festivals and their gigs (which are very steady) they have four self produced cd’s out, and they have a wonderful collection of like-minded musical friends and the support of each of their families. They each do work at real jobs again, but only enough to either cover the insurance headaches or pay a few bills. What they lack in material things - and I don’t think they really do, but i’ve never been to their house - , they make up for in their incredibly rich musical lives and warm circle of friends.

I’ve always been envious of those who are more openminded than the rest of the herd.

They are living their dream.

Here is a shameless plug:

Annie Capps

8

I think I probably should have been an athlete or musician.

I got “herded” into business administration courses by my old man (who grew up in a different world where people who did sports or music were “jerk-offs” or “low-lifes”). I have never really done well academicly in these fields and my career path has been a disaster, although I always land on my feet running in a better position than the one I was just booted out of!

I could have been a competitive skier or auto/motorcycle racer. I think if I had stayed with it, I would have made a great rock drummer.

Lately, it has become clearer and clearer I neither have the dicipline, desire or motivation in the business world. In fact, most everything I do is pretty half-assed. :rolleyes: I think that perhaps I have an “artistic temperment” (whatever that is) and am living a life that I’m not praticular well suited to.

Oh well. :frowning: I love my kid! :slight_smile:

How is Rap like Porn? Both are better with the sound turned off.

9

A chef or an opera singer.

But seriously, no. I’ve known some chefs and it’s a bugger of a life - it’s hard work, and your work time is everyone else’s social time. And professional musos seem to lack some of the joy of the amateur. And the pay is crap except for the very few superstars.

I have actually changed career once, from academic to computer geek at a university doing research support. I’m happier this way - regular hours, no students, no marking, no grant applications, no publication worries; nice puzzle solving work in an interesting area, which leaves lots of time for the hobbies - yep, singing and cooking.

10

I don’t know…I’ve done it (made a hobby into a career) and it wasn’t the same. The things you love to do are different when you HAVE to do it, you have deadlines, are doing it 12 hours a day, you start having to do what other people will buy and lose creative control…
Some people can make it work, but I’ve tried twice and it was a bummer both times. I still enjoy these activities as hobbies, but not as my means of putting food on the table. My hobbies are a lot more fulfilling to me when they simply remain hobbies.

11

Mr. Adoptamom is in his dream profession as a self employed carpenter. He is a master carpenter, but much too humble to call himself that. For years, he has his own crew and built the high end “fancy smancy” homes, specializing in custom trim work. That got to be too much of a rat race, so he let his crews go, hooked up with an old carpenter buddy of his and they’ve been doing smaller jobs that he enjoys much more ever since. The only downfall is the heat of summer, and in the deep south that’s the entire months of July and August. He can’t wait until the cooler weather gets here!

I am also blessed with a dream job. After working on and off with the same company for about five years, I’ve moved my office home and have mixed the best of both private and professional worlds.

Life is good and we are thankful!

12

Having no idea what might appear between now and whenever I finally post this, I’ll take a cue from Boscibo’s post.

I didn’t go to college after high school. I chose to pursue my dream of being a drummer. It took some effort, and many a day job, to get to where I worked regularly.

And I started to hate it. I got to a point where it was an ice pick to the skull everytime I had to play Rockin’ Robin again.

It had a lot to do with both the vagaries of making a living in that business, as well as the state of my force of personality at that stage. If I were doing it again with my current headset, it would be a different scenario.

But that was then. I became a reactor operator in a chemical plant and shrank from the commercial music. While I still played, mostly with characters with some talent, but little discipline, I found myself losing touch with the world that had been my life. I wasn’t stoked about the reactor operator gig, but it was my first “day” job that required some analytical thinking, and I did enjoy that.

When I was hurt in an accident, and wound up in the hospital for a month, twice, back-to-back, it gave me time to think without the hectic schedule I’d been pursuing. I decided to go to college and set my sights on the next fall. I saved for almost a year, and then moved to Austin to start at UT.

