What did you want to be when you grew up?

[Lady Timpani]

+1 to wanting to be a vet haha. For awhile after that I wanted to be a teacher, then a lawyer in my early high school days. By the time I graduated I was back to wanting to be a vet and had even decided to major in biology because of it. I think there were other things I considered in between each of these, but none of them were ever too serious or lasted as long as these did for me.

 

[Dim]

Just an artist.

I eventually never wanted to grow up tbh but here we are...

 

[Mick]

I was dead set on becoming a zookeeper. I actually went for that, then discovered that aquariums were really fun (lots of physics, chemistry, and applied biology) and specialised in fish. Managed to get a job at a zoo with a huge aquarium, did that for a few years, then realised I didn't want to be doing it until I retired.

It was a job that's both physically and mentally draining, required so many skills and knowledge, was sort of dangerous sometimes, and none of that showed in what you got back for it. Incredible workplace aside, not having time, energy, nor money left for fun things is just not a good place to be in at the end of the day. Since this is the same across all zoos and aquariums, I decided to leave that sector entirely and now earn so more in a software development job. I can actually have savings and do hobbies now.

No regrets about choosing the other career path first, though. Aside from lots of simple routines and cleaning, I got paid for swimming with sharks and manatees. That was pretty awesome.

 

[Radiant Dreamer]

oh gosh, i wanted to be a cetacean biologist when i was little. i got to go to sea world once, back in the early 90's, and i wanted to work with the whales. don't know if anyone remembers them, but i collected the wildlife fact files, i had so many i had to get a second binder to keep them in. i was always obsessed with animals.

unfortunately i never even got started on the path for biologist. I worked as a cashier, lol.

 

[cornimer]

First I wanted to be an author, then I wanted to be a choir conductor. I'm not either of those things now, but I do write a lot and work with music in my job!

 

[th8827]

I originally wanted to be an Astronomer, then a Game Developer. I am neither.

 

[JellyBeans]

joining the wanting to be a vet gang! i never really had a true idea of what i wanted - when i was quite little i leaned towards wanting to be an author or something because i really enjoyed creative writing (and still do, tbh, despite definitely not being good enough to pursue a career around it) but kind of grew out of that. and then around gcse time i started leaning heavily into the idea of wanting to be a vet because it sounded like a really interesting career, and it was easier to give the careers people an actual answer so they could formulate a 'plan' for my next steps than to just say 'idk lol'. i even got as far as doing some work experience at a vet practice, and i really enjoyed it but i couldn't really see myself doing it forever. and now... idk! i'm technically still at the age of being asked this question and i'm leaning towards becoming a researcher in some specific field of neuroscience but who knows

 

[Envy]

Buckle up, because it's a long story. xD

Before middle school, I wanted to draw comics like Garfield. Lol. But in middle school I realized I was horrible at drawing, and my attention had moved onto music. I was inspired by a family member who played the trumpet, so I picked up the instrument for band and I wanted to be a professional trumpet player. In high school, I began realizing I just played the trumpet because they did. I then wanted to play the clarinet and thought it would be cool to play that professionally. But then I discovered this instrument called the bassoon, which is what most people know me for. LOL. It was around that time that I got into classical music, and I really wanted to play the bassoon in a professional orchestra.

Finally, in my senior year of high school, I had a really neat experience with marching band and that's when my attention started going more toward being a band director. This was ironically right when I started playing the bassoon myself, but I noticed that I'm not meant to be a performer, or perhaps it was "you should do music education because performance is unreliable" IDK. It's been so many years now. My interest in being a band director wasn't anywhere near solely a result of that, I really got into the idea itself.

I'm now an adult, and I am none of these things. It's kinda sad, but my "new" interest in musicology is very much rooted in my high school ways where I adored classical music and wanted to know about and listen to everything. Moreover, I was enough of a nerd to read a detailed book on the history of woodwind instruments back then. My direction was already obvious, I just didn't know it. Lol.

 

[Princess Mipha]

I wanted to be a Veterinaire.. until I realised that this means I might need to do injections or put a animal to sleep, which I wouldn't be able to do, ever. When I learned about that, I wanted to be a zookeeper (hope that's the right word), but after watching many many maaany documetaries about zoo's and such I learned that I might need to give living food or disgusting looking meat. So those two choices were ruined and I decided I wanted to be a police woman. Had this dream for a long time, but never actually went through with it and also learned that I'm not even having the minimum height to be one. q-q

 

[Smilephantomhive]

Dog trainer, then spy, then detective after my sister told me that being a spy would be dangerous.

 

[Aniko]

As a child I wanted to become a pirate. My mom said no.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

It's honestly a huge relief for me seeing many of these posts changing their minds on what to be as we further progress in our lives. Buckle up, because I'm all over the place lol.

