What’s Your Dream Job? The 10 Best Answers to My {Interview}

I find it somewhat comical that I decided to do a piece on dream jobs while, in fact, looking for a new job. I guess it kind of helps keep the humor in things. It’s something that as adults, we are always trying to figure out. “Am I happy at this job?” “Is this work meaningful to me?” “Should I go back to school for something else?”

A high school teacher once told me that apparently what we want to be at the age of 10 was what we should pursue, since that’s the best-fitting job. I kind of debate that, since I wanted to be a fashion designer, and well, let’s just say that it definitely would have been an Ugly Betty scenario, to say the least.

However, I think that part of me always wanted to be an editor. As a young child, I had a pen pal with less-than-ideal spelling and grammar. Before I realized that there’s tact to the job, I almost sent my pen pal’s letter back to them, marked up with all the corrections. Thankfully, my mom caught it before it went into the mailbox.

Since our editors wanted us to talk to us to people for this piece, I figured it would be fun to see what some of my friends either wanted to do, what their child-selves dream about doing, or what they’re pursuing. So naturally, I turned to social networks.

Here are the 10 best responses I got to the question “What is your dream job?”:

1. I’d really love to be a full-time fantasy/YA author. On a small but successful scale, the sort with a dedicated fan base that draws lots of fanart, but doesn’t get all stalkerish. Ideally, I’d also have a little garden shed I could write in, as well as a cottage in the Scottish highlands.
2. Astronaut! I want to see more of the universe. From Earth, we get such a small glimpse of what all else is out there and only really understand part of how what goes on in space affects us here. It’s the ultimate adventure but it also has this existential/ spiritual component.
3. Park Ranger! I want to wear those cool hats and spend as much time as possible in nature, and help teach others about it!
4. Big cat field biologist; travel the world protecting wildlife and nature, get paid to watch kitties!
5. Anything where I’m working with data to help solve important problems in the world. I’m not as focused on sector (though education is definitely my jam), but really want to be in a position to use my quant background for good and for change.
6. My childhood dream was to be a baseball player. Current dream is to be working in a college counseling center.
7. A geologist or a talk show host (diverse, I know).
8. An executive producer for a great comedy show, or my backup is a hot air balloonist in Europe.
9. Being an accountant for a music hall; I want to combine my passion for music and business. I would be able to spend hours problem-solving ways to make the venue more profitable during the day, and attend concerts whenever I want. I also want to raise funds and pour donations into arts programs in schools around the country.
10. I always wanted to be an astronaut growing up. Then astrophysicist. Then graphic designer. I’m pretty happy, overall, having ended up in the nonprofit sector, although I’d rather be in a more programmatic and strategic role than I’m in now. Space shit is still the absolute best though; maybe they can use political scientists in Starfleet one day.

Overall, I noticed that these responses were somewhat grounded in reality. While the childhood aspirations of my friends mainly focused on space, their dream careers had changed over time. Now, a lot of them found something they are actually pursuing, or pertains to a relevant field.

So what does this mean for the supposed “dream job?” Well, it can mean several things: Finding the perfect job can take a while. It might not be what you originally thought it was. It may require a dose of reality in your career path. Though by having these aspirations and goals, we can remind ourselves that jobs are what we make them, and we should never stop looking to for new things to try—even if the perfect job remains a dream.