What career did you think you'd have as a kid?

Hospital administrator since the 7th grade. Became an investment banker instead. Should have been a museum curator. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I hated everything. So I just had to find things I didn't hate too much.

I've had over 100 jobs and lived in 4 different states. Never found a 'career'.

I just want to win a couple million dollars and never have to work anywhere ever again.

Interior designer. Since the 3rd grade. I was laser-focused on this dream. Ended up going to college for it, and switching to Art History after freshman year when I realized I really didn't have the aptitude, just the love of interiors. Oh well.

I wanted to be a "Steward" so badly.... We traveled a lot when we were kids & I always loved the Male Stewards...... They knew & I knew, I was a young gayling for sure. I think thats why my parents steered me away, yet they paid for Interior Design school........ LOL!!!!

I wanted to be one of the following:

1 The head of the NAACP (it never occurred to me being white & female might be an obstacle) 2 Hunt down Nazi war criminals with Simon Wiesenthal or 3 Criminal defense attorney

Pop star! Two demos, backup singer, no record deal. Software developer now.

I wanted to be a curator at the Louvre.

^^^ I should add, when I said this during some weird career goal middle school unit thingy they rifled through all the career cards and there wasn’t one that matched so they made me pick another one.

I thought I'd be an actor and movie maker.

I wanted to be a foreign correspondent, kind of like a gay Marie Colvin.

We hoped to become Judy Garland!

Nothing. I had no childhood dreams of any sort of career. My dad was an electrical engineer, so I started off college in engineering. Hated it so switched to biology. Thought I was going to become a research physiologist, but I bailed on that as well. Became an epidemiologist almost by accident and then an HIV researcher.

But HIV work is exhausting and people are still very defensive about the poor response at the start of the epidemic and you get screamed at a lot. By all sides. Community partners, legislators, funders, other researchers, everyone. Everyone has an opinion about HIV and they make life miserable for everyone involved.

Made me wish I’d become a dinosaur scientist. They get to work slowly and methodically and who’s bitching about dinosaurs? Seems like a pretty cush job to me.

A Whore.

Dreams come true.

[quote]A Whore

A friend of mine, who became a nurse, told me that as a child she dreamed of being a prostitute. She thought they were glamorous and she didn’t know (when she was very young) that they had sex for money. But in elementary school, like kindergarten or first grade, on a “when I grow up I want to be…” activity, she wrote “prostitute”.

The school called her parents. She said her dad, who was a chemistry college professor, said “well, that’s an awfully big word she used. She should get some credit for that!”

I thought I would be the next Pete Burns.

As a child I wanted to be a painter, then as o got a bit older I wanted to be a murder mystery novelist. But ended up working for county government, no creativity needed!

Wanted to be an architect, became a mechanical engineer, after a mid-life burnout decided to indulge my creative side and became a surprisingly successful interior decorator. Now retired

In sixth grade, I thought I'd enjoy the simple life of a high school history teacher (summers off!). And then I went to public school Jr. High and High School and that quashed that dream!

Empress of Japan.

I also wanted to be a museum curator…I would set out little exhibits in my room. I also thought being an archaeologist sounded very glamorous, until I realized that it wasn’t all exploring pharaohs’ tombs in safari wear. Novelist, journalist…none of it was meant to be.

I had no dreams of what I wanted to grow up to be. Never, ever. Is that odd?

I didn’t have any. I just want to watch TV all day. That’s what I do now

I'm just like R2. I remember as a kid saying "I want to live with the fridge always full". Now I switch from little job to little job, but I hope to do something with fitness in the next years.

Same as R2. Never had any career in mind as I get no enjoyment from work. I envy people who have careers and can climb the ladder, I have zero motivation for all that.

A film director. I actually went there with it and had an agent for a couple of scripts I wrote (for like 2 months).

Now I'm a copywriter.

Hey, at least I can pay the rent.

I dreamed of being an opthalmologist when I was younger, then I wanted to work for the CDC (I loved the Andromeda Strain) - unfortunately none worked out (damn disability). However, I did want to get my PhD in criminology in high school and did do that!

I never really thought about it. I suppose I wanted to be a guy who worked in video games. Testing them, creating them. The kind of dream job kids always want. I work in IT, so I kind of do what I wanted.