As for me, I wanted to be an artist when I was a young child. Not quite sure why at the time, but that's what i said. My parents said no because artists don't get paid well. Funnily enough, nowadays, I love to draw and further challenge myself to improve my skills. And as a person who takes their sweet time on things and hearing that careers related to drawing have some strict deadlines, I don't think I'll be able to take it lol.

Anyway, the other thing I wanted to be was to be a chef. No other apparent reason. I just wanted to be one. In fact, I took a college course in culinary but if anything, I feel like I was being pressured to get into college in general at the time. While I did graduate eventually, I wasn't able to find a job related to the career field. At least it helped me to be more conscious of what I'm doing in my own kitchen at home.

Years ago back when I watched baseball regularly, I wanted to be a baseball player. The position I wanted to be in was mainly to be a batter or otherwise known as a designated hitter. When I stopped watching the sport, my eagerness to become a baseball player slowly disappeared. Also, I was a little 'too late' to get into it in the first place since you pretty much had to be committed to it at a very young age.

I also had a short stint of wanting to become a fighter jet pilot after playing a couple of games that had to do with flying planes. Obviously, that wasn't gonna happen.

Now, what do I want to be today? Since I have an enthusiasm for cars (wow, what a shocker), I'm considering becoming a mechanic (aka an automotive service technician). Now that I think about it, it was right in front of my face for a very long time all the way back when I was really young already playing Gran Turismo. Honestly, I hope this dream turns out to be a reality working on cars. I still have the flame going, and I'm learning things on the internet that only got me more interested, even if a lot of it is complicated. But I'm sure it'll make more sense once I get more familiar with things.

 

[Kamex]

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher because I loved going to school and learning. However, I changed my mind later on because I'm not good at dealing with kids to work at an elementary school. As I got older, I decided to become a translator by learning a few foreign languages like German, but I gave up on that because I don't have the motivation to speak a language fluently. I currently want to become a freelance artist because I've loved drawing since childhood and it's my favorite hobby. I'm majoring in Communications Studies, which is quite a broad field since many jobs require good communication skills. As long as I have a career in the future that pays me well and I'm financially stable, I'll be satisfied with my profession. In addition, I'm willing to do anything in customer service that I enjoy and keeps me engaged.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Mainly an artist. For a very weird short period when I was very young I wanted to be a mime and go to "mime school" ????? I also liked the idea of becoming a veterinarian. In middle school I liked the idea of becoming a web designer. In high school I wanted to be a fashion designer/artist hybrid.

I guess my occupation today is artist, I went to art school and everything, but I don't really have a career at the moment lol. My dream is to make tote bags/circle bags/etc. with my own original art on it, be it painted or embroidered or printed. But who knows how that will go, or if it will ever make enough money to justify as a full time career. I'd also love to sell stickers!

Edit; OH also when I was very young and obsessed with the (OG) Powerpuff Girls, I wanted to be an animator and specfically work on PPG with Craig McCracken. I just assumed he would teach me how to animate lol

 

[FlimsyAxe]

When I was a kid, I had this fascination for blue collar jobs and retail employees. I like watching them work. My top jobs when I was a kid was to either be an assembly-line worker, a bagboy, a cashier, an electrician, or those guys that mix cement and stack bricks. I ended up working a cubicle type job since it pays better. I've also come to realize that working in retail is not for the faint of heart.

 

[easpa]

First thing I can remember wanting to be as a child was a video game designer. Then I got a little bit older and realised what skills I'd have to work on to make that happen, so that dream went out the window rather quickly :x In my teenage years though, I never really had any one dream job in mind. Thought about becoming a teacher, a psychologist, a social worker... I've just finished my Masters and let's just say it's not in anything even remotely related to any of those careers loool

 

[Suntide]

An author. Then I realized that I am far too shy to extend the level of vulnerability it takes to share my writing with the world, lol.

 

[Xara]

i remember wanting to be a singer for the longest time. i would tell that to anyone who asked and base any career-related schoolwork around it, sing alone in my room, and even fantasize about it. i’m not sure why i wanted to be a singer, but i’m glad that i never tried to pursue it because not only can i not sing, i also have stage fright. i can barely talk in front of one person, let alone perform in front of several lmao. by the time i was in middle school, i wanted to be an author — i loved writing so much and found it to be incredibly therapeutic (i still do), so i wanted to make a career out of it.

nowadays, i’m unsure about the exact career that i’d like to pursue, but i’m hoping to do something that involves writing or working with animals. i did a co-op placement at a pet store a few years back and enjoyed it, so i’ll likely start there whenever i’m in a place where i’m able to work. :’)

 

[savanniebananie]

A detective. Crime and those murder-mystery shows always intrigued me as a teen. I would spend hours on end watching them, feeling like I was solving the case alongside them. Hopefully someday soon, that will become a reality!

 

[Kitsuragi]

I still have no idea. now that I'm in college I've lost sight of any and all career plans and I've been unsure of what I wanna do.
i was thinking accounting but my accounting class bored me to tears and I don't believe I can do that my entire life.
maybe meteorology?