What was your dream job as a kid?

When you were little, what did you want to grow up to be? You know, before reality kicked you in the ass or before you realized just how shitty the job you wanted really was? I'm thinking about this now because I just saw a video of a bunch of guys doing what I would've sold my soul to the devil when I was younger to be able to do.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/super-hornet-squadron-heads-to-sea-mak…

Growing up in New Jersey, I remember my dad taking me to an air show at MacGuire Air Force Base, and I wanted to be a fighter pilot ever since. But then I needed glasses by the time I was in 3rd grade (you need 20/20 vision and they don't take candidates who have had their vision corrected to 20/20), so I had to put that dream to bed. Also, most fighter pilots are short and stocky because their bodies can handle the g-forces. I'm tall and skinny, so I'm pretty sure if I was yankin' and bankin' like these guys, I would black out pretty fast.

So what about you guys? Firefighters? Cops? Teachers?

 

You seriously wanted to be an accountant? Wow! Never heard that actually. In fact we used to joke around in the audit room that no one ever woke up and wanted to be an accountant when they grew up.

"Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money." - Mickey Bergman - Heist (2001)
 

I had a video camera and wanted to be a director. I wanted all of my movies would be ridiculously stupid immature comedies. Then I gave up that dream and wanted to be a professional poker player. I guess trader is close enough.

 
Stryfe:

I wanted to be a pilot ever since I went to an air show too, but I got glasses when I was in 1st grade and I knew I couldn't do it. I recently found out you can fly helicopters for the Army without being prior enlisted though...

Only officers are pilots. Why would you need to be prior enlisted?
heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

I thought being a pilot would be cool until I realized the extent of the unyielding monotony of flying a commercial airliner that pretty much flies itself. It would be unbearably boring. And after about 500 hours of air time I would have to think that the novelty of flying would start to wear off.

 

//www.youtube.com/embed/gYtz5sw98Bc

[quote=Matrick][in reply to Tony Snark"]Why aren't you blogging for WSO and become the date doctor for WSO? There seems to be demand. [/quote] [quote=BatMasterson][in reply to Tony Snark's dating tip] Sensible advice.[/quote]
 
AndyLouis:

why belize? hear it's nice, just curious as to why you picked that country

It's not too touristy It's in the central time zone - most of my family friends are EST and it'd be easy to keep up with the markets It is ridiculously cheap - When I was looking at places not too long ago I'm pretty sure that I was told the property taxes on a ~$900k beach house were like

[quote=patternfinder]Of course, I would just buy in scales. [/quote] See my WSO Blog | my AMA
 

Professional baseball player, then a D1 college football coach, now goal is to eventually own my own HF, and eventually become a majority owner of an NBA team. Recently just saw two big HF guys bought the Bucks

twitter: @StoicTrader1 instagram: @StoicTrader1
 
BEAST MODE TRADER:

Professional baseball player, then a D1 college football coach, now goal is to eventually own my own HF, and eventually become a majority owner of an NBA team. Recently just saw two big HF guys bought the Bucks

Just wondering what sport you actually like? Or did it evolve from baseball to football to basketball over time?

 

I loved all three sports and played all three my whole life. My favorite sport to play now is basketball, I play pick-up at least a couple times a week. Played 1 yr of D2 college football and my favorite growing up as a kid was baseball, I loved pitching and played shortstop as well.

twitter: @StoicTrader1 instagram: @StoicTrader1
 

As a kid I always dreamed to become a business man with a black suit and suitcase Very vague indeed...

".... We take a buck, we shoot it full of steroids and we call it leverage. I call it steroid banking ..."
 

My first dream was to become an astronaut. We had to do a play for our kindergarten graduation, and I played the part of an astronaut going up to see the moon. When I got older I wanted to be an architect and design bridges and airports.

At some point I decided I could get laid more often if I had tons of money and wore a suit every day. Be careful what you wish for.

in it 2 win it
 
LongandShortofit:

Lawyer. I guess I could still do that but I read nothing but horrible things about life as an associate.

Definitely don't become a lawyer.

I wanted to be an automotive engineer. I started undergrad as a double bio/mechanical engineering major, then too much fun happened.

