Looking for a dream job

In My Humble Opinion
1

I want to start over with a new career. Here I’m making a few assumptions: that I can learn the skills needed for the job, and that, as an individual, I’m ignorant of thousands of job types, since it’s a big world out there.
So, I’ve compiled a list of what I want in my dream job, ordered by decreasing priorities. Please ignore the bias in my examples toward product designer / prototype engineer, since they’re what chatgpt suggests.

A. Flexible time: totally up to me on how I work. Expressed in a few ways

  • Days working per year: could be 50% out of 365 off
  • Hours per day: preferably 4-5
  • How I structure that time: breaks every 30 minutes, etc.

B. Employ creativity: in a broad sense. Not only artistic ways, but for example engineers prototyping a device, or mechanics assembling a machine. By the same virtue, it’s not repetitive at all, but like big/medium projects. Once I’ve done with a project, I’ll move on to another of (very) different nature.

C. Help / bring benefits to others and is appreciated for that.

D. Show fruit of my labor. For instance, an inventor sees his product used in everyday life, or a writer watches her script get acted out in a movie - i.e. experience it.

E. In a positively vibed environment. One which favors cooperation over competition, recognizes givers, and has few takers compared to givers.

F. Provide plenty of chances for advancement: promotion, education, high salary…

G. Has moderate interaction with people. If solitude is 0 and receptionist / phone operator is 10, then anything between 2 & 8 is OK. 5 is best.
Same goes with computers, but here my sweet spot is 3 or 4 (range: 0-7).

Do you know careers that fit these criteria? In case there are no jobs that satisfy all bullet points, then please note the decreasing importance of them: while ‘flex time’ is a must, ‘moderate interaction’ is only a flavor. Like, if I were to assign weights to each line, they’d get 1, 0.85, .7, .55, .4, .25, and 0.1 respectively.
Thanks!

2

I may have misunderstood, but your list seems extremely … hopeful.

Your top priority is to only work half a day for 183 days i.e. 90 days a year?!
A typical job here in the UK would involve 240 full days (5 day week; 4 weeks annual leave.)

You also don’t mention your qualifications. That seems pretty important for such a desirable job!
Also if your job has such great benefits, wouldn’t you be happy working longer hours?

3

I guess the job focuses on result, not logged time, thus it can be flexible. I should emphasize the phrase “totally up to me” in scheduling my work. What I wrote is the lazy scenario; if the job is so wonderful, I’ll automatically arrange for more hours working :slight_smile:
Side note: what I aim for is actually what us humans did for thousands of years. It was since the industrial revolution that we’ve become slaves to the clock & capitalists.

I assume that I can pursue qualifications after pinpointing what my dream job(s) is. Fortunately I’m not in a money squeeze for now, hence the optimistic view.

4

It’s great to have such a clear vision of the new career trajectory you desire. Given your decreasing set of criteria, then IME and IMO you may be best suited to be an entrepreneur. Create something, invent something, bring something new to the marketplace that is in demand that people will buy — if you work for yourself, then you’ll have all the flexibility you want. You’ll set your own working hours. And in owning a business there will be many aspects of it that you can focus on, and therefore you can move from related project to related project.

If you work for yourself you’ll have significant independence and flexibility.

However, entrepreneurs are some of the hardest working people I know. Once their company is established then they have the freedom to reduce their working hours and days, but the initial investment required to get to that point can be significant.

5

The type of entrepreneur described sounds like Thomas Edison to me. While I’d love to do something similar, idk if anyone works purely as an inventor these days. How do they secure funding for their 1st creation, at least? In this modern time, my guess is they work for some company that allows R&D projects like that, before spinning off.

There’s another potential problem with the flex time criterion. Before the startup achieves success, seems like founders have to work 50-60+ hrs. Unless that work feels great, I’m not sure I can endure such a stress for how long.

6

50-60+ hours is actually not all that bad. There’ve been several crunch times when I’ve done that often. It’s not great, mind you, and I wouldn’t want to do it for a stretch of 4-6 months, but gearing up for a big push can happen from time to time in tech startups. And likely in many other lines of work.

At one company where I worked I was a consultant and was paid by the hour, and getting time and a half paid for my overtime during one crunch time was definitely nice.

As for securing funding for your first creation, that typically comes from your savings or from getting a second mortgage. But if you believe in your vision, then it’s less of a risk and more of an investment in yourself.

7

There’s an old joke about being self-employed.

"Being self-employed is great! I only work half the time!

And the best part is that I get to choose which 12 hours a day to work!"

