(no subject)

[danaeris]

How did you decide what you wanted to be "when you grew up?"

Comments

[funos.livejournal.com]

I didn't. I was born a geekscientist.

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

LOL. I'll let you know when I grow up! *hugs*

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

Which I was about thirteen, I noticed that all the programmers my dad worked with had crazy hairstyles, and so I decided that I wanted to work with computers.

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet- not yet grown up. I do what I love doing right now, but am still shifting between 'teacher' and 'astronaut' as my grown-up career.

My mom, who will be 46 in a few weeks, just finally decided last year- she's a Neo-Natal ICU nurse. :)

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

I never have... decided that is. The jury is out on whether I've grown up. I have, at various points in my life, been absolutely sure of what I wanted to do, moving forward.

That never lasts long, if it's specific. At this point, all I know is that whatever I do, it must involve working as part of a team and helping people in some way.

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

My usual answer is "I just knew." I knew I wanted to do science, and I knew I tended towards the academia side of things, longer ago than I can remember. I didn't know what general field til college, and I didn't know what specific field til I got really excited about something as a junior or senior. And that's where I'm headed now, in this one-track mindset.

Except, it's not really true. There were all sorts of other things I considered, and I keep wondering if I should have gone with one of them (more humanities, more flexible, more money, or more social good??). I think as I get older I'm less convinced of the one true path. It's easy for something to become an assumption.

I still think, though, that what would fit me best is being a professor, and I seem to be good at science and I really enjoy it, so the assumption wasn't off base. I'm thinking about other career options if I change my mind.

The hard part about the academia thing is that it's much more of a single trajectory than a lot of careers. I'm looking ahead at the endless postdoc-work-your-ass-off, junior-faculty-work-your-ass-off, etc dance, plus the fact that my primary relationship will have to survive at least four more potential location changes (two for each of us), made harder by us being two years out of phase from each other. Bah.

So maybe the answer is "you don't know til you're there, and then you realize you're not there yet"?

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I haven't.

well...

[etherial.livejournal.com]

I don't ever plan on growing up, but I love math and I love seeing the spark of realization in others. So teaching it seems like a perfect thing to do. I was talking with a friend of mine who is looking into teaching Industrial Technology, and the way we thought of it was this:

If all the best discoveries you've made in life, and all the projects you ever want to do, are ones you did in school, then maybe you want to be a teacher.

[epicureanangel.livejournal.com]

I think I'm with most of these people. I didn't figure it out one day.

I learned when I was around 8 that I loved computers. Made all my choices in that direction till I ended up where I was today. And I don't think I'm grown up yet either.. :)

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I read a 2-page write-up about MIT in a "1000 best colleges in the US" book and something went *click* and I said "those people sound so cool! I wanna go there! I wanna be an engineer!". Of course determining what KIND of engineer I want to be is still an ongoing process. Right now I think I want to go back to school and get my PhD so I can be a research engineer. It's hard to do research with just a masters.

[evergrey.livejournal.com]

Sorry this isn't related, but do you have a link to the "locks of love" article you were reading aobut how it doesn't add up?

[dicedork.livejournal.com]

I'm writing a story in fourth grade. I was ten. This story was 14 pages. That's a lot when you're ten.

It was so much fun. And I never got more pleasure out of anything than I did writing.

I later discovered sex, of course, but writing is a close second and is a different kind of pleasure. Honestly I'd probably give up sex first if I had to give up one of the two for good.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I found a passion. Or maybe it found me; it's hard to tell with such things. I can't pinpoint when it became such, although I can pin-point when someone said "hey, don't have to just fix motorcycles, you could go build them." However, I've thought I'd had passions in the past, so I'm letting it mature before taking large steps such as going back to school for at least a mech-e degree, possibly an industrial design degree as well. I can deal with that, since I'm only 25 after all; lots of time to go wherever that passion takes me, and my skills in bio-tech will easily support me in the meantime.

You know, before I got into motorcycles there was no way in hell I could predict that it's what I'd want to do. So there's nothing wrong with just chilling and doing what interests you until a passion comes along and sweeps you off your feet - you don't need a career, you're not that old yet ;P.

Actually, dicedork, your comment comparing sex to writing makes me smile. Riding a motorcycle is nothing like sex, but if I didn't say that it might not be readily obvious. It's like they occupy parallel tracks that don't cross or even interact, but are equally as compelling in their own way.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

I personally was influenced by the old school Heald commercials. As soon as I saw an O-scope on tv I knew I wanted to play with electronics and immediately started taking apart every radio and phone within reach. Needless to say I pissed my mom off greatly. I was to be a "lady". BWAHAHAHAHA

I haven't grown up yet and I get to play with grown up toys so it is way fun.

My friend gave me advice. She said figure out what you love and figure a way to do it as a job. You will always make money and love your work. This coming from a woman who owned a coffee shop in Healdsburg, made craploads of cash (she liked coffee), sold it off and is now on another project driving her new BMW.

Also my husbands recomendation is, never get a job where you can be replaced by a computer. Nuff said on that score I think especially since he works in figuring out how to make his computer or robot do things for you.

[lawbard.livejournal.com]

I didn't. I didn't believe I would live to be grown up.

[coffeekitty.livejournal.com]

i tried tech writing. i got bored.
i tried teaching. i loved it, but i got bored.
i tried materials science. i failed spectacularly.
i tried philosophy. i failed spectacularly.
i tried biology. i haven't failed yet.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I never did. I started what I do now when I realized it was what I most wanted to be doing at that moment. I chose the next goal when I realized I wouldn't be able to do this much longer, but I don't know how/whether it'll stick.