I wanted to be a news anchor. I attended Montclair State College (back in the 80s), majoring in Broadcast Journalism.

A couple things squashed that idea; (a) the program was very small. Most seniors had graduated but had to come back for their externships of which there were very few, (b) by the middle of my sophomore year, I'd already taken all the broadcast-related electives I could. When I went to register for the 2nd half of the semester, I was told the courses were full and that, at best, I'd have to be on the 5-year plan and that meant no classes at all in my major for at least a year, (c) I found out that you don't start out in the NYC metro market. I'd probably in a pig field broadcasting from the Iowa State Fair, IF I was lucky.

It all worked out in the end, though. I wanted to be the next Sue Simmons but that bitch didn't retire until 2012. I was 50 years old when that happened! I never would have replaced her.

I dropped out of college during my sophomore year and got a job as a secretary. Two secretarial jobs later, and a BA degree from what is now Montclair State University, I wound up at the other NBC (cookie company) in HR and learned a lot from the Director I worked for. I developed a love of HR, obtained 2 certifications, and am still doing that now. It pays quite well but not as much as Sue made, I'm sure!

At the very first I wanted to be a teacher, but then as I got older - even in high school - I didn't like small children or babysitting or babies so that was out. I also saw how teachers struggled to make ends meet. Then I wanted to be a nurse, but volunteered one semester at a local hospital - well that sure cured me. I didn't even finish that rotation of volunteering. Then I wanted to be a writer but didn't know what I want to say, that hasn't already been said in a better way, which is still the problem. I work in healthcare administration. I still think I'd rather be a superhero, but I have no super powers & I'm not rich like Bruce Wayne / Barbara Gordon.

[quote]However, I did want to get my PhD in criminology in high school and did do that!

R26, I had to read that like five times before I understood. I kept thinking “they got their PhD in high school?” 🤔

What do you do with a PhD in criminology? Do you work with or for the police? Or teach?

^^^ I guess he gets to be called DOCTOR while the real lawyers don't.

[quote] I still think I'd rather be a superhero, but I have no super powers & I'm not rich like Bruce Wayne / Barbara Gordon.

Is Barbara Gordon rich? I thought she was just a librarian who later became a congresswoman.

At first, an archaeologist, but I gave that up when I learned their chief tools to dig with were a teaspoon and a toothbrush.

Then, an interpreter, because I learned to speak French and German.

Youthful dreams.

Politician. But then I fell in love with sucking cock and random sex, even at bath houses sometimes, so I knew my dreams were over but I gained my freedom. Stayed on the straight and narrow for 26 years in the hole of making it to congress.

Just out of interest, all of you who mentioned archeologists and museum curators, which I am one myself who wanted to work at the Louvre, did you all experience the King Tut exhibit as a child and become inspired by that? I know a few other people who were my age and ended up working in Museums that had that as a formative experience and inspiration.

When I was 8, I announced that I wanted to be a TV cameraman. My parents' reaction was comically weird; you'd have thought, like R14, I'd said I wanted to be a prostitute, so that quashed ambition evolved into being a TV programming executive. I was always the kind that loved to read and enjoyed spending time in the library, so I researched it and became familiar with who was running the networks and what they did, which, again, freaked my parents out. They thought it was bizarre that I knew who Fred Silverman and Brandon Tartikoff were and what they did, and so belittled me for these fantastical hopes. Of course, when we had career day in the fourth or fifth grade and I told the class that I wanted to be the guy who rand the bell on [italic]The Price is Right[/italic] my parents decided I wasn't being serious enough about this and I'd "better straighten up, or else!" and my father blew his top when I asked why being a cameraman was too low class, but a programming executive was a pipe dream (his words).

In junior high and high school I thought I'd be a journalist, was editor of the school paper and even did some college courses while still in high school, but my senior honors English teacher did everything she could to impede that ambition. I harbored a lot of resentment about it until fairly recently when my oldest friend and I were discussing high school disappointments and I mentioned that I was grateful that I never went into that field because journalists are about a despised as prostitutes (and some would say, the same).

