Personally I want to end up working for Bethesda, using the Construction Set, or maybe writing the books. That would be a great thrill for me, having my own works found by adventurers far and wide across the face of Tamriel. Writing the quests, plot, and short stories found in an Elder Scrolls game would be a dream job for me... Too bad I need to go to collage first.

So how about all of you? What whould be your preffered job/career? Or, if you already have it, tell us what it is. Feel free to use all the detail you want, or lack there of.

Well, this coming fall I will be attending a private college that focuses on digital technology. The program I will be taking will get me a degree and a diploma in Electronics Engineering Technology, and this only takes 3 years to do. Once I'm done that, depending on what areas I do well in college, I'll look for a career that supports my strengths.

Currently in high school I handle the wiring/design for the Robotics Team so naturally at the moment I'm most interested in going into the Robotics field. I'll just have to see how well college goes before I look for something specific. The private college itself is said to look after their students for getting jobs by having employers come by and have interviews and such, so hopefully I make a good decision and get lucky with getting an immediate job.

I want my own island, well 330 or so, aka be the Prime minister of New Zealand. Alternativily a field officer with the department of conservation, being prime minister is really my back up plan if I become a failure.

Well, it would be a dream come true if my {When finished} books got published. Artist would be a nice 'side job' aswell.
Sometimes I think of game concepts, and if a company would ever want to take those on, it could branch in to a career.

~Hamish~

Hmm..I sort of already acheived what I wanted... even though it wasn´t what I once dreamed about to be honest!

I'm not 100% on what i want to do by way of a career, but I'm thinking of becoming an Urban Planner... it seems like an interesting job

My two requirements on my career are as follows:

1. It's artistic

2. I'm making the world a better place

So I won't be working for a video game company, I don't think, even though I get game concepts all the time. I suppose all gamers do once in a while. But I realized no matter what I'm doing it has to seem meaningful for me, i.e. it needs to help the world in some way, and I need to use my creativity for sure.

I'm thinking film-maker. I met this guy in college whose a brilliant cinematographer. His problem is he's not great at directing actors and his writing is very, very amateur. I'm hoping once he get's over himself and realizes I'm a genius, too, we can work together to make some good compassion.

Well currently I'm on a trek to become an officer in the Marine Corp. We will see how that works out in 4 years.

I would love to be an ambassador to a foreign nation at some point in the future though.

I want to be a pilot in the US Air Force.... or be an officer in InOps (Intelligence Operations). Then after I've done my part, I might go into law enforcement..... with foriegn language skills. (I'm one of the best in my class)

not less then a year ago i aspired to be a fighter pilot. all my life i wanted to, but then i just lost interest...


now im looking for something in the musical field. dunno what though.

I think everyone wanted to be a fighter pilot once.. I know I did..

Was this after watching the film, Top Gun? Because from what I understand from my film class, that film was very successful in achieving Air Force enlistment, and bomber jackets and aviator sunglasses sold like candy.

Mmmm propaganda at its finest!

I've not seen all of Top Gun, and I wasn't too interested when Dad took me to where the filmed it. But I still want to serve, Air Force or InOps.

meh Top Gun.

what a cheap movie. it never impressed me.

i've stood on top of one of the F-14's they used in it, though. that was pretty cool.

I really don't know actually. The one I'd like the most would be chef.. I think.

Chef? Do you mean boss or a fancy cook?

I don't like to go any further, I am satisfied with what I got, beeing a coordinator.....ehh I think

I figure I'll try to apply for Colorado Springs or West Point, become a commissioned officer (still haven't decided between air force or army......) I seriously doubt I'll be a lifer, or anywhere close.

PS: on the topic of Top Gun, still haven't seen it all. I hate the tomcat, the one of the worst looking modern aircraft (I don't care if it is or not). The F-15 and F-16 Fighting Falcon are so much better, so are the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-22 Raptor, Dassault Rafale, and SU-33 Flanker (I've really gotten back into aircraft since playing Ace Combat)

The one the cooks dinners etc

I am a biologist by profession, though I've also worked as a park ranger. Biologist is the job I've been aiming at for a while (really, since I entered high school) so I guess you could say I work in the field of my dreams. I'm also trying to establish myself as a writer. I'm hoping to get something published (sans pay, but still published in a literary journal of some consequence) this winter. I've also taught composition and physical science to college undergrads as a graduate teaching assistant.

I'll admit part of me always wanted to pilot robot suits like Iron Man.

My biggest dreams are to publish a novel someday, preferably in a horror setting, but I also want to someday publish a whole series of novels set in my world, Teir.

