What do you want to be when you grow up?

[Mach351]

Take it as a given you are financially stable enough to retool your skill-set and start a different career (e.g. go back to school, get certifications, or whatever);
what would it be?

in my youth, I was a follower of the Lloyd Dobler career mentality

bad video alert



just got the notion to be a high school physics, chem, math teacher so I can have summers off. just really tired of sitting behind a desk 8-10 hours a day.

maybe a more relevant question: how do you get thru the onset of mid-life-crisis where every day for the last 15 years has been exactly the same causing a persistent feeling of boredom?

_

[VA-Mach1]

Rotorcraft Pilot.

Wish I could help with the bordom. I'm 23 years into that at the same job. Same everything. Some say find a 20 year old girlfriend, some say God makes all things new again. Id like to win the lottery and try both.

[Thunderbolt]

Originally Posted by Mach351

How do you get thru the onset of mid-life-crisis where every day for the last 15 years has been exactly the same causing a persistent feeling of boredom?

Unless your one of the .0000001% that love your job, were all in the same boat. I've been at my job for 23 years and have been burnt out on it for the last 10 years. I've learned to just do my job the best I can and then develop amnesia the minute I walk out the door after my shift is done. I don't want to think about that place at all. I'm putting in for a medical retirement due to health problems, but I have no desire to work again. I have to agree with Peter Gibbons. I will be happy just sitting on my azz doing nothing.

[Mach351]

Originally Posted by Thunderbolt

I have to agree with Peter Gibbons. I will be happy just sitting on my azz doing nothing.

What I would do with a million dollars

Best wishes to you and for your health in the future, sir.

I can't complain about my job, I do like it.
But it is just a means to stuff I really like... eating, air conditioning, comfy bed, fishing, shooting, burn outs...

[JDraper]

After 24 years of the rat race (most of it with GE), I decided it was time for an early retirement and bailed. Haven't been this happy or calm in years...

[Procharged2k3]

I'm a software developer. I always enjoyed this stuff as a hobby, but **** it makes for a boring actual job... since I'm not working on software I find personally interesting.

Not sure what else I would do though at this point.

[Thunderbolt]

I never minded the work I have to do at my job. It wasn't the physical aspect of the job. It was the mental aspect of the job. You have to deal with working alongside the laziest workers ever, and people in management that were even lazier. The worst workers are praised as being the best workers. That wears on you after decades of putting up with it. These days you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. I did the job strictly for the pay and benefits. Now I can leave and put that nightmare behind me.

[Mach351]

Originally Posted by Procharged2k3

I'm a software developer. I always enjoyed this stuff as a hobby, but **** it makes for a boring actual job... since I'm not working on software I find personally interesting.

i did Computer Science for college. started programming on a TI-99 in eighth grade and it just clicked. (that inch-worm module was rocked for all it was worth)
It is more fun when you pick your own projects. I did a "quasi" Voight-Kampf machine from Blade Runner in Visual Basic; a Connect Four game in LISP; and a really miniature airline scheduling program in C++.
Then ended up supporting a billing and account maintenance platform in a COBOL/CICS/DB2 IBM mainframe shop for 7 years. A year after the Y2K melt down, that and a subsequent job went off-shore; so I transitioned into a document jockey (aka Business Systems Analyst). May as well try to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs as attempt to code anything now.

[Procharged2k3]

Originally Posted by Mach351

i did Computer Science for college. started programming on a TI-99 in eighth grade and it just clicked. (that inch-worm module was rocked for all it was worth)
It is more fun when you pick your own projects. I did a "quasi" Voight-Kampf machine from Blade Runner in Visual Basic; a Connect Four game in LISP; and a really miniature airline scheduling program in C++.
Then ended up supporting a billing and account maintenance platform in a COBOL/CICS/DB2 IBM mainframe shop for 7 years. A year after the Y2K melt down, that and a subsequent job went off-shore; so I transitioned into a document jockey (aka Business Systems Analyst). May as well try to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs as attempt to code anything now.

Visual Basic! <3

That's awesome stuff. I grew up on QB and VB when I was younger, I still have a soft spot for it and play around with it now and then.

[jbrad88]

Helicopter Pilot...Always wanted to fly an UH1...

[SLO-RIDE]

OK, I'm 56 yrs old and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I've worked in a TV cabinet factory, machine shop, as a welder for 16 yrs., and now I work in a control room to run a coal fired power plant. I always thought it would be a great job to be in law enforcement. My daughter is, and I'm so **** proud of her. She loves her job and enjoys going to work. To me, that sounds great, but I've never been there. I like the $$$$ that is linked to my job, but the excitement level is at a world record LOW. Hats off to our law enforcement people, they are who the rest of us count on when things get ugly.