 

in grade school, went on a field trip (forget exactly where). a couple friends and i wandered off and ended up in an office setting where we saw a couple guys playing a first person shooter on their computer. I walked up to one and asked what his job was. He said he was an actuary, that it was a well-paying field, and all he did was play computer games. A dream was born. well, at least until about 10th grade.

 

I wanted to own a chain of paycheck advance places similar to the "money store" and charge 5% "interest" per month on advances, secured by what little remaining equity people had in their homes

No really though, I wanted to play for the Bulls and be a modern Toni Kukoc

 
International Pymp:

I wanted to own a chain of paycheck advance places similar to the "money store" and charge 5% "interest" per month on advances, secured by what little remaining equity people had in their homes

No really though, I wanted to play for the Bulls and be a modern Toni Kukoc

And it is still not too late to fulfill your childhood dream career! As a payday loan shark that is, not sure about the NBA pro part.
Too late for second-guessing Too late to go back to sleep.
 
GoldenCinderblock:

Guys...
If the return from the market over a long enough period is higher than the rate you can borrow at, isn't that an arbitrage opportunity?

No. It's not guaranteed to work, for one thing. It's path dependent, meaning that even if the market had phenomenal long-term returns, it might have an interim drawdown that could knock you out of the game.
 

I think you need to be a full on Officer to fly in the Navy, Marines and Air Force.

The Army is the only branch that lets people who don't have college degrees fly Apaches/Kiowas/Blackhawks. If you have some amount of college credits, you can apply to Warrant Officer Candidate School and go on to fly choppers.

But yeah, I dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot as well.

 

When I was considering OCS for the military years back, the Marines told me that they were the only branch that would guarantee an officer a spot in flight school prior to OCS if you qualified and wanted it. Basically you could get a guarantee that you would have a flight school spot prior to enlisting by taking the tests, being examined, etc. Could've just been a recruiting tactic, but I don't know. You might not be flying fighter jets, but you would have a chance to fly something.

"Decide what to be and go be it." - The Avett Brothers
 

Pokemon Master. The one dream that was achieved within a month.

The heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. -Thomas S. Monson
 

My wife's best friend from college married a guy who became a captain in the Air Force and flies F-15s to train new fly officers. This stuff is seriously not overrated. He has the best job in the world. They live in Oregon where he'll continue to train for 10 or 15 years and retire from the military, then fly commercial if he wants to. He's lived in London, Korea, Germany, and a few spots in the US while in the AF, and he loves it. I picked him up from the airport once when we all met up for a wedding and asked him about flying commercial when he's used to F15s... He laughed and said that sometimes it's nice to be flown, but the speed (or the lack thereof) of the commercial airliners made him anxious. You should hear the stories though... it's crazy. He's definitely the dad that the kids want to hear about on career day at school.

"Decide what to be and go be it." - The Avett Brothers
 
wareagle4230:
He's definitely the dad that the kids want to hear about on career day at school.

Damn kids have no respect for my DCFs! You think there's pressure in an F-15? Wait until you have a 10am deadline for a pitchbook after an all nighter. Embarrassing. Whether that font is size 10 or 11 could make/break a $1B+ client..

This to all my hatin' folks seeing me getting guac right now..
 

Careful. Don't assume that it's all flying around at Mach 3 dogfighting the bad guys. My understanding is that the majority of your time is spent on less glamorous stuff -- checks, maintenance, drills, tests, etc. This is true for more or less every military job (see the thread on this board from the former Navy SEAL -- apparently a lot of his job was preparing powerpoints).

I have a few buddies in the military and it was a bit of a mixed bag. They did some cool stuff, but they also did stuff like wander around middle of nowhere places in Germany and Afghanistan for the better part of a year with no real point / mission. Also had a buddy head to the Naval Academy thinking he was going to be a SEAL. Once it became clear that probably wasn't going to happen (they only take a handful of SEALs from the academy and he decided he couldn't deal with freezing cold water all the time), he ended up on a Nuclear submarine where he was living in a cramped tube and putting in 100 hour weeks doing constant system checks.

 

Obviously it's not all fun and games. Plus, it is much more dangerous than people realize. He was part of a two man training team in which he and one other captain trained officers. He was either in the air, or in the tower on training days. One day about 5 years ago he got to work and his orders changed (as they sometimes do) and he went from being in the air to being in the tower. Just so happened that the trainer and trainee in the air crashed and died that day. Talk about difficult to deal with and stressful. I'm sure that like any other job in any regard there is tons of busy work, admin stuff, and b/s to deal with. However, a fighter pilot gets to have some much cooler days than the best possible day in my field...

"Decide what to be and go be it." - The Avett Brothers
 

@design is spot on. I find it amusing when people talk about how the should have been a fighter pilot after watching a youtube video. Do yourself a favor and strap into an aerobatic aircraft and experience 6+ GS. The feeling of pitching the nose down into a steep dive before yanking the yoke back towards you is hard to describe. It kinda feels like someone is trying to pull your face over your knees. Grey outs, and red outs, are not too fun either. I for one love the experience of flying but I know for a fact that my body could not tolerate those kinda GS even with a G suit. I am tall too so maybe that has something to do with it.

 
l8gr8miltonfriedman:

@design is spot on. I find it amusing when people talk about how the should have been a fighter pilot after watching a youtube video. Do yourself a favor and strap into an aerobatic aircraft and experience 6+ GS. The feeling of pitching the nose down into a steep dive before yanking the yoke back towards you is hard to describe. It kinda feels like someone is trying to pull your face over your knees. Grey outs, and red outs, are not too fun either. I for one love the experience of flying but I know for a fact that my body could not tolerate those kinda GS even with a G suit. I am tall too so maybe that has something to do with it.

Your first ejection permanently shortens you about an inch.
heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

Wanted to be an F1 driver...and then when my parents informed me that they wouldn't be supporting this in any way shape or form (I'll never forgive them) I wanted to be an engineer in the auto industry for a while.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

I know this feel bro. Dreamed of being an F1 driver but unless you've got millionaire parents or are so good that you can be sponsored at an early age, it's near impossible to make it.

 

Yeah man, I've always wanted to be a competitive auto racer at any level, but my parents couldn't afford to get me started in karting and if you can't do that, you can pretty much kiss any professional aspirations goodbye unless you get very rich very quickly, and are willing to finance your own ride and take the time to become a good driver.

Always ticked me off because I did do occasional kart track days with my buddies when I was younger and I kicked ass...not to brag. Cars have always been one of my passions, so it developed into me being a good driver. Last time I was in a kart was like 4 years ago...honestly there's few things more fun in the whole world.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

The liquor store down the street is owned by a firefighter and his wife. I was talking to him and he says he works 3 days a week and makes $65K. That plus a little side business like he's got (could easily have several) is a pretty legit setup..

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

I honestly don't think I had a dream profession as a kid. I kinda just went with the flow, ate cereal, and watched Scooby Doo.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

Also many towns in the northeast have volunteer firefighter departments. Princeton, for instance has a company made up entirely of undergraduate and graduate students. If you are an undergrad here or at Rider but live in town, PM me and I can tell you who to contact about that. (I don't participate- I would have had I known when I first got here- but I now know the grad student who leads it)

There's also a volunteer ambulance and rescue squad. They do everything from EMT work to rescuing people who take a dip in Lake Carnegie in the winter.

More locally for many NYC folks, I believe Hoboken has a volunteer ambulance corps as well.

 

I grew up wanting to be a Marine, so I shipped out right after I graduated high school and spent four years doing that! I realized it wasn't the life for me, so I got out and twirled my thumbs for while. Hard to figure out what you want to do in life when your initial dream job wasn't exactly dreamy but nevertheless rewarding.

 
Ocralph714:

I grew up wanting to be a Marine, so I shipped out right after I graduated high school and spent four years doing that! I realized it wasn't the life for me, so I got out and twirled my thumbs for while. Hard to figure out what you want to do in life when your initial dream job wasn't exactly dreamy but nevertheless rewarding.

MOS? What years were you in? Where'd you deploy? Don't mean to bombard your shit with questions.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 
  1. World-renowned author. Preferably of some awesome bestselling series like GoT.
  2. University professor.
  3. Director of an entertainment agency.
  4. Pop star.
Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

Outside of the obvious sexy choices (President, Pokemon Master, International Soccer Phenom, Renowned Singer-Songwriter, etc), I always wanted to be a paleontologist, until I realized there is no money or future in dinosaurs.