But my realistic goals are to become an effective writing/english teacher at my old middle school.

I've never had a clue what I want to do, I doubt I ever will. Brewing could be interesting but it would involve not living in Scotland which I'm not sure I fancy because its all beer here and beer doesn't interest me so much. Also I'm doing entirly the wrong degree for that sort of thing.

I was a TEFL (english as a foreign language) teacher for a year but it wasn't for me.

Redsrock, man, I don't know about aiming for middle school teaching... it's can be a pain enough teaching college freshmen. It can be really rewarding too, granted, but it can sometimes be exasperating. I don't care to ever try my hand at middle schoolers. (If you do go that route, many props and much respect to you. Braver soul than I.)

What would you be brewing, Olen, if not beer?

Edit: I doubt I could teach English as a second language. I mean, I never, ever struggled with English classes in school. I never really had to LEARN it, like some folks have to work at it. When I was teaching composition I had the odd student who struggled with usage and grammar, and while I could correct them readily enough, I couldn't really teach them any rules to write by, in that sense. I mean, I just KNEW. That's all. That, and teaching grammar wasn't really supposed to be my job--that's what outside help like the writing center and tutors were supposed to be for. But it was frustrating.

Second edit: Don't suppose it helped my cause that I was a biology guy trying to teach comp. Hey, you take the TA jobs you can get. I submitted a writing sample. I took two english classes in college. That's it. I was coasting on natural ability, mostly. I'm guessing if Redsrock goes into teaching English, it will be with more formal training than I. Which would be good.

Heh, I already know how crazy the little gremlins children can be. I shadowed my old history teacher for about a month or so, and just ended last Friday. They definitely are a pain at times, but I think I at least want to start at middle school, because I don't think I'll be ready for high-schoolers right off the bat. I don't really want to teach 5th graders that much because you just can't connect with them, at least not as much as you could a group of 8th graders. Does that make any sense?

So you're a teacher as well?

Teaching assistant. In the '06-'07 school year I taught introductory composition at the University of Montana--my department loaned me out to the English folks. In Fall '07 I lead lab and discussion sections (the actual professors did the lecture) for a physical science class intended for elementary education majors. I'm not a teacher by profession, but I've done it. My preferred sort of education to do is park ranger work--helping educate visitors about park resources. I did that at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, in summer of '06.

An odd mix, I know. And I only turn 25 next week.

And yeah, I can see how middle-schoolers might be a bit more pliable than the older kids. The good thing with the college students is that, with exceptions, they generally want to be there--they've exercised a degree of choice.

Edit: And to reiterate, I'm a biologist by profession. That what's I did this summer, working for the U.S. Geological Survey. Right now I'm hoping some guy in El Paso will call about a job sampling vegetation out on Fort Bliss.

Brewing - cider, wine, or distilling would be much more my style. I don't drink beer.

Teaching english as a second language is easier than you might think, you can get books of 'rules' and with the help of textbooks and the internet lessons can be wirtten in 20 minutes once you get the hang, I could give a half decent lesson on the fly too. With the older ones I would often just talk with them. I was teaching in a tibetan monestary a few miles south of Darjeeling which was an experience, young monks aren't the most well balanced individuals... It was a great experience but I wouldn't do it again simply because I'm not a great teacher.

So how did you like being a teacher, Canis? What were your likes and dislikes?

Well, my biggest dislike with teaching was simply that I was teaching subjects that weren't in specialty. I'm a good writer, and looking to break into it professionally to some degree, but it's not something I studied a lot--it's mostly something that I just DO. So teaching writing was sort of a hit-or-miss thing for me. Then last fall I was doing physics, chemistry, and astronomy--again, not in my specialty. I'm good at chem and physics, but astronomy was struggle for me to teach, because I was refreshing my knowledge as I went. If I were to teach again, I'd limit myself to stuff that I'm a genuine expert at. Not doing a good job--well, it rankles.

Another issue: I can be pretty disorganized, and I like to do things on the fly. Teaching forces you to be really organized. So I'd have to work on that. Preparation is critical. Once you get the hang of things it becomes easier to freelance, but again, I wasn't working in one of my specialities. (Sigh)

I hated grading. And explaining to a student why you graded a piece of writing a certain way (as opposed to say, a math problem) is sometimes a lose-lose. I was subject to some bias accusations in my end-of-semester evaluations, which was frustrating because I was killing myself to try to be as objective as possible. Grading sucks. I think me and my fellow TAs were in agreement with that.