[littlemags]

Actually did my job that I really enjoyed. Medical fetal abnormalities research....super interesting BUT compensation sucked. After my master's...I changed professions due to pay....went into the collision business. Make six figures..wouldn't change it for nothing...

[kingbri1]

Feel the same.. I'm retiring after a 20 year career very soon. I think I may go back to school full time (paid for.) I just cant decide what to study! Always thought full time school as a job would be fun...and learn stuff!

[not a gt]

Marine Biologist, wound up in a Federal Prison

[SLO-RIDE]

Originally Posted by not a gt

Marine Biologist, wound up in a Federal Prison

That's where my daughter is. A federal prison. She is the first female in the history of Lewisburg Prison, a super max site to become "Correctional Officer of the year" She is now a case manager. My hats off to you for your service.

[HamMach1]

Apache Pilot. Can still take a stab at it but the idea of being in the military again pains me a little. Now I have just been sitting behind a desk and rotting for the last 3 months. I die a little inside every time I step foot into my cubicle.

[TKat13]

If money was not an issue; I would open my own shop. Build cars/trucks in the back half and repairs in the front half. Be an honest repair shop, period!

[mongosmach]

a archeologist heir jones

[hotrodnut]

Since the 70s I've wanted a kit car business, now I want to build Factory Five cars. I want to build, sell and service them for others to enjoy.
But, as engineering has kept me going since 1972 (and financially ok) I just can't seem to get there.
I feel as HamMach1 said he did every day that I go to my office.

[sutyak]

I've also been in software for years now. If I weren't afraid of losing the love for my hobby by opening a speed shop I'd be doing that. Most people I know that open a shop never get time to wrench on their own rides.
So I suppose I wouldn't do anything different up to this point. Future I'd like to have a full-blown welding setup and do some custom fab work on the side.

[Fauxnali]

I always wanted to be an automotive design engineer.
I was always drawing cars as a kid. My Mom let me draw on my walls. I drew a Porsche Pickup Truck about 3/4 size on my bedroom wall back in 1989, a full 15 years before the Cayenne came out. I guess that was my farm boy roots shining through. It was vey similar in look to the Cayenne actually, and it had a stepside box on it with "testarossa" vents built into the front of the flared rear fenders for brake cooling.

Then, growing up on a small family farm, I didn't have the money or the marks (the marks were my fault, no excuse for that) to go to post secondary, so I became a welder. Now 20 years and several careers later with the same company, I am a major account manager for the Caterpillar dealership up here in Alberta. I love my job and the financial compensation is such that my wife gets to be a stay at home Mom and we are loving life. Funny how things work out sometimes.

[rsnider]

Asking others for advice on this topic is only good for direction, not suggestions. It is one of the most personal decisions you will ever make. Your wife (or significant other) would be number one and sorry car guys... your vehicle choice are a ways down the list.

There would be a list of personal characteristics that describe you that should be considered first. Do you like being alone or working in groups, are you artistic, do you like a strict regimen or routine, etc. Could your hobby or special interest turn into a career that would support you and your family?

I myself retired from a job that I enjoyed by taking a buy-out. I thought it was time to start volunteer work. My wife and I are financially stable, certainly not rich. But my job as Supervisor of Mechanical Maintenance for a large high school district (12-3000 student campuses) didn't give me any feeling of fulfillment.
I decided that my fondness of the outdoors and dogs would be perfect for K9 search and rescue. I've been in the field for five years now.
I would recommend talking to those in the field that interests you the most. They can tell you if the field is collapsing or they may also give you suggestions for related fields that are growing.

[ab_mach1]

Originally Posted by TKat13

If money was not an issue; I would open my own shop. Build cars/trucks in the back half and repairs in the front half. Be an honest repair shop, period!

^This!

...and I would love to take courses on all the new scanning and troubleshooting equipment and be able to test them out too. Also, be able to do a fix it forward kind of thing for people in need.

[Tommy Z]

Ha, I just applied for a mechanical engineering position at Warren Cat down here in Texas.

Honestly, I just want to design/improve engines, transmissions, or hydraulics on anything mechanical.


Sent from my microwave with wifi.

[fastlane]

I've been in computer networking for 27 years now and if I could drop this and go do anything else, it would owning a performance car shop. I've always wanted to build/work on fast cars.