The only other passing fancy was being a museum administrator. I did some volunteer work in college with one of the local museums, and one of the curators took a liking to me and under his wing. He charged me with creating the brochure that they handed out to visitors, which was my introduction to Adobe PageMaker (remember when they called it that?) which, to this day, was one of the best things anyone ever did for me. I ended up writing, photographing and doing all of the design work for several exhibits, but determined that museum work wasn't where I wanted to spend a career.

Ultimately, I've ended up being a serial entrepreneur. I'm on company #4.

[quote]Just out of interest, all of you who mentioned archeologists and museum curators, which I am one myself who wanted to work at the Louvre, did you all experience the King Tut exhibit as a child and become inspired by that?

Oh wow, r35! Are you talking about this exhibit? I have very vivid memories of going to the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1977 when I was 5 and watching the procession as they moved the artifacts in.

Didn’t make me want to be an archaeologist or museum curator, but it was super cool. We had King Tut fever for months leading up to it. I remember that.

👆You should've ended up being a blogger.

I wanted to be a policeman and drive a red Torino with a white stripe down the side like Starsky and Hutch. I had such a crush on Paul Michael Glazer

R37 Yes, it toured through the United States at the end of the 70s starting in Washington D.C. and ending in NYC and had a huge cultural impact on the country.

"I wanted to be a policeman and drive a red Torino with a white stripe down the side like Starsky and Hutch"

My mother had a Torino just like Starsky and Hutch, but it was blue ☹️ I still thought it was pretty cool🙂

Target

I wanted to work on the Love Boat. Not sure what position, some sort of Julie-Gopher hybrid I guess. It never was really clear what Gopher did.

In high school I seriously considered the Navy or Coast Guard, but shit was going down in the Middle East and going to war didn't appeal to me. Probably would have been safe with Coast Guard and/or Merchant Marine.

I also wanted to be an ophthalmologist when I was very young. Then at 11 I started reading Freud and decided I wanted to be a psychoanalyst. I transferred my affections from traditional Freudianism to object relations theory in high school. I took a year off after college to work before applying to grad school. I kept working (as a study coordinator) and eventually fell into the career I have now when three people recommended me for a job in research administration. One of those three then promptly introduced me to DataLounge.

Private Dancer

I was an I am a Tina Turner fan.

R43 Gopher was the purser, but you never really saw him pursing.

I was 8 or 9 years old telling adult family members like my Aunt who visited us from another state and my grandparents I wanted to be a private dancer! What must they have thought??

In the late 60s early 70s I wanted to be an architect and landscape designer for huge Gilded Age mansions and elaborate gardens. I was convinced these would come back. Well, in a way they did, around the world in the the USA, with the .01% building fantastic and vulgar "palaces". Alas, I didn't become an architect. I sniffed around the architecture schools in college but by then I wanted to be a urban situationist performance artist and mysterious icon.

R48 is boring as hell!

Is it supposed to be gripping R49? Did you reveal yours?

I wanted to be a flight attendant.

I wanted a job subtle whoring so I cool go to Georgia and California, Nice and the Isle of Greece and move like Harlow in Monte Carlo.

Broadway star. Not a movie star, mind you, but the toast of the Great White Way.

R50 is positively BORING

I always wanted to be an artist, specifically a painter. Studied art history and later graphic design but the dream was always there so a bit later in life (age 32) completed an MFA in fine arts at a prestigious university and today (at 48) I can live from my work as an artist.

I wanted to be Julie Andrews when I grew up. I could sing all of The Sound of Music when i was 9.

Psychiatrist

A veterinarian, but after volunteering at the the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for three years(and becoming desensitised to puppies), my interests evolved.

I didn't think I'd have any. But I WANTED to be several different things, all having to do with film, and all because of "The Wizard Of Oz". I really wanted to be a special effects artist, but I'm awful at math, and they're basically engineers.

Next, I thought I could be a makeup artist...but I have a problem touching people...particularly on their faces. It isn't a phobia, but it IS something I prefer to avoid if I can help it (unless I'm in an intimate encounter, obviously).

Lastly, I wanted to be a costume designer. And thankfully, that one stuck. I just wish I could make more money doing it. Alas, I'm not Colleen Atwood. I'll get there someday.

