To ask what your dream career is?

[TheJoxter]

I’ve never known what I want to be ‘when I grow up’

Now I’m grown up and I still don’t know!

AIBU to ask you to tell me what your dream career is? (And hopefully inspire me!)

Wildly successful published author!

@Squirrelplay
Ooh yeah that’s a good one. I always tell myself I’ll write a novel one day but to be honest I never write anything!

Ah ... OP, do you know The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay? It contains one of my favourite ever sentences:

I too follow professions, but at some distance behind, and seldom catch up with them.

Some people may feel this rather too exactly describes their own life ...

But you’ll have to say a bit more about where you are, qualifications and career-wise, (and how much effort you are prepared to expend) before we can offer helpful suggestions.

Sorry, @Squirrelplay, I am applying for that job

It doesn't help that my mum and my aunt are published writers.

It would be sooooooo nice though. I can write anywhere between 1000-7000 words a day without distractions.

I'd sell a few books, spend 3m of the year writing in New Zealand. Travel a bit around promotional tours. Cast my favourite actors in the TV series (obviously).

Hang out with cool celebrities when i fancied, but not be so major a celebrity that I couldn't have a private life too.

It is a 100% realistic and manageable expectation.

I would really like to go into nursing but the entry level HCA is a 10k a year pay drop from my current office based role and with TTC atm I can’t change jobs, plus we ‘enjoy llfe’ with lots of treats and stuff because of my earnings as DH is on a rubbish wage, so we wouldn’t be able to do that anymore.
Maybe once I’ve had kids I will reassess :)

Conde Nast travel writer!

Film director

Vulcanologist. I'm obsessed. But my brain struggles with maths and science, so a pipe dream.

I would like to be a clothes designer for everyday women: decent pockets everywhere, cotton everything, non-ugly plus sized clothes, practical sleeves and straps that hide bra straps, modern prints yet flattering, trousers for the wide-of-calf (so many trousers I try on I can't get over my calves, let alone up to my thighs ). Etc.

A Teacher if American History at a school in New England. There would be no out of hours teacher work to do so I could spend my time touring the rest of America.

Or a builder.

I know they are not the same but that’s why I still don’t know what I want to do at 43 😕🤷‍♀️

A doctor :(

Wish I knew but I regret my current career.

It’s boring and the pay will always be shit just because I’m female.

(Yes, I know that’s illegal but it’s an antiquated male dominated industry and its shit).

I think I’d rather be a games developer but I have zero artistic talent and would seriously have to work on my IT skills with years of training and at 35 I feel too old to start over

Poirot!

A tailor/dressmaker making bespoke outfits for people.

I'm a data scientist lol - it's cushy, easy and well-paid with no overtime. I'm not brave enough to sack it all off and do some expensive fashion course to then possibly earn pennies working long hours for years to build up a business.

I leave work at 5pm sharp and do it on the side as a hobby.

@elQuintoConyo your ideas for clothes sound great, just what I'm always looking for.

I like to be a spot popper/blackhead squeezer heads back to sporner corner

Too late for me but I wish I'd been either a Black Cabbie or an Architect

I always wanted to be a teacher and I was for nearly 40 years but every time we go to the theatre I wish I could have been a dancer singer in the chorus of west end musicals!

Successful artist - sadly never been in a position where finances or time have been on my side to do that! Also the small matter of a lack of requisite talent...🤷🏻‍♀️

Forensic Pathologist.

Officer on the Starship Enterprise but only with Jean-Luc Picard.

It seems like no matter what you do "the grass (is often) greener". As knittingnanny demonstrates. Maybe it's human nature? Suppose if we were comfortable we'd never strive for more?

Yup, novelist

Librarian. When DC2 is in preschool/school I'm going to start applying for library assistant jobs. It's a start!

oh actually I changed my mind. I'd want to be an actor but an A-list one not a struggling one. Imagine how fun it would be to play a superhero or a femme fatale & all the amazing costumes you could wear & all the skills you could learn.

@AquarianSquirrel

I think it's a combination of that, plus the fact that careers education never told me to think about what sort of lifestyle I'd like to lead.

It was all about pay, and my academic grades. No one ever told me to:

• think about whether I wanted to work with people, or alone
• active or sedentary
• routine and familiarity vs something new every day
• be a manager or not

(On the last, why, why, WHY do so many companies make career trajectories based on being in charge of other people? So many people would absolutely thrive on extra responsibility and skill in tasks, but make poor people managers.)

Textile conservator. Repairing and maintaining historical textiles, like enormous tapestries or a clothes from the 1600's