I occasionally think about what I’d like to be when I grow up. The investment industry is fine and dandy, but after a day of ripping my hair out looking for historical numbers for de-seasonalized NYSE volumes, I question if there could be more to life…
Cool work that I think I’d like involves doing things not many others are doing, sorta like a specialist. Unfortunately, most of those jobs involve years of skills training. Glass-blowers, knife-makers, etc. all fall into that category. I’d love to be able to design a new pocket knife, but I’d have no clue where to start. The one area like this I could get into would be cooking. I’ve been doing it for years, I love it, and I could see myself going to a cooking school for a few years to polish my skills. BUT, then I’d have to live the life of a chef, which I hear ain’t so fun (especially when it comes to having time for oneself or one’s family).
Other industries that would be cool to work in: Film and Theatre industry. I bet there are tons of behind the scenes work I could get into…the one area I have discussed with a friend who owns a Magic & Halloween store is disaster make-up. Fire Dept’s, Police, Ambulance, Military, etc. need training sessions that are as real as possible. So they sometimes hire make-up artists to do burns, cuts, broken bones, etc. on the victims. That would be neat…Get to make people look like they are dying, then go drink beer with the local Fire and Police dept.
I’ve also thought about trying to open a toy store for adults (not that kind of store you perv!). Along the lines of the saying “The only thing that separates men from boys is the price of their toys.” So a hobby store, or an electronics store or a Sharper Image or ???
What would you like to do? Or what do you think would be cool work?
I would like to be involved in session work as a drummer. However, I have a few factors against me in this career choice.
It’s a heck of a market to break into.
Most work along this bent is in New York, L.A., or Nashville, three locales that I happen to be far away from. Even though there is some call here for such work, the market is highly competitive given the talent and demand.
Skill
I play pretty well, given certain factors, but that’s one thing, since most of what I can play is resulting from rote exercise. In order to be successful in session work, reading ability is a must, in most cases. I can read, but not too fast; I am working on this.
Also, while I can play many styles, quality is an issue, and I am working on this as well.
Hi Opal!
Mind, I don’t think she’s against me…
I just keep practicing, and hopefully I might find a band soon after I upgrade my equipment a bit. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make something of this drumming habit I seem to have.
My idea of a cool job (realistically, within my capabilities and circumstances) is assembling printed pages, of whatever sort, using layout and typography software. This is basically what I do, but I haven’t been able to find a gig doing it in a while. All those reading may consider this a want ad, email in profile!
Slightly more unrealisitically, I’d like to be a gentleman farmer.
My idea of a cool job would definitely involve some kind of specialist work. Doing something that few others can is always impressive. Having a job that anybody can do typically doesn’t pay as much, anyway.
One of my wife’s friends was working for a video distribution agency when she told me that they were looking for someone to watch and review B-movies from around the world for the Japanese video market. Had I not soon after landed my current job (writing advertisements, which I happen to find pretty cool), I would have been on that job like a piranha on a cow carrying pork chops.
Acting always seemed pretty cool, but hard to get into and even harder to live off of. I work as an extra occasionally and it’s a lot of fun.
I always thought it would be fun to own and operate my very own movie theater. Not a big multiplex, but a small, hometown kind of theater where I could run really cool movies and maybe even have a stage for local bands to play during the week. I’d have funky film festivals, too. Like on Mother’s Day I’d run a double feature of Mommie Dearest and that weird Bette Davis flick where she plays the homicidal nanny. I’d also finally get to see all my favorite Errol Flynn movies on the big screen. Oh, and I’d make really good popcorn, too.
I’ve alwyas thought it would be fun to be a film director or photographer. You know, travel around the world to exotic places filming or shooting photos.
Part of that might be that my current line of work is very technical and analytical and I’ve never had much of an artistic outlet (or much artistic ability, for that matter).
In a more general sense, my idea of a cool job is anything with a lot of independence (can’t stand time clocks, set hours, or bosses hovering), challenge, and a chance to go somewhere (literally and figuratively) with it.
lauramalane, a friend of mine owns a small theatre exactly like the one you described. Including the good popcorn. He works twice as hard as anyone I know.
Well, Dante, I never said it was a cool job because it was easy I wouldn’t mind working hard at something I loved. Actually, that’s the kind of job I have now so I consider myself pretty lucky. Althought the movie theater thing still sounds really cool!
Former guidebook writer here. It’s hard to make money unless you have a couple of really popular books that can be updated every year or two. It sounds neat, but the reality is you have to go to all the crappy places and never have enough time in the cool places. Don’t mean to rain on your parade to just ignore what I posted and hold on to your dreams
I’ve worked on a number of low-budget films. It’s hard work. Very hard work. The hours are long. On a low-budget film I’ve worked 16-20 hours a day. It’s often hot and uncomfortable, or cold and uncomfortable. It’s frustrating. Sometimes it’s boring. It’s dirty. There’s a lot of heavy lifting. It’s often dirty. Pay is low. There’s nothing glamourous about it.
But I love it! My ideal job would be to direct and/or film larger-budget projects where you can have a bigger crew and you don’t have to do everything yourself. It would still be hard work, but I’d love it.
The other thing I’d like is to run my own FBO (Fixed-base operation). I’d have a little stable of airplanes and helicopters, and some instructors on staff to teach people to fly them. I’d like to live in a beautiful place (like Washington state) and fly helicopters in an air-taxi operation. I’d like to have a couple of special helis (like a Huey Cobra, for example) that I could fly in movies. And the best part is that you can make millions of dollars flying. (You just have to start out with tens of millions. )
So my ideal job would be to make moderatly-budgeted films, own an FBO that runs itself, and where I can fly in films and otherwise.
Well back from fantasy world, I always thought driving a subway or a freight train would be fun. Plenty of time to think, and the tracks do most of the work.
I’ve always thought that working on a passenger train - whether Amtrak or one in another country would be about the coolest job in the world. It goes along with me thinking of a train trip as a “journey” rather than just a way to get somewhere - planes are what you take to get somewhere, while with trains, half of the adventure is in the travel itself.
But, with Amtrak’s financial issues, I’ve never considered it seriously.