I wanted to be an architect. Interestingly enough I ended up working in real estate development and so some of my continuing education liens in both the architectural and design disciplines.

I too wanted to be an architect, like Mike Brady.

Architecture was an early in and out for me. I loved it, but was woefully bad at Math and knew that it knocked it out of possibilities for me. Though I did study Art History and my specialty in that was design and architecture, so ultimately I found away to include and embrace it.

@r57, "Psychiatrist "

Me too, until I discovered you had to be nuts to be a shrink 🤪

Is it bad to admit that I’m 50 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up? I have a career, but it wasn’t something I planned.

I guess I’m running out of time and it’s too late for a career change. Except maybe to become a Walmart greeter.

^ If being a Walmart greeter would make you happy, go for it. My widowed neighbor who's financially well off is a greater just so she can chat with everyone in town. I think it's kind of sweet

^ *greeter

A priest

I lasted until I was 30.

Glad I got out.

^ Young altar boys everywhere thank you

Were you a priest, r67, or on the way to becoming one? I imagine that’s a tough job to quit! Do you give Jesus a two weeks notice and then you’re all “I’m outta here!”?

I was a priest.

It was a very difficult decision to leave - although of course the right one.

I told my bishop I was gay and not willing to lie about it anymore - he gave me my walking papers that weekend.

Everything turned out great.

I wanted to be a Cartoonist, More specifically Charles Schulz because he was so dedicated to his product. He wouldn't let anyone else ink the strips, and he used the same pens he had used since the 40s. I thought using modern methods made me a hack. I eventually lost interest. During the same time, I also wanted to be a big ol' show biz baby, a real hoofer! Terrific! socko boffo!

For the longest time I wanted to be a cop (I know, pretty average and boring). Then my parents took me to the circus and I fell in love with the clowns, so I wanted to become a clown.

Fast forward decades, I spent many years as a corporate trainer. I felt in that capacity, I was part-time cop and part-time clown. So, life goals achieved. lol

But here I am mid-fifties (look mid-fifties) and I truly don't know what I want to do for the rest of my working career. Pretty frustrating, actually.

R70, I have so many questions!! If you don’t mind me asking, how long ago did you leave the priesthood? How do guys react when then find out you were a priest? Have you had or are you in a relationship now? What do you do for a job now? How did a nice ex-priest end up *here* among us riff raff?

Forgive me (father) for all my questions, I’m absolutely fascinated and need to know everything!!

And congratulation to you for being who you are and being brave enough to leave.

I wanted to be a marine biologist. Now, I write musicals. I feel like I got it the wrong way around.

Only Fans star.

^ "How did a nice ex-priest end up *here* among us riff raff? "

😂🤣 You obviously haven't met a lot of priests 🙄

TV cameraman. Became radio announcer.

When I was very young, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Then I changed my mind and decided to be a veterinarian. I dumped that idea when I realized that I couldn't deal with suffering animals on a daily basis, and I would probably end up deeply depressed, so that idea bit the dust as well.

[quote]You obviously haven't met a lot of priests

I’ve met none, hence my fascination.

^ They're quite randy 😉

^^^Just the Irish ones or all of them?

^ Well, I haven't done ALL of them 😜

[quote] "Is it bad to admit that I’m 50 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up? I have a career, but it wasn’t something I planned."

Not at all! I can appreciate this kind of curiosity.

[quote] "I guess I’m running out of time and it’s too late for a career change. Except maybe to become a Walmart greeter."

Too late for a full-on career change? Perhaps. BUT many people find second (and even first) careers in the latter half of their lives, and I love to see it! Follow your heart, R64. Just do it as soon as possible, and with all of the passion you can muster.

R73

I don’t want to derail this thread by turning into a discussion of my leaving the priesthood.

So here are very short answers to you questions:

1) I left a very long time ago - in 1994.

2) I don’t really remember how guys reacted when I was dating - I often didn’t talk about it right away.

3) I met my (now) husband two months after I left the ministry - best thing that ever happened to me.

4) I’m a speechwriter (for biz execs)

5) despite my screen name, I’m not THAT nice.

Thanks for the answers r84, and apologies for putting you on the spot.

I dreamed of becoming a concert pianist, but the social workers in the child welfare system planned on me working as a cashier.