– thorny locust, self-employed

8

I worked short hours for years. I was able to do that because I lived poor. I agree with Thoreau: when you include the hours you work in order to pay for the time you save, you haven’t saved any time at all: when I calculated the hours I worked in order to pay for holidays and weekends, I was richer not working.

But I chose to get married and have a child. I am richer with a child than I was with a 10 hour work week.

What is your situation?

Also, there are people in the world who do not define themselves by their job. They don’t even think of themselves as “a driver” or “a preacher” or “a businessman” or “a plumber”. Your career doesn’t have to be who you are. Your “dream job” can be what you do when you aren’t working.

Anyway, when I was young, one of the top jobs for personal satisfaction was long-distance truck driver. No direct supervision, not too stressful, but constant change and awareness. You may not think that matches what you are looking for, but the job-satisfaction surveys indicate that it is more “creative” than you might credit.

9

Real estate agent.

10

Plumber.

Many plumbers work for themselves. Yes, they get desperate calls, but most of their business is not “right now” urgent and they can pick a time to do it. You are directly helping people, and everyone can see the fruits of your labor. Heck, my friends have commented on the tidy work of the last plumber who did a lot of work for me.

As I’m suggesting working for yourself, E is not really met. But it won’t be a toxic workplace.

Not a lot of advancement, unless you want to take on a lot of employees. But the pay is pretty decent.

Definitely hits “moderate interaction with people”, towards the low end of that.

11

Well, I have (had?) a big dream for the world. After years of trying to work it out, I’m finally accepting that it likely can’t be realized. While I still have lingering sentiment, maybe it’s time to move on. Oh, I live frugally too.

That’s surprising. Try as I might, I can’t imagine how driving a truck can be creative. Can you enlighten me? On top of that, I presume that the job will score low at points C, D, and F.

My initial assessment is that an RE agent job will have less than average scores at B and C. What would you say about work environment?

That’s heartwarming for you, but a pity the plumber wasn’t there to receive it 1st-hand. So I guess C only get half the point. You’re right on F & G. I’d say plumbing is on the smaller end of the creativity spectrum - but I’m not an insider.

12

I mean, i thanked him for a nice job when he was there. And lots of plumbing jobs are fixing critical problems for people. I think it’s about as good on point C as any job. When my plumber fixed my kitchen disposal as i was preparing for a big party, i can assure you that i was effusive in my gratitude. Will you get that on every job? Of course not. You do have to work with the public, of course. But i don’t think there are any jobs where you experience gratitude for every thing you do.

Plumbing isn’t the most creative job in the world, but most jobs aren’t. Plumbers, especially those who work on houses that already have most of their plumbing, routinely need to engage in diagnosis and problem solving.

The downside of plumbing is that it’s difficult physical labor.

But don’t brush it off for being a trade. My BIL started out as an office manager. And after a couple of unsatisfying experiences (including layoffs) doing that, he trained to become an HVAC mechanic. He’s much happier, now. He’s an employee, not self-employees, so he doesn’t set his hours. I feel like there are more one-man plumbing shops than HVAC technicians. And a higher fraction of HVAC calls are emergencies (my heat is out and it’s cold/my AC is out and it’s hot) so there’s less flexibility as to hours worked. But it’s also worth considering.

13

This made me laugh out loud, as a know a few inventors and a fair number of screenwriters, and almost to a person they complain about how their initial concept was badly implemented or how the words and characters they labored to put onto the page were utterly mangled in the ultimate product. (I know one that won an award—not an Oscar or Emmy but still prestigious in the trade—even though he said that the majority of what he wrote was cut and replaced by a ‘hack’ script doctor to fit into a cheaply produced format.) For sure, inventors and screenwriters are not the easy jobs that can be worked at a leisurely pace, at least if you intend to make a living at them.

And the uncertainty in money flow as well as not having someone else provide benefits (medical, dental, matching retirement and FSA/HSA funds, et cetera). Being an entrepreneur is hard, risky, and stressful.

Any real estate agent trying to make a living from their earnings is basically hustling all the time. It’s an absolute grind of a job, and frankly one with a lot of stress and many disappointments for every occasional success.

For as physically challenging as ‘the trades’ can be, they come with a satisfaction of actually seeing meaningful work well done (if you put in the effort to develop the skills), and except for a severe economic downturn there is always a demand for plumbers, electricians, welders, roofers, et cetera. You set your hours and negotiate your rates but assuming you are running your own shop, like being any other kind of entrepreneur you have constant stress plus dealing with pushy, dishonest, or impossible-to-satisfy customers. You also have to go to where the work is and be prepared to put in some long hours from time to time to finish a project or correct for an unexpected problem.

