Ask HN: Childhood dream vs. your actual job

I also dreamed of being a scientist. I loved magic school bus, bill nye, reading science books and encyclopedias. But then I discovered computers, and that drew my attention for, say, a decade and change. I started programming and didn't stop. I kinda forgot about science. But at 27, I now I work as a research software engineer in neuroscience, with some of the smartest people I've ever met, on some of the hardest problems I've ever worked on. I would be foolish to think the path won't continue to curve, but I think things just have a funny way of working out. I've been really blessed to have the career I've had so far, and I'm having a ton of fun. Can't wait to see where things go next.

I wanted to be an astronaut, or the next Jacques Cousteau, or a rockstar guitarist, or a race car driver. None of these things happened.

But I can play guitar pretty well. I work in software and IT. 63yo.

Lily Tomlin once made a joke about this that I never forgot. "What would the world be like if we all grew up to be what we'd wanted to be when we were children? Just imagine a world filled with nothing but circus clowns, ballerinas, firefighters, and cowboys..."

I wanted to become a chef, but now I'm in a IT field working as a developer

you are still a kid in many ways. You can still be become anyone you want to become.

When I was younger I dreamt of becoming an artist, film director or scientist. But I’m not cut out for that… I wouldn’t really want to work in such competitive environments. Now I’m doing build/platform engineering stuff and I think it suits me well. It’s not a job that impresses people but pay is decent, hours are flexible and I find the work to be stimulating. So I’m quite content.

When I was young, I wanted to be a computer programmer, but I was totally convinced there wasn't any money in it, so I picked a EE major instead when I started college in 1981.... Boy was I wrong!!!

I ended up dropping out (I picked the school I barely got into, Rose-Hulman, instead of the one I could afford, Purdue Calumet), and had a varied career doing programming and some hardware before settling into a SysAdmin job for 15 years. Then I took a job making gears because it seemed like it would be interesting. It was, but the pay and commute sucked.

Then in April 2020 COVID/Long COVID yeeted me completely out of the workforce. So I now have nothing but time, and little physical stamina in my forced early retirement.

I hope to make a BitGrid chip[1] in the next few years, via one of the open source chip shuttles. If it works like I suspect, it'll mean dirt cheap and efficient Petaflop computing for the masses.

[1] https://bitgrid.blogspot.com/2008/07/bitgrid-minimalist-syst...

When I was a kid, I just dreamt about being resourceful, smart and above average in achievements. If possible, good looking and having enough social skills to not shame myself in public - which both were far from the reality as it could be.

But the world sucks so much that I achieve all of it reasonable fast, especially considering that I'm from a poor third world country. Now, for the past 5-10 years, everything is an extra and I'm in a constantly state of happiness/achievement/thankfulness.

Now I'm wondering about bigger multi-decades projects that will make me proud at deathbed.

Childhood dreams change too. iirc, my earliest dreams were to be a photographer, scientist, explorer. My parents eventually convinced me into thinking that being a doctor is the only way to be successful and that was my dream most of my childhood.

Later in my early teen years, I was impressed by technology & business and wanted to do tech start up. My parents again convinced me to stay focused on medicine because I could earn enough from it and do my own business in my 40s.

And then I got into video games and wanted to make my own games. I started to learn some programming on my own and I was good at it. I was never good with biology and chemistry. Eventually I failed to get into medical school and did computer science.

My goal was to make games but I am doing pretty good as a backend-focused fullstack dev.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a roboticist. Robotics seemed so cool. Then I got into school and learned I have an extremely unsteady hand and I might be able to kill myself with a screwdriver. The pivot within my computer engineering major is how I ended up as a plain ol' webdev.

I was dissatisfied until I managed to fall into HealthTech. I like making processes easier for people. That was at the core of my robotics dream. In retrospect, I probably could have still become a roboticist even if I can't solder at all. But given how much I hated school at the end, it was best I gave up in year 2 on the dream. I wouldn't have done well in grad school.

I don’t think I had any particular job in mind when I was a kid. I was interested in a number of things (for example I’ve always enjoyed studying various times/places in history and liked to teach biology books when I was a kid), but never really had anything solid. Even by the time I got into programming as a hobby, I didn’t want to do it as a job.

But ofc I got stuck with that and now I have a slowly dying career writing shitware.

When I was 8 or 9, I wanted to be an assassin. I taught myself to walk silently on the balls of my feet everywhere I went, I learned to control my breathing and steady my hands (I would practice by doing something like running to the barn and back, and then monitoring my ability to remain steady). I would stand motionless in places, and try to remain invisible, just out of sight (which drove my mother crazy when she couldn't find me). I became a very good shot with the rifle, less so with pistols, but still decent. When I turned 11 or so, my mother told me that I couldn't be an actual assassin because it's illegal.

I became a librarian, so my devotion to moving silently has a purpose. I still enjoy seeing how close I can get to people before they notice I'm there.

My dream ever since I was maybe 10 years old was to be an architect. I loved unique building/structural design. I struggled with math and my passions changed, so I got a degree in history. That got me started in education. Five years later... I run an auto repair shop.

It wasn't my dream, but my work affords me time and money to do the things I want with the people I want. It's funny the turns life can take.

I wanted to be a Disney imagineer or an inventor.

I guess it's similar-ish. On a good day. If you squint, with the lights off.

I wanted to be a clockmaker. Now I am a programmer. I often think it has something in common.

At age 10 I wanted to be the "chief of Microsoft", because I heard that Bill Gates was the richest person in the world. That did not quite work out yet. But I am a director of a software company. And even though employeeless and unremarkable, it makes more money that anyone in my family has ever made.

I wanted to grow up and become a doctor.

Now as an adult, I’m an “allied health professional” and my area of healthcare is anaesthesia. So… not a doctor, but work in a pretty niche area of healthcare anyway.

I was obsessed with becoming a fighter pilot from ages 8-20 or so. The Air Force Academy didn’t pan out and I didn’t make the cut for Officer Training School out of college.

I’m a senior SE now and love my job, get paid well, and have lots of freedom to explore interests and hobbies. I think I came out on top. Also, I don’t like heights so I reckon it all worked out for the best.

I was a child when the Apple ][ came out and spent my Saturday mornings writing really basic code... in BASIC. So my dream was to be a computer programmer. And that is what I did.

In hindsight, the dream wasn't any more interesting than that story of having achieved it.

Dream job was Paleontologist but now works as a Data Engineer.

Boring, but whatever. I collected some fossils a couple of years ago and will do more in the far future if I could.

I dreamed of having a software company and develop useful things. Now I have it, it's different and I am missing the dream.

People decide at 15 or so what they want to be, but would you trust a 15 year old to make any decisions about your life?

One of the big life lessons that I've learned in my 20s and 30s is that it's hard to predict what my future self will want or care about. What was my dream at age 21 became something I no longer wanted by age 25. Getting married and having kids especially altered things for me.