 

Crazy how many people on here wanted to become a pilot. That was my dream since I was probably 4 and I got a picture book on how a 747 is made. Then I realized how shitty being a commercial pilot was so I decided I would just find a job that paid enough so that I could fly on my own time. I still semi regret not joining the airforce.

 

Race car driver. Not in the NASCAR sense though. After seeing movies like 'Smokey and the Bandit' and 'The Gumball Rally' I thought that driving fast cross country was the coolest thing ever.

Still do. Driving in a bullrun rally or gumball rally is definitely high on my bucket list.

 

My freshman year of high school I knew what I wanted; it was very much like finding the holy grail, the true calling for my life: I wanted to become an investment banker. I wanted to go through the certified path of becoming a zillionaire, BX/GS (TMT) M&A-> HSW B-School- KKR/Carlyle/BX partner in 4 years!!!

I think- therefore I fuck
 

As a follow-up to my original post, I think it's important to note that, as they say, careful what you wish for. When things go awry as a fighter pilot, the shit really hits the fan. The following video isn't the best quality and it's kind of hard to follow what's going on, but it's fucking terrifying. The crazy stuff starts around 3 minutes in.

//www.youtube.com/embed/2uh4yMAx2UA

To provide a bit of context, the video is footage from the heads-up display of Major Emmett 'ET' Tullia's F-16 Falcon (callsign Stroke-3) as his squadron flies a combat sortie over downtown Baghdad as part of the Package Q Strike on January 19, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. The mission is poorly organized and the flight of 12 bomb-laden Falcons finds themselves flying without any air cover over Baghdad, at the time the most heavily defended airspace in the Middle East in terms of anti-aircraft missile batteries and flak guns.

As the pilots come under increasingly intense fire, a jettison call is heard over the radio, ordering the pilots to drop their ordnance to facilitate improved maneuvering to better dodge the anti-aircraft barrage, but Stroke-3 holds onto his and is able to release bombs over the target, an oil refinery, before he has to evade more SAM's launched his way. You can hear the rapid beeping of his avionics (radar lock) and the flat tone (missile launch) multiple times throughout the video, and also the labored breathing as he pulls numerous high-G turns to get away from the missiles. Two of his wingmen are shot down and become POW's, having to spend 45 days in Hussein Hilton before they are turned over to the Red Cross.

And for all his efforts, he's awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. I'm pretty sure I would've fucked up pretty badly if I was in his shoes, so I guess it's good that I never went that route. These guys are just on another level and I'm glad they're up there raining hell on the enemy and protecting us.

 

I wanted to be a professional poker player. I still do, and I'm thinking that I might not get into trading after all if I think that there's viability in a poker career for me by the time I graduate despite the governmental regulations impeding that prospect. You get to travel the world, work a lot less hours relative to most people working regular jobs, enjoy talking to people if you're playing live, set your own schedule, etc.

 

Great cruise video.

The Maces (VFA-27) are a legit squadron. Single seat, which is all that counts. None of those 'double-anchor' posers to be found. Well produced video and brought back some good memories. It was good to see the old '73' Hull number out there on the GW. Got my first ever trap on that boat back in '04. First night trap came a year later on the Nimitz.

Made me miss the flying business for a hot minute, but when you have all the back seat guys around it kind of poisons that old-school strike fighter environment.

I love my banking job too much to go back to that.

 

hmmmm first it was a Marine Biologist, wanted to explore the final frontier (on Earth). Then a football player, then an adult movie director. Then I just wanted to be rich didn't care how... now I just want to make more money than my wife.

Doog37
 
DanRalsh:

If money wasn't an issue, I would have become a philosopher.

I've always wanted to be really rich and publish volumes on absurd philosophies and made-up religions and release high-quality commercials for ridiculous, made up products. But act like they're real. Like, make a website to buy it and everything, but make the checkout bugged. And throw extravagant product launch parties where I saunter around in a smoking jacket and nothing else.
heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

professional hockey player since day one. Started playing when i was 4 and have been in love with the game ever since. Unfortunately I made a few bad decisions with the sport (ie. not playing travel at an early age) and it didn't pan out, but i'd love to work for a professional team as a manager or some shit later in my life when I have enough money not to give a shit.

"My name's Ralph Cox, and I'm from where ever's not gonna get me hit"
 

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heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

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“The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
 

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