What did you aspire to do and what do you do now?

[SarahLovesJS]

What did you aspire to do and what do you do now?

I thought this would be an interesting question since I am thinking about this a lot lately as I am finishing up college and trying to pick a direction to go in be it law school or out into the vast working world.

 

[joflier]

I came from a healthcare oriented family of dr.s, nurses, and xray techs. My grandfather and uncle are physicians, as well as several cousins. That is what I truely aspired to become, a radiologist specifically.......and perhaps still will.....I''m young enough. But I just couldn''t stomach that many years of school. I''m an xray technologist, and I am happy with that, but I do often consider going back to school and either doing a physicians assistant program or doing med school.......We shall see.

 

[deegee]

My degree is in education and I was over halfway through with a master''s in early childhood education. I taught for 5 years, and then ran totally away from the education field. I now work in a management capacity in state government. I am so happy with my career change, although I feel like I wasted a whole lot of time and money going to college for the wrong thing.

 

[WishfulThinking]

I, uh, aspired to be a lawyer.... you know.

I am pretty sure I aspire to be a professor, but I am taking a year off to make sure that I am making the right decision. I would love law school, for sure, but I am not sure I would love being a lawyer. To me, the energy, time, and money would be better spent on a degree that I will be able to use. While I love school I can''t just be a student forever because I love to learn, and I''m certainly in no financial situation to embark on three years of expensive schooling just ''cause I think it''d be fun. Unfortunately.

 

[bee*]

I aspired to be a vet and I''m in veterinary college at the moment. Couldn''t see myself doing anything else.

 

[violet02]

Originally a journalist... then the city newspaper editor came and talked to our class in college and said newspaper jobs were disappearing. Then it was law, I liked the cases, the logic etc... I got my pre-law degree. I hate going to school though so I took a break. I got into tech/web development and loved it, I was really good at it... did that for 5 years... dotcom bubble burst, stayed in tech but went into software QA... didn''t like, still don''t like it but 7+ years later here I am. It pays well and I''m stuck in a rut.

I don''t regret not going to law school. It just wasn''t for me. Tech was my calling... now, not so sure... I didn''t aspire to be in QA, I may try to become a project manager but I''m not feeling confident about my skills after being in a rut for so long. I worry about losing my job but I can''t get enthused enough about it to make a difference. I think the best time for me was when I switched companies more often. It''s not a good thing to get stuck in one place for too long doing something that doesn''t make you happy.

 

[icekid]

I always always always wanted to be a doctor, since I was about 12 years old I think. And... now I AM a physician. But I don''t think I would do it over again. There are things that I love about my job, to be sure. But the negatives, along with a very uncertain future for healthcare, outweigh the positives for me. Plus I am 27, and still have a solid 4 or 5 years of training left. I knew it would be a long and difficult road, but knowing and experiencing are two vastly different things. The problem is, if not medicine, I am not sure what else I would have done with myself!

 

[Tuckins1]

I have spent a lot of time (and money!) on my degree in education with a major in special education. I just graduated and have a job, and I am so excited to finally be doing what I have wanted to do for so long!!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Interesting question wishful...and some very enlightening responses so far - sounds like many people start out thinking they want to do one thing and discover they are happier/better at doing another.

I''ve always wanted to be something. For as long as I can remember. Its changed a lot, but highlights include: a ballerina (trained for this until I was about 16), the first woman president (hey, it could still happen

), a lawyer, a doctor, and finally a scientist. This last is what I went to graduate school for (undergrad could have gone almost anywhere - double major in biology and public policy), and am now (with luck) about 6-9 months away from getting my PhD in Immunology.

Only problem is, I''ve discovered I hate bench science - actually working in a lab makes me miserable, and I''m not particularly good at it. What I discovered I do love, is thinking about business and science and healthcare and other problem-solving type, big picture issues. Where my science background is still helpful, but I''m not slogging away in a lab on one experiment day after day.

So I''m applying to (hopefully) become a management consultant (which I would LOVE), or get a job in business development/strategy in the biotech space, to get some business training under my belt. Then, who knows? I might stay in consulting if I love it (which I think I very well might), or move on to something like venture capital or strategy or maybe even something completely different.

Its kind of fun and scary that for the first time in my life, I don''t have a plan beyond the next few years

 

[2Artists]

Art and more art.

Mrs.2Artists

 

[vespergirl]

Great question! Even though I am a stay-at-home mom at the moment, I aspire to get my M.A. in museum curatorship. I have a fine arts degree undergrad, but I ended up working as a marketing manager for the years before I had my child (money reasons). Now that we''re married and I''m staying at home anyway for a few years, I''m looking to start school either next fall or the year after. Even though I''m 32 now, I think it''s never too late to learn and do what you love.

 

[Dee*Jay]

After many years in the financial industry, last year I left my job as the Chief Compliance Officer of a hedge fund manager to be a full time real estate agent. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do now. And my aspiration is to every year sell more than I did the year before!

 

[JSM]

I wanted to be an Olympic Figure Skater! That didn''t happen, of course, though I tried.

I was pretty undecided (and still am) about what I want to do. I am one of those "jack of all trades" people - I can do a lot of things very very well, but no one thing ever stood out to me as my specialty. I always liked science, so I checked the box that said "biology" in my college apps. When that was finishing up, I still didn''t know what I wanted to do so I went to grad school. I''m in grad school now and about 2 years or so away from the PhD - and I still don''t know what I want to do.