I felt great almost immediately, although my ultimate career plans were fuzzy, at best. Finally, in my last semester, I stumbled (as so many did near the end of school) on an entry level position in a field I’d never considered, in this cas geophysics.

Geophysics? I’m not sure I’d even thought about it before.

Well, it was great to eat regularly again. And this career choice involved many more years of night classes. And the exploration business has been brutal the last couple of decades, so I, as have all my friends in the business, have had some bleak periods.

Nevertheless, I do absolutely love what I do. I suppose I’d feel differently if I was not doing well, but I am, now.

I hope this is the sort of post you were looking for, Phlosphr.

13

Or, perhaps, it’s the antithesis of what you were casting about for?

14

I shudaben a cowboy.

I am a construction worker. Among other things.

15

NoClueBoy You were in the Village People?

:slight_smile:

16

I actually worked at my dream job for three years. I was a machinist and I made cool things out of aluminum and steel.

Sadly, I realized that my future in that field was not so great: the total number of such jobs has been decreasing for quite a long time and this caused the market to be full of very experienced machinists who would accept low pay (it beats unemployment!).

I have been a computer geek for the past decade or so, and the only “things” I can make with my hands at work are computer programs – I do feel great pleasure after writing a particularly well-done bit of code, but it just isn’t the same. The days when a factory worker could buy a home and raise a family on his home are long gone, so I am likely here to stay.

There are days when I wish I could be back in that machine shop, standing in front of a Bridgeport milling machine taking a thousanth or so off the surface of a shining block of aluminum with a flycutter.

17

If I had the temperament to be an entrepreneur, I might have gone into professional photography. (I admit that I felt more than a twinge of envy when I read about the retirement of the Sun Page 3 photographer a while back :slight_smile: ) I worked on the school paper in college and enjoyed the challenge of coming up with photo illustrations for feature articles on a deadline. But realistically, working in any arts-related profession is a very hard dollar. And computers were fun too, particularly in the mid-70’s when the field was still wide open.

If I have regrets about the chosen field, it's that I didn't end up in academics.   Mixing research with teaching adds an interesting variety to life.

I also do the woodworking/carpentry hobbies but that was more of a reaction to my chosen profession.   When you spend all day crouching in front of a terminal to produce a few lines of relatively bug-free code, it's nice to come home and whack on a piece of wood with sharp objects for a while.   Much less abstract.   I'm not sure I'd like wood crafts as a profession, at least not until I got to the point where I could hire minions to do all the sanding :-)
18

I shoulda been a writer.

When I was deciding on a major in college, it was a toss-up between computer programming and psychology. I chose the computer programming and settled for marketing as a secondary area of emphasis in my business degree. (I like the psychology of marketing). I’ve been a COBOL programmer for 6 1/2 years now, and it’s dull and very uncreative. I began to work on a novel I’d started in college and set aside after 30 pages as a creative outlet.

So that’s what I’m trying to do. I love to read, and as it turned out, I have a natural gift for writing fiction, and I’m getting closer every time I submit something to being published professionally (in fiction). A few years ago I combined my love of computer games with my love of writing and became a freelance game reviewer. At times it still feels like a job, especially when the game really blows, but I usually love it. I’ve had a few magazine articles published, and I’m working on a roleplaying game adventure for a small publisher that has a very good chance of being accepted.

I love writing under deadline. I love the freedom of being able to do something that doesn’t have a single right or wrong solution. I love that people can get enjoyment out of something I’ve done.

19

My dream job is a forensic pathologist. But alas I am too old to go to school to become one. So the next best thing is for me to go back to school to become an ER nurse.

But I have a daughter that wants to be a vet.
A son that wants to be a fireman
Another son that wants to be a chef (next year)
A son that wants to be a policeman (this one is in college)

(All these kidlets are college age)
I don’t know what the youngest one wants to do.

So I feel that it is my duty to put their needs ands wants before mine. So no telling when I will get to go back to school.