I’ve known a few white collar workers who decided to switch to working some kind of trade, and they’re generally much happier and more satisfied, although of course the reason they made a switch was because of frustration with ‘professional’ work. And despite hyperbolic claims, AI and robots aren’t going to be laying pipe, wiring up buildings, and cutting and finishing sheetrock any time soon.

Stranger

14

I know several people who have attempted to be entrepreneurs, mostly selling stuff. (A guy who commissioned doctors to write a series of helpful pamphlets, a guy who sold umbrellas and similar…) They all lost a lot of money and had to return to the job they’d left to become entrepreneurs. Sure, some people succeed. But i think you have to have a thing you really want to do, or be a really good marketer, or be really lucky. It’s not a path I would recommend to anyone who wasn’t already set on it.

15

Yes, you’ll get that with any job that works with the public.

But i don’t think working in the trades is massively financially risky, like starting most businesses is.

16

Plugging the entire OP just as written into some of the many AI platforms would yield ideas. Have you tried? It actually reads like a long AI prompt.

17

There is certainly a built-in demand for anyone who can and will do the work of skilled trades, and unlike being in IT or programming you aren’t constantly in danger of being made totally obsolete by a new popular language or enterprise-wide overshadowing your knowledge base, shifting trends in programming paradigms, or just not having the time and energy to get a new slew of certifications. You only have to market your fungible skills like a lawyer or PR hack, you’re not running for office or trying to climb the ‘corporate ladder’ to snag a golden parachute before you get pushed off in a reorg or accounting scandal, and you aren’t holding someones life in you hands like a doctor. It’s a pretty solid choice for reliable income provided you can do a competent job and with limited liabilities and expenses.

I think we’ve done a massive disservice in persuading virtually all high school students to go after four year college degrees (and go into massive, unforgivable debt to do so) even if they aren’t particularly intellectual or academically inclined versus doing valuable real work in skilled trades and learning how to apply practical knowledge in a vocational setting versus trying to figure out how to solve “PC Load Letter” errors.

Stranger

18

I think criterion B, “every job is new and different” is unrealistic. People develop skills doing this or that, and are more valuable if they can do that more then just once. I think episodic work, with a variety of problems to solve, is realistic. But in most jobs (all jobs that i can think of) you will be doing the same thing many times.

I want to go to a surgeon who has done this exact surgery many times. In fact, my odds are better if the surgeon has done this exact surgery many times this month.

I had a lot of variety in my jobs as an actuary, and switched positions every few years to keep it fresh. But i was always more valuable my second year in the position than my first year. I suppose that’s because most of my positions had an annual cycle of stuff that needed to be done. If it were a monthly cycle, I’d probably have gotten up to speed faster. Still, the fact that repetition created value to my employer was very very real.

For instance, in your other thread, you mentioned that people who stayed successful for a long time in one place often did so by becoming the experts in some niche area. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people who were successful as technicians (rather than as salespeople or managers) achieved success by doing similar work many times.

19

One of the most satisfying “jobs” I’ve ever done was volunteering selling food at a big convention. I met people’s needs over and over. I saw people’s happiness as i handed them a muffin or a cup of coffee. It was surprisingly rewarding. And it was at a convention that people were happy to be at, so most of my customers were happy, except for being hungry. Even so, i dealt with a certain number of pushy, dishonest, and impossible to satisfy people. The one who stands out is one who i dealt with at the very end, when we were trying to get rid of everything for a little extra money, so we didn’t have a lot of food to throw away and otherwise deal with at the end of the convention. He offered me way too little for all the leftover scones. The scones were made on-site by another volunteer, and were really good. And as he haggled, i sold them all out from under him, in ones and twos, to people who offered as much for two as need offered up front for the whole lot. And he was furious with me, for cheating him, by selling them to other people. :laughing:

It was still, overall, a really fun way to spend a couple of hours. I wouldn’t recommend it as a career, because the pay sucks, there’s no advancement, and little control over your hours. And I’m sure I’d get bored, too.

But it was illustrative to me of what kind of thing gives me satisfaction in a job.

20

Have about 4 kids.

You’ll have a built in career for life.

You’ll see the fruits of your labor. (Good or bad).
Hours are flex, as long as you’re flexible.
Your commute will be as far as the school, the park, the doctors office, & the grocery store. Otherwise you’re at home, dressed in 2 day old sweats, dirty hair and mismatched socks.

You can bring your pet(s). In fact they are on your care taking list as much as the kids.

The pay is crap. You’ll get some cash and 4 hands will be grabbing it. Well into their adulthood.

But the kisses and hugs are a bonus. Worth every work day you put in.

(Another bonus: they grow up and have their own kids. Yay! More, better hugs and kisses)

You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done THE most important job on earth.