Thread: what did you want to be when you were young

Originally Posted by p38arover

I'd love to fly helicopters.

Well that was my deepest desire and would still be my dream job.

Fate, being a cruel bitch, intervened and my medical "situation" disallowed it.

Bugger, eh.


Other options under consideration were Zoologist, Journalist, Historian (each of which I studied at Uni) but then something happened, then Fate clobbered me again and I ended up working for a bank where my spirit was crushed for 7 years !

Escaped from that and now work for Customs, which I enjoy.

Spent teenage years scheming to be auto designer.

Landed in university with 8 years of study ahead of me, looked at all the Asian students drawing industrial masterpieces and thought stuff this!

Ended up driving forklifts, running a warehouse, and now Supply Chain Manager. Got here via a whole heap of flukes , can honestly say no complaints.

Hate to put my name to a Camry anyways!

Originally Posted by p38arover

I wanted to be a pilot. My eyesight was too poor to even join the services so the next choice was a teacher. I actually got 4 teacher's scholarships in different States..

My 19 yo son is training to be an airline pilot. This is why I'm still driving a 96 Disco and SWMBO a 98 Fairlane. Both have done over 300,000 km with the Fairlane clocking it on Xmas day.

Dave.

I thought I always wanted to be a pilot. marks not good enough for the RAAF ended up doing QIT as an associate diploma mech eng ...a drafstman...first job..seismic surveyor which had squat to do with mech engineering, Ended up buying a tipper and mucked around doing this for the next 20 odd years until my mom and dad reminded me one day that the first job I ever wanted to do was drive an Ansett Freight Express Kenworth....ah well the FH Volvo will have to do. Still fly aeroplanes when I can afford them.

Originally Posted by BMKal

You should have stuck with your original plans Bushie .............

Then there'd be two of us on here

Can't remember what I wanted to be at that age, but my father was a metallurgist and I always seemed to end up working in the lab or the mill at some minesite during school holidays.

I got away from the mining industry for a few years and ended up a brake mechanic in Adelaide for a while, but eventually drifted back to mining and studied metallurgy as a mature age student (while already working as a metallurgist).

I wanted to go to the Camborne school of mines as a mature student about
1 5 years back, couldn't afford to do so I had previously worked as a mill operator at Wheel Jane tin mine in Cornwall, visited Bougainville too in my travels, and lived in Misima PNG. (gold mining country) Now? I have my own pest control business!

Always loved the land so went to agg college and I'm here now
I also liked large machinery, and general engineering. So did what trades I could wile I was young. Was well worth it. My biggest regret is I should have stuck with my trades longer before coming back to the land as is a life sentence as now have no spare time
Best advice I can give is stick with what interest you but also look at the future. What will interest you now may not then. Next if you have a choice chose what will suit your life style and I'd say last what makes the most money, just remember this.... The unhappy career the makes the most money usually end up a disaster in mid life. Then it can be to late to start over.
Tony

Had a long held ambition to either join the RAAF or become a mechanic.....

RAAF lost on the grounds that I was (and still am) an unfit bat fastard.....
Spanners lost out when I figured out that after working on cars and a few million oil changes just to pay the rent, it'd kill off one of the few things I still enjoy.....

So my career path has been thus:
Labourer
Accessories fitter
Diesel fitters TA
Labourer
Electricans TA
Boilermakers TA & welder/fabricator
Plant operator
Electricians TA
Used car salesman
Now I'm the local spare parts bitch dealing with Holden, Isuzu, Suzuki, Daewoo, & Saab

*grumbles* and do you think the bastards will let me access the isuzu catalogue?

For a long time my dad pushed me to join the police force...... I refused, mainly because I know I'd never be able to handle knocking on some poor bastards door at 3am to tell them the bad news......

Was a Navy Cadet and wanted to join the RAN as an Aircraft Weapons Tech.....

Did that and decided I didnt like it as much as I hoped so left and moved around Oz working.

So far:
Air Tech Weapons (RAN)
Hydraulic Tech
Lectured Hydraulics at TAFE
Engineering consultant
Company Manager
IT Manager
Security Installer (included HomeBus automation)
Client Services Manager
Operations Manager
Metallurgical Traineeship
welder/fabricator
Machine Shop operator
Plant Scheduler
Maint Planner
& Land Rover Mess Around Guy

Enjoyed the experiences....

I'll give anything a go..... Must admit, I enjoy the hands on stuff more than desk jockey gear.