I would’ve wanted to be a freelance builder, crafter, designer and engineer. Here’s why I know I can’t, it’s because I am terrible with just knowing things. An experienced craftsman knows their tools by heart, can pick one up that they absolutely need for the job at hand. They know their workshop, inside and out. They can calculate measurements with barely thinking. They just have it together.
That’s not me. You can show me 3 different types of a philips screwdriver and for every one, I’d be like “erm…uh, still philips to me!” when there is subtle differences between them. I can barely measure things to save my life. I am just stunted to learn so many of these things, but I’m only capable of doing small projects at the very least.
People like Adam Savage really have inspired me, having seen the things he can do and how passionate he is about what he does. I love that. I wish I could be that. But I’m not.
My real dream job would be not needing to have a job
This is the way.
Just Be.
I would love to disappear into the wilderness and thrive, like Homer sinking into those bushes.
I was basically doing it until AI came along, the only difference is that I’d rather pick what I work on. That is, I’m a software engineer. Now, they want AI agent baybsitters making it hard to find work that doesn’t use AI.
I guess if I had to pick a second, it would be some kind of professional student or something that works in teams as someone who has a wide variety of knowledge across topics and domains and can use it together while still doing some kind of software engineering along with it.
I’m also a small-scale farmer where I just sell extra, but I don’t know that I would like that as my fulltime job; I certainly wouldn’t like the salary.
Man, I just wanna sit at a bench and fix things. More than that, I want to go to school to learn how to design better things. Can’t do either ‘cause I’m broke as hell. Can’t find work doing it because nobody wants someone who just wants to sit at a bench and fix things, it’s always gotta include some other (corporately mandated) bullshit.
If I could go back to my early 20s, I would go to travel destinations and bar tend. Alaska, Hawai’i, Bali, etc. I missed out on a lot that I had no idea existed. Today I wish I had the time to tutor prisoners how to read. I think that could be fun.
Bro do the prison tutor thing. That sounds great.
Either a botanist or wildlife rehabilitation. Life sort of turned really shitty really early and I had to get a “less idealistic” college degree so I went with social/behavioral stuff. Literally have become a cog in machine. It did support me and my son his whole life, but when I was recently given the option to start school again… I couldn’t make the decision to switch to something like what I wanted because I already have almost 20yrs working in this field. So now I’m just getting licensed and rooting here for good. I just watch hella documentaries
owner of a professional soccer team…
sucks because you have to start with millions and then lose most of it before you gain it back
Tournament organizer and commentator for various retro competitive puzzle games. Was something I used to do for a while and felt like I’d found my passion there. But things fell apart for… a number of reasons. Struggled badly with low turnout, which can be attributed to a lack of new releases bringing new players in, until the last major IP that was still standing got shot dead by a flurry of consecutive terrible decisions from the publisher.
These days I’ve pivoted to focusing on Riichi Mahjong, and I’d love to find a way to turn that hobby into something more. But there are already enough talented commentators and content creators in that space that I dunno if there’s room for me to ever carve out a name for myself.
But there are already enough talented commentators and content creators in that space that I dunno if there’s room for me to ever carve out a name for myself.
If they’re not on the Fediverse, this might be the space to give it a go?
Myself, I pick up new fandoms here just based on who is here and sharing content.
You probably can. Practice literally rewires your brain.
Maybe astronaut for me? Oh, or professional gymnast. I was pretty good, but practice will not rewire these tendons like you can rewire your brain.
Archaeologist. It is so fascinating that they are still finding things. I grew up around morons who led me to believe otherwise, didn’t really find the passion for it until I was much much to old to get started.
Astronaut. I can barely handle carnival rides without tummy troubles now.
I wanted to be an archeologist.
Me too, but not until I was like almost 40. I wish my age matched my ambition at any point in my history.
If I could do literally anything I wanted to, I’d pick my current job as a self-employed handyman.
I do everything from basic renovation work to building custom pieces and even have the occasional property maintenance job like cutting grass, hedges or trees or doing power washing. I’m a plumber by training with a life-long history with tinkering but no real past experience in the field I work on nowadays. I just went for it anyway and I learn as I go. Had I have to hire an employee I’d pick someone with a deep passion for that work with no experience every time over someone more experienced who’s in it just for the money. Customers take notice when someone actually cares and it’s one of the reasons I attribute the fact to that I’m overworked in the city with the highest unemployment in my country (and of all Europe).
Astrophysicist
Someday I’ll rent an old school wrecking ball and my 7 year old self will be so fucking excited at knocking down a building. Then I’ll need to learn to run real fast so I can get away from the building’s owner.