I wanted to be a professional writer, and I am, but not in the Stephen King-J. K. Rowling sense of being famous and making big money. Like most writers I also have an adjacent career that actually pays my bills.

When I was in the 3rd grade I wanted to be either a school bus driver or Shania Twain.

When I was young, an actor - my parents laughed me out of that, Teenager, a priest - decided hiding wasn't the answer. Then an architect - sucked at math so I gave that up.

In college, a speech therapist

I ended up doing none of those. Was - accidentally - very successful in what we used to call data processing.

I, too, wanted to be a priest. I talked about it with the priest at my church, and he wrote down these words of advice for me: 'Stay out of the priesthood as long as you can.' I found I always could.

I studied to be a concert pianist my entire life and went to a conservatory. But it was totally the wrong career for me - for one thing, I was always painfully shy. I ended up getting my degree in history. As a major film buff, I would have liked to become a film archivist, but it just never happened.

I wanted to be a journalist. I’ve done some copywriting in my time and wrote a nonfiction book years ago, but now I work an average job that’s totally unrelated. I also manage my income property. I don’t want any more responsibility or stress than my 9 to 5 and my tenants at this time in life. I’m old and I’d like to retire in another decade.

TV variety show dancer

I wanted to be a Broadway actor and live in a penthouse in New York City.

Pilot but it never happened.

I was going to be an actor who starred in films. I was going to win the Oscar and even host the Oscars ceremony.

Indentured servant

Writer. Museum curator. Art historian. In that order of discovery.

All fancy choices as I grew up in the sticks, and all were strongly discouraged by my mother who fancied more mundane dreams. I ended up as all three things at various times.

I wanted to design cookwear, but it didn’t pan out.

-Wanted to be a doctor

-Should have been a veterinarian

-Am actually a lawyer

R93=Goldie Hawn

Bobby Sherman's kept lover. We would have matching Porsche 911s. I saw a photo of him with his Porsche in my cousin's Tiger Beat. I wanted the magazine but she wouldn't let me have it. I didn't want to rip out the specific page with Bobby as it would be too obvious.

I thought I’d end up as Tom Petty’s seventh wife.

I still think this would heave been my highest calling.

He’s a genius; I would have been happy to take care of him in his golden years.

Spy or a PI. I still would love to work with someone like Anthony Pellicano.

You’re a 90s bitch, r104.

OP, a communication expert reckons this is the question you should ask strangers you're seated next to at a dinner party, etc. Or you ask them what they do, and follow up with, "And is that what you always wanted to do?"

Nine times out of ten that will get the story of their life out of them and give you multiple clues to your next question. 'Course, if it's an actuary or an IT nerd who says, "Yes, this was always my dream", you're fucked.

I wanted to be a famous artist who traveled a lot in glamorous ways (by air) to glamorous places and became friends with fascinating people who adored me.

I figured I’d continue just being a kid. 🤷‍♂️

I wanted to become an architect, then I found out it takes longer than it takes to become a doctor.

[quote] Becoming a licensed architect in the United States generally takes 7 to 11 years after starting college, which includes a 5-7 year professional degree, 3-4 years of internship experience, and the time it takes to pass the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).

I wanted to be dictator . Now if I were, it would be a positive thing for the world.

I also wanted to be an architect. I was always drawing floor plans and designing houses as a kid. In high school they created an independent study architecture class just for me. I majored in it for one semester in college. That shit was hard (before computers), so I switched to English Lit and ended up going to law school.

[quote] I wanted to be dictator . Now if I were, it would be a positive thing for the world.

R110, ever hear the saying Absolute power, corrupts absolutely.

I wanted to be an executive. I didn't know what that was but I saw myself in a sharp suit, crisp shirt and tie.

And that's what happened.

I wanted to be a doctor, my mother wanted me to be an actor, grow up, take her to the Oscars etc. Zero family support for medical school.

I am also a serial entrepreneur on my 4th company. Mom, now ancient, was a teacher and thinks I really blew it not having summers off like she did if I couldn’t make it acting. I didn’t even try. She doesn't understand I make about 5 times what she gets from her pension, and my businesses pay for all of my travel, and lots of perks. And I don’t have to wait until summer to travel.