I guess my main goal is science writing. I want to educate the masses and reveal the vast misconceptions about the way science (particularly genetics and molecular biology) is done. But I have no idea how I will go about this (and my PI won''t like it either). So I''ll probably go do a post doc and wind up in industry or something.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

I always wanted to be an actress or a singer. My parents and grandparents have plenty of stories about how much of a drama queen I was (and still am to a point

). I guess I grew out of it and now have a bachelor''s degree in Paralegal Studies. I''ve worked for the same employer for 4 years now and I love it! I bounced from firm to firm while in college but the experience did me some good and I learned a lot. I love the study of law, but I don''t see law school in my future. I''m not sure I want the mountain of debt that goes along with it and there''s already an overabundance of lawyers where DH and I live.

Diva

 

[princesss]

I dream of being a travel writer. Part Bill Bryson, part Francis Meyer, I''d love to write about what''s it''s like to travel have all of my (mis)adventures. It seems like no matter where I go, something always goes wrong, and it always ends up being one of those stories that gets told again and again. So I''m slowly trying to write them all down (and have new adventures to add in).

Right now I''m a customer service rep for a major international shipping company. I plan on getting my MBA and then who knows what I''ll do. But the writing dream has always been a side plan for me. I don''t want to do it full time for some reason. Never have.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

This thread turned out to be really interesting!

 

[sevens one]

Date: 9/1/2008 11:49:06 AM
Author: vespergirl
Great question! Even though I am a stay-at-home mom at the moment, I aspire to get my M.A. in museum curatorship. I have a fine arts degree undergrad, but I ended up working as a marketing manager for the years before I had my child (money reasons). Now that we''re married and I''m staying at home anyway for a few years, I''m looking to start school either next fall or the year after. Even though I''m 32 now, I think it''s never too late to learn and do what you love.

Wise words!

 

[GoingCrazy29]

I want(ed) to be a Broadway actress!

I got my degree in elementary education, taught 1st grade for a year, and realized I never wanted to become on of those teachers who isn''t willing to put 110% of themselves into it and started looking for something new...

Now I train teachers how to use various educational technology in the classroom, I''ve been doing it for almost 3 years and am very happy! I still hope to be a SAHM someday if we can financially pull it off!

 

[elrohwen]

Great topic! I got my BS in chemical engineering and am working at a major food company. I thought I would like it because I love food/cooking/baking etc, but I''ve realized it''s just not the industry for me. I travel constantly and I think I''m at the point of being burnt out. It''s also a bit low-tech (compared to the other things a ChemEng can do) and I''m looking for more of a technical challenge. Food has been made the same way for like 80 years ... there are some innovations, but not as much as people in the industry like to brag about. I want to work in a field that''s constantly changing and developing.

I''m currently looking to get a job at the microelectronics company my FI works for. I like the environment there and I''m ready for a change. If I get a job there and don''t love it, I can apply to hundreds of jobs internally and switch around. In my current situation I''m really stuck in the same job even if I switch companies. The company has a hiring freeze right now and I''m trying to be patient ... it''s hard though! I''m dying to get out of my current job. I''m really looking forward to working for a company with lots of engineers. Here I feel like no one thinks like an engineer (even some of the other engineers don''t act like the typical engineer). I think engineers have a way of thinking about problems and I''ll be better off somewhere that others think like me and appreciate that way of thinking.

With that said, some days I fantasize about being a vet. I''m not a huge fan of school though (I liked engineering because I knew I wouldn''t need a PhD to get a good job) so I don''t know if I could deal with vet school. It''s always been a dream though and you never know!

 

[dragonfly411]

I wanted to be a horse trainer, or an artist.

Right now I''m in management within a small company and do direct sales, but I plan to get my degree in animal sciences and have my certification for sports massage for horses, so I hope to go into barn management later. I''m young, so I can still get there

 

[vespergirl]

One more thing that I wanted to add - when I mentioned this thread to my husband, he said, "With all the time you spend on Pricescope, maybe you should do something in the jewelry industry - I can''t imagine anyone loving a job at Tiffany''s more than you." It cracked me up because he was totally right! I don''t know how much I would love retail, but can you imagine how much fun it would be to handle gorgeous engagement rings all day?

 

[Daydreamer7130]

I always knew I wanted to do something in the medical field. I joined the Navy after HS and was a hospitalcorpsman and then went on to their pharmacy school. I knew then I wanted to be a pharmacist. Well, after 6 years of the Navy, 2 boys and a divorce later and no social or family help ... pharmacy school was a dream away due to pharmacy schools being few and far in between. So, there was a local hospital nursing program in my town. I thought "well, I can support my boys on a RN salary." So, I used my GI bill, raised my then 5 and 3 year old son and became an RN. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think I would become a nurse! I never wanted to be a nurse and now I cannot imagine my life NOT as a nurse. That was 13 years ago and during that time I remarried and had 2 more boys. Short version of a long story- when the baby was 1, husband came home one day and said he was in love with someone else, packed his stuff and ... poof, he was gone leaving 5 broken hearts behind. That was almost 7 years ago. For the past 4 years, I have been studying to become a family nurse practitioner and receive my masters in nursing and raising 4 absolutely wonderful boys.

I will graduate in May. I just sent my oldest son off to the university of toledo to study... you guessed it... pharmacy!

Cynthia

 

[Elmorton]

From about sixth grade on, I aspired to be a clinical psychologist - and I even got a BA in Psych. Fortunately, I figured out by my junior year of college that pyschology wasn't my calling, so I made my minor (English) a dual major and went on to grad school. Now I teach at community colleges and I love it. My current career aspiration is to grab a tenure-track position and teach what I love until I retire.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

From about 4th grade on I wanted to be Indiana Jones, or at least an Egyptologist. I''m an editor.

 

[hibiscus]

Aspire to be an economist. Have a degree in economics. Was an investment banker for 2 years, then a commercial sales manager for 4 years in an Asian TV network and now a business owner.

 

[AprilBaby]

In 6th grade I wanted to be a Dental Hygienist (huh?) and 38 years later I still am