Profession That You Missed Out On

shailynn
They never tell you what you need to know.
Most of us (sorry Fishsticks) are grown ups, have had long careers or are working on one.

As you became an adult, is there a career/job/trade you wish you had taken instead?

I've had the same job since my early 20s and I enjoy it but it certainly wouldn't be my first choice. My salary and independence (rarely get bothered by management) at work are what keep me there.


Air traffic controller - this sounds stressful but in some cases it's not. I know a guy who sits at a rural airport out in the middle of nowhere doing nothing all day pulling down almost $150k a year. He should have been forced to retire due to his age but they can't find a replacement so he's still allowed to work. I've read there's a massive shortage in the future for air traffic controllers.

Lapdances tester - there's gotta be someone out there that tests dancers for their lapdances worthiness. I'd do it for minimum wage.

Griller at FKK club. Somebody's gotta cook the hotdogs and burgers at the FKK clubs on the patio that Londonguy talks about. How would you like to watch naked women run around all day while at work? All I can say is if I worked there I hope you like your meat burnt because I wouldn't be able to concentrate.

24 comments

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rockstar666
8 years ago
I wanted to go to the Olympics as a bicycle racer; I was pretty good in high school but when I started racing against adults I realized I just wasn't good enough.

I also started playing guitar, and since it was a more social exploit, I stopped riding when I went to college. was in some good bands but then I got married, had kids...had to make actual money...

My whole family (it seems) are lawyers, so a law career was on the table, but I just wasn't that interested; I probably should have gone to law school looking back.

My current wish is to be a pot farmer. I grew pot under lights years ago and it was fun. These days it's a big business....I need to move to CO I suppose!
shadowcat
8 years ago
I went the other way. I started out in college working towards a degree in accounting. I had 2 years in when I joined the USAF. After a year working in aviation I changed my mind and decided that is where I wanted to go. I had a whole 2 weeks off from the time I got discharged until the time I got hired by a major air line in the field that I wanted.

So I got to spend 42 years in the job of my choice that paid very well and had great benefits.
gammanu95
8 years ago
Because of where I am (figuratively), who I'm with, and what I have- there's not a thing I would change.
If I could have everything the same but a different profession. I'd be a dermatologist. Easiest fucking medical profession out there. Even my wife says she was fascinated by nerves and the brain, hence neurology, but dermatologists have it fucking made.
warhawks
8 years ago
Male pornstar. I'd love to have gotten paid for having all forms of sex with female pornstars.

But if we're talking real life (instead of fantasy), it would have to be an airline pilot. I would have loved to have been able to travel all over and stay in hotels in different cities (and have a girl in each city.)

rockstar666
8 years ago
warhawks, my singer is an airline pilot and it's not as much fun as you think. He does mostly Chicago to Dallas now, but will be based in Ft. Worth in 3 months. He doesn't want to move to TX, so he'll commute. Yup, drive to O'Hare, fly as a passenger to Ft. Worth, then fly his route. He ends up at Ft. Worth and then flies home as a passenger.

He has 20 years of seniority, and still can choose his hub. On the plus side, he makes a lot of money. Which is handy for a band mate as most musicians are broke. Especially if they like strip clubs!
rockstar666
8 years ago
That s/b "Can't choose his hub"!
JohnSmith69
8 years ago
I wish I had been a college professor. Id come up with a system to fuck a new young girl every month. And when things caught up with me and I got fired, I could get a job as a high school guidance counselor. It would be perfect.
RandomMember
8 years ago
I spent eight years in school in my 20s pursuing things that were interesting to me. That's part of my family culture -- but I might pursue something with less effort if I had it all to do all over again. These days I do everything possible to pursue athletics, pretty young girls, and do everything possible to reduce stress. Who wants to to die with heart disease or cancer with money in the bank? Youth is wasted on the young.

Does anyone know @GammaNut in real life? He seems like such a dipshit and slings racial epithets like "porch monkey" and uses goofy pretentious words like "impactful." Is he really married to someone who went an American med school? I would be astonished. I know someone married to a "doctor" who went to med school in Poland. She's about as much a doctor as the average homeopathic quack. There are all sorts of quack med schools in South America and that's far more likely in @GammaNut's case.
Uprightcitizen
8 years ago
Probably no major regrets as I have 20+ years in a good profession and have done just fine but hmmm...first choice was pilot but my vision degraded early in my life. Professional SCUBA diver was always on my short list (which is very lucrative) but I just probably lacked the balls to follow through. I still recreationally dive when I can.

Probably my only real career regret was staying in my midwestern state and not venturing out south or west. That was due to my S.O. which may cross over to a different kind of regret...
Longball300
8 years ago
No complaints on my educational or career path, but you usually have say, a half dozen of those "what if I made the other choice" moments in your life that would have totally changed things. I was accepted to the Air Force Academy and went with the full ride to a state university instead.... what if?...
Dlee305
8 years ago
I'd been an engineer. Im turning 30 but may consider becoming actuary since teaching isn't challenging anything but my patience.
ATACdawg
8 years ago
I was very happy with my chosen profession (ship and associated machinery design). I can't imagine any career that I would have loved more.

In my retirement, my hobbies are still related to that.
shailynn
8 years ago
Randoms post reminds me of a very close friend of mine. Very smart but horribly lazy. He went to med school in the carribean, but couldn't pass the medical exam in the states to start his residency. You can only take the test so many times... so today he's selling cars at a used car lot - pretty sad. There's nothing sad about his current job, just all the time, money and effort