MetaChat - What job do you wish you had, you know--what job would you be perfect for?

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

06 April 2009

What job do you wish you had, you know--what job would you be perfect for? →[More:]I'm not talking about something that would be out of this world--like working on the Space Shuttle, and going to the moon, but something that would be more appropriate, like working ON the Shuttle, right here on Earth, while it's docked in it's bay and all: going to the Moon, well, there's an outside possibility perhaps, something which you wish would come true... ?

post by: hadjiboy at: 02:13 | 34 comments

Thanks, but I am superbly happy in my current job.

posted by dg 06 April | 04:21

I was going to be a journo, but it didn't work out that way.

Since then, I've worked admin in a few places, and in each of them I've thought "This work is all disorganised, or organised stupidly", and now I'm a BA (technically, I'm a "business process co-ordinator"). So I reckon, to some extent, you'll probably end up doing something close to that thing that you're good at.

(That said, including all the various dodgy and/or crap jobs I did while backpacking, I've had more jobs than years of life, so perhaps I'm just lucky to have had so many options*).

*or just aware that I'm a shit waiter, a shit cook, and a shit packer.

posted by pompomtom 06 April | 07:31

I enjoy my job, but I have twice turned down what would have been my dream job working for Herman Miller (doing 3D renderings for them). I had to turn it down because it would have meant moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I couldn't have survived the winters up there.

posted by BoringPostcards 06 April | 07:55

Something with baby animals.

posted by amro 06 April | 08:12

If I had starting technical writing 15 years ago, I'd be so much ~~happier~~ richer now. But during and after college I was never, ever encouraged to try it, nor would I have listened if someone had suggested it, because it was ingrained in me that I should have a career that was for the good of the world. So I spent 15 years trying to save the world, not realizing that being a tech writer is perfect for me. And here I am. Perfectly.

posted by Melismata 06 April | 08:20

I want to change sides in my industry. I know how to be, want to be, strive to be the (*insert genre here*) book buyer for a national retail bookstore chain... and I want to do that job for the rest of my life. If the economy starts picking up, maybe next year publishing / bookselling hiring will start relaxing too.

posted by eatdonuts 06 April | 09:06

Something a lot like what I'm doing now, except in a more exciting city or on a tropical island or something.

posted by box 06 April | 09:53

I would like to do exactly what I'm doing now, but with more money. And not having to deal with the cold would be nice too.

posted by sperose 06 April | 09:57

Awww. Now I want a third Mechabrarian to come along and be all 'I love my work' too.

posted by box 06 April | 10:02

I would love to be a union / community organizer. Love. I'm working on it now. No word so far, but I applied about a week ago.

posted by kellydamnit 06 April | 10:21

I love my current job and I think I'm uniquely suited for it. But in a perfect world, I'd make a bit more money and be able to walk to work. Oh, and there'd be more puppies and rainbows around the office.

posted by annaramma 06 April | 10:28

like working ON the Shuttle, right here on Earth

One of my best friends does just that--she's worked on the shuttle and the International Space Station, actually been inside and installed stuff and turned screws and what not. She's trying to get into the astronaut program, but so is practially everyone else, so it's not too likely, but, yeah, that's a cool job.

posted by mrmoonpie 06 April | 10:44

I really wish I knew. I've spent most of my life up to this point doing this work...and now I realize that I don't much enjoy it. Thing is, I've been so focused on my skills for this work that I've never really developed alternate interests or abilities. There's no money in the family pocketbook for re-schooling or training, either, even if I had a clue what else I'd like to do.

posted by Thorzdad 06 April | 10:57

Thanks to a fortuitous layoff and some city farmland, I'm living my dream job right now. Unfortunately, I'm supremely unqualified to be a farmer but the wife and I are muddling through as best we can. The only thing that could improve it would be a) actually making money b) if the wife could quit her job and we could retain health insurance c) a really sweet allis-chalmers model g and maybe a kubota w/ hydrostatic drive. And I'd love to own a Ferrari.

posted by stet 06 April | 11:20

I'd like to be a librarian or do something with animals.

posted by deborah 06 April | 11:28

Since manned space flight is a waste of money, I could follow in my mother's footsteps and become a librarian. Or a substitute teacher, for middle school or elementary school. What would be best is a school librarian who sits in on classes when a teacher's absent, knows everything the kids might be learning, and teaches the kids how to research what they don't know. That or a tour guide. Modest dream jobs, I know, but it's a cop-out to say "retired." Which I'd really be best at.

posted by Hugh Janus 06 April | 11:47

Same job but with more money. scratch that. What I make now would be perfectly fine as long as I know the funding will never run dry.

posted by special-k 06 April | 12:42

I may never know the answer to this question. Instead, my passions leak out into what I don't do at work, hence the acting, the radio, the activism.

Even today, I thought of another way to be on the radio, as a call-in problems advice host. I would love to be kind of a Nightfly type, on from midnight to 2am, with some lost Meg Tilly type calling in and I tell her to get more sleep and do her homework.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 06 April | 12:59

*puts on leotards, commences leg lifts, calls LT*

posted by rainbaby 06 April | 13:15

When I was in senior kindergarten, a girl from the school (k-12) yearbook staff called to ask me this question. My recorded response was, "I haven't really decided yet whether I want to be a princess or a zookeeper." I think that answer still stands.

But I also think it would be lovely to keep a small farm, sustained by sales of cheese and the residuals from the writing of a couple of naughty books a year. I'm at my happiest when covered in mud and surrounded by little growing things, and I write best when I'm happy and energized by doing things.

posted by notquitemaryann 06 April | 14:37

I'm only slightly off in my career. I'm a QA tester/test developer who's been trying to get into actual software development for about ten years but keep getting stuck in testing. It pays well and I'm not going to complain about having job but I would like to be able to code for 40 hours a week and not have to spend time installing software and running through manual test cases.

posted by octothorpe 06 April | 16:47

I like my jobs. I work with numbers in one; and I do HVAC in the other.

posted by buzzman 06 April | 17:14

Special Advisor to the Queen of the World. If I ge that job, I'll do what I can to add puppies, kittens and rainbows.

posted by theora55 06 April | 17:23

I am a librarian, and enjoy it, but right now my salary qualifies me for food stamps, and that needs to change. I have an MLS and a decade of experience, and I need to be paid accordingly.

I might look into technical writing, though.

posted by Riverine 06 April | 17:54

Another happy librarian here. I can't think of anything else I would rather do.

I like working part-time too, I have been working part time for five years and I really like that I have seen so much of my babies. Now the fourth child is one year old I am considering going back to work full-time. That would mean my husband doesn't have to go to work part-time after his parental leave is up (we've both been working part-time opposite-shift the past five years so one of us is always with the children but it means we don't get as much time together as we would like).

Riverine, have you looked into library jobs in Canada? MLS is a NAFTA job and in the Toronto area you wouldn't find many library jobs at less than $50,000 a year. My library was just advertising two entry-level positions at $65 and of course with the free health care you would be ahead even more...

posted by saucysault 06 April | 18:55

I enjoy my job when I actually have work to do but I think I would have been good in advertising because I can come up with great ideas, I just don't want to execute them.

posted by govtdrone 06 April | 19:44

Well over a decade ago I realized that the job I was most ideally suited for was fictional: a stalker from Andrei Tarkovsky's film of the same name.

posted by kodama 06 April | 20:19

I'm definitely in the job I'm perfect for in many ways. Unfortunately, the field isn't perfect for me, as it doesn't compensate well enough to justify the degrees and experience it demands.

Other things I'd love to do are hospitality, at a midsize inn, and fulltime writing, which (see above regarding pay.)

The sorta fantasy job I have that would be a blast for me would be either researching and writing documentary film scripts, or designing interactive exhibits for museums. Neither of which are far off from what I actually do, though both require a little less face time with people than I currently have, which I find draining.

Maybe one day I'll write a book. I just need a topic.

posted by Miko 06 April | 20:37

Ideally I wanted to do something more involved with design and making gorgeous things, but that's not the background I have, sigh. And the background I do have makes me nearly perfect for the job I'm being trained for now (at least I'd like to think so, because when the interview ended they said I'd hear from them in two weeks, and then they called with an offer less than four hours later as I was about to board the plane out.)

Since Hugh Janus thinks my job is a waste of money, I'd be interested in hearing what he thinks I should do.

posted by casarkos 06 April | 21:49

I just am trying to be a more kick-arse designer than I am now.

posted by gomichild 06 April | 22:12

Wait, so casarkos is an astronaut?

posted by amro 06 April | 22:22

Not quite - just started this year as a console flunky in Mission Control for the shuttle program. But I think I'm developing ambitions of becoming a flight director.

I wouldn't mind becoming an astronaut though, if only to scare the shit out of my entire family.

posted by casarkos 06 April | 22:52

I think NASA's money is better spent exploring deep space than proving yet again that we can put people in Earth orbit at great risk and expense. Exploration (say, exploring the ocean moons of Jupiter for traces of extraterrestrial life) is done with robots and telescopes, not people. Most of the experiments conducted on or by astronauts have been done before. Astronauts are a relic of the Cold War and certainly deserve a medal for their role in bankrupting the Soviets. I'm sure there are many people whose livelihoods depend on manned spaceflight who would disagree, just as I'm sure I'm not the only person who considers it a waste.

posted by Hugh Janus 06 April | 23:12

For what it's worth, I didn't mean to insult you or wish you out of a job, casarkos. NASA jobs take a lot of training and preparation and I'm not here to belittle that. I think you'd make a better flight director in a robot space exploration program, though.

posted by Hugh Janus 06 April | 23:26

← Ask MeCha re photobucket || When politics comes in.... →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN