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

DD1 is 3, DD2 is 8 months. I have had the privilege of of staying at home with my children while DH worked. and im hoping this will continue till they both go to school or atleast till DD2 starts kindy at 3/4 yrs old.
At that point i want to get back into the work force, but i dont just want to do any old crap job, which would probably be something in hospitality as thats all i ever did before i had kids.
I finished school. Went to collage and did Photography and English. Then i went to Uni for one year, Did History and English, hated it and dropped out, worked for a few years (all in the uk) then went traveling. Now im in Australia.
I have NO IDEA what i want to do or what im even good at.
All i really want is to find something that i enjoy (at least a little bit) and do that for the rest of my working life........how did you know what you wanted to do?

I'll let you know when I grow up.

But something to think about - what do you like doing? People-facing things? Computer things? Number things? Creative things? Do you have any hobbies you could take further?

What sort of job could your level of education get you? Did you go to Uni in the UK - do you have an HND or equivalent for doing one year of a degree?

Yeah, didn't really decide what I wanted to do b/c I didn't get into my Uni course so I started working locally then sort of fell into banking & finance. I wouldn't say it is my dream job but I do enjoy most aspects of it.

I agree with TFB - what interests you? Can you consider doing a course part-time or lots of short courses to obtain some sort of certificate?

I always knew I wanted to work in a particular field but didn't know what kind of job. So I just started somewhere and tried it out and moved on and up from there. Why don't you get a few text books from the library in things you think may interest you?

I didn't really. I hop-skipped between heaps of things I was interested in but never really appealed as much more than an interest.
I considered being a chiropractor but my attempts at Chemistry were awful and I wouldn't have got in.
I loved VCE Physical Education and English, but to actually practice them as a teacher didn't really interest me.
I ended up going to uni enrolled in an Arts degree as it was more humanities based but realised having no direction gave no motivation and dropped out.
I also started a degree in music management which I would still love to do but that is completely impractical with a family.

After I had my son I started thinking about nursing and midwifery and the more time went on and the more reading I did the more it felt concrete as to that was what I wanted to do. Sure I am not thrilled about all the prospects from taking it as a career, nor is it the most practical choice for our family either, but it is my passion for supporting physiological, autonomous birth that keeps me coming back to the same 'wish'.

I suppose that doesn't really help you, but is there something you are really interested in? Things you read about or that you might take notice of in the news etc?

I've had 3 career changes and still not 100% sure what I want to be when I grow up.

Got a vague idea but ask me again when I've finished my degree.

Funnily enough it is similar to the degree I should have done when I finished school (that I had the marks for)

I still dont know!

I wish I knew!!

I'm going through the same thought process.

I started by actually thinking about the kind of work environment I like working in and what I absolutely hate, based on past experience. For me, I can't work in big corporations or government. I actually feel sick at the thought. I like to be largely autonomous and I like to be part of a small, friendly team.

I think about my passions and also which jobs in the past I've liked the best. Then I think about what aspects of those jobs I liked the most.

I loved teaching children English in Japan and I liked working in child care, but my problem now is I want to be more stimulated with adult interaction, having 2 kids and being a sahm means I don't really want to work with other people's kids.

I want to be appreciated for my brain and I loved biology in school and uni.

I'm just not sure how to combine all this information.




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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

Kurazia - something like a science museum curator, a medical sales rep (OK big companies but some autonomy), lab tech in a research lab... any of those any good?

Oooh science museum curator... I'm not sure the gold coast is that culturally advanced, though. :-/

Research I'm interested in, but in biology I don't want to be experimenting on animals.

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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

It took me till I was 31 to know what I wanted to be when I grew up. However when I was in high school teaching was on the rader for a little bit but once I left school Uni wasn't even on my mind. It wasn't till the kids started school that I realised where my passion was and I am 100% certain I want to be a primary school teacher. And I'm just loving it. It's been very rewarding for me to decide to start uni at my age.

I'm pretty sure I've still got plenty of time to grow up. I'm one of those annoying people where stuff falls into my lap.

I just started maternity campaigning as a hobby after my second son was born, and the more I learnt about it the harder it was to deny that this was my future career. I didn't want to be a midwife (in my head) so I spent a lot of time on midwifery forums trying to talk myself out of it. However the more I read the harder it was to fight it. So I guess I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but someone did and wasn't letting me argue my way out of it :lol:

Ahem. Trillian, you're younger than I am.


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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

I'm 35 and still don't know! I have done a number of things over the years, did 2 years of a Secondary teaching/Human Movement degree, left that and did an 18 mth travel agent course at TAFE, finished that off and went to work for Intergraph doing triple 0 phones and dispatch for the fire bridge, went from there to World Vision in customer service, finished up my course, this time in Primary Teaching, and have been teaching ever since with family leave in between! While at Uni worked in retail at Zamels - pheeewww... Now I am applying for a job at a uni in an admin/management type role in the Ed faculty, and am broadening what I might do in future years!!

I think we are all good at lots of things, there are things we could do but the question is do you enjoy it?? Teaching itself I LOVE, the crap that comes with it meh not so much anymore and my job satisfaction is seriously lacking so I feel it may be time to move on. I was never one of those people who thought I am going to be a teacher when I grow up! I never knew what I wanted to do, which is probably why I have done so many different things, but it has worked for me, and for most part of my working life I have loved what I do and have moved on when I haven't.

I'm 38 and still trying to decide! All ideas welcome :)

Another still trying to decide. Generally if I choose, it does not turn out to be the right thing. I tend to fall into business based careers. I am good with figures etc, but know that full blown accounting is not for me. Would love to own my own business one day (have had contractor ones in the past), but struggle for an idea. For now I am happy working with a small business where I do get to have some imput!