Good stuff: Helping people is nice. I think I was able to help some students really express themselves and discover their talent.

I was able to do some cool things with my curriculum, like choose some of the stuff my students read, make cool assignments. Some of my colleagues did amazing stuff. My friend Nathaniel Miller (who, if there is justice in the world, will become a famous or at least very successful writer--he is amazing) had his students doing some wonderful black humor type stuff. Me, I exposed my students to a wonderfully descriptive piece by Ed Abbey about experimenting with LSD in Death Valley. That got some great/amusing/cool responses. I tried to expand their minds, and I did enjoy it. (Quick note: I imagine that it is considerably easier to get away with blowing people's minds in a college environment than elsewhere--just a thought.)

My colleagues were great. A lot of them were fiction writers, or creative writers of some ilk. Interesting people with great ideas. Talking shop with them was great. (Caveat: We were all TAs--young grad students. A middle school environment would likely be a lot different.)

Thanks for the info, man. This one part I liked in particular:



I love helping people with their writing right now at age 19, so that's why I want to be a writing teacher. Right now I don't think I'm a great writer, but I don't think I'm horrible either. I'm hoping to take some writing classes to further my abilities, so I'll be absolutely ready when it comes time to actual teaching.

I will add just a bit to Canis' wonderful insights on what it takes to be a good teacher. I have taught writing and literature at a college level in the past, and hope to do so again once I reach retirement age. Nothing else I have done has been as fulfilling as teaching. At the same time, it can be a grind- you have to assign enough papers to make the students practice the craft- and then you have to thoughtfully grade those papers. Consider 1 paper per week x 20 students per class x 3 classes for 14 weeks.... But- when you have an older than average student, a man in his 40's looking to start a second career, and he isn't sure he can be a writer. And you work with that student to prove to himself that he not only has something useful to say, but that he has the tools to say it... there is no feeling like it.

If you want to teach students to be better writers, teach them to be better readers. That doesn't necessarily mean forcing them to read exclusively "capital-L Literature". But you need to equip them with critical reading skills- get them to a place where they can articulate why a story or poem or play "worked for them"- or why it didn't. I always told my students that a piece of writing is a transaction, a deal, between writer and reader. The writer has the burden of saying something interesting in a clear, readable fashion. The reader has the obligation of making the effort to be open-minded. Sometimes, a reader doesn't like a piece of writing because the author failed.

Another key that I found success with was learning what my students cared about. And then I said, "OK- write about that." One of my (female) students was involved in dirt-track racing with her family. She spent the entire semester writing papers about racing- narrative, description, compare-contrast, etc. And she did a good job because she knew the subject matter and because it interested her.

Show the students that almost anything can be an "occasion" for writing. Bring in an object and let the class free-associate off of it, generating ideas and then organizing those ideas into a paragraph or a paper. I had great fun with a jar of peanut butter.

Insist that the students draft and revise- but be flexible in your definition of what constitutes a "draft". Some people live and die by outlines- others never use them. But all good writers do revisions. Separate the process of writing from the process of editing/revising. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, etc., etc., etc. are NOT writing. Writing is putting words on paper or on the computer screen.

Above all- great teachers are enthusiastic about their field of study- and they communicate that enthusiasm to their students. Not all people who excel in a profession excel as teachers- they don't have the spark, the facility that allows them to be "missionaries" for the work they love. On the other hand, a good teacher can do a good job on almost any subject, given enough time and resources to prepare.

Thanks, Treydog. Yeah, I totally agree about how reading helps one become a better writer. And I also understand how dedicated one must be in order to become an effective teacher. In my case that means reading bunches and bunches of papers, and at the same time grading each and every one to my best ability. I am ready for that. I want to teach writing. The one thing that gets me down right now is that I don't know a whole lot of stuff right now, but college classes will of course change that. I'm only a freshman after all...

I'm in the middle of my GCSEs and I still haven't made my mind up! However, since I've worked on a computer at school since I was ten (due my dispraxia) I imagine that it will be something to do with IT.

I considered teaching bu the problems that I'm not always very authoritative-and being fourteen really gives you an insight into just how big a w****r a teenager can be.

My two lifelong dreams are to be either an author, because I'm working on my own novel at thirteen, or to be a herpetologist. In case you don't know what that is, it's a person who studies reptiles. (I think snakes are the coolest things in the world. )

I wanna be like a cook (almost dispelled it ) or chef, or a industrial worker, or a military guy.
Yep, one of those things I want to be.

Sea turtles is where the funding's at, for herpetologists. I'm trying to break into that biz, sort of. I'm all kinds of biologist, but I've recently applied for jobs with sea turtles in North Carolina and desert tortoises in Arizona. One of my bigger regrets is the time I decided to not put off grad school in favor of studying sea turtles in Costa Rica. Would have made life much easier if I had gone, because I could have gone to grad school later, in that field, and then found herpetology work damn easily.

The lesson: when someone asks if you want to study sea turtles in Costa Rica (or similarly nice Latin American country with beaches and a stable government) you say, "Yes!"

I am retired and don't want to hear about work anymore.

When I was young I already wanted to earn a life doing absolutely nothing, then I achieved my goal but it took a long time : I had to work 15 years as a tax inspector before they let me out.

In the future I plan to beat Diablo 3, if I live long enough to see it released

I personally want to become a researcher for the BBC doing ancient History programs, or anything based on ancient History, especially from the aspects of Mythology (Heck any Mythology, personally I find Norse mythology much more entertaining than the Greek)

I have switched career dreams for a long time, from wanting to be an librarian when I was a kid to my last goal, architecture. But what I think I'm really going to go for, at least it is my current ambition, is medicine. It's going to be a tough experience, but I really would like to become a doctor. And as far as specialties go, and this is the real driving force behind it, I would most definitely want to be a psychiatrist. People ask me why I would want to listen to people's problems, but if there is anything beyond astronomy and philosophy that interests me, and always has, it is the human mind. I read psychology textbooks for fun

Well, when I was still a school kid my dream was actually to become a hairstyler, yet for some reason I educated myself and started working as a construction engineer, after doing that for some years, I spent the two last years at school and have now started to work in the oil business in the north sea.

Needless to say that my new job, coupled with the fact that I am an educated engineer my paycheck is rather nice if I might say so. :biggrin:

Looking back 2 years ago I said I wanted to be a chef, pfft. Next year I start Senior High School (I think... It's called gymnasium in Sweden and I'm not even gonna try to explain the Swedish school system) and I'm choosing between 3 programs. Since I have pretty good grades I can pretty much choose whichever I want.

Etec, if I choose this one I only have to go to school 3 more years and then I'll be an electrician.

NV (Science program) this one is pretty good since you can pretty much choose what you want to be, my dad, minque and my older sister all went to NV.

TE (Technology) I think this one speaks for itself.

My career is to be a full-time fantasy author, but for a job I'll be a neurosurgeon.

All I wanted to do was to be a chef and... GOLF!! Does that even qualify for a career (golf I mean)? Oh, well.

I want to work as a Biomedical Engineer

Once I've done that, I'll be getting a 100k per year.

Work at Bethesda Game Studios so I will know before anyone when TESV will come out...and what it will be like.

I want to become an architect and an author. But if I earn enough money from my books I might stop working with architecture, depending on if I love it or not. I know one thing though, and that's that I want to get my books published, that's been my dream for years.

I want to be a programmer. I've though long and hard about it and found that it offers the most opportunities for creating a huge robot army and taking over the universe. My C++ skills aren't there yet, but I know what goes into a career choice.

I played golf at the Division III colllegiate level. One of my old teammates (a decent, but not great player) got a job as an assistant club professional right out of college, at a course next to the Lake of the Ozarks.

After two failed tries, I've found a career to work towards.

I'm training to become an Outdoor Adventure Sports Instructor, which involes leading groups of people kayaking, mountain biking, orienteering, on high ropes, abseiling, etc. I'm at college currently, doing the course that will allow me to start working on Outdoor Centres, and loving it. It's as if this career was made for me.

It's everything I enjoy doing in my free time, so I figured why not. It doesn't pay well at all, but I can work anywhere in the world and I've always said I don't want a lot of money. I just want enough so that (in the future) I can support a family and be happy.

Architect, Author, Lawyer, Computer Programmer, Video/Computer Game Maker, Inventor, Teacher, Professor, Or someone who works with fire or clockwork all catch my fancy. I dunno... I hope I get something good though. Also, One of those people who own Coffee shops can't be too bad....

I'm gonna go to colleage, though, someday..... OR ELSE.

So basically, I got it all figured out. Once I finish highschool at 15, I'm gonna go to Bootcamp, prove my worth, get a Master's degree in Colleage in whatever I decide to be, by that time I'll be 23, so I'll move to either Italy or France (france only if the ... rebellion? Is that what you'd call it - is over). If I'm an Architect, I'll build a two-story house in the middle of the woods, no matter what my profession, I'll write several stories and put out my latest invention, (A water car.). I may or may not die young, I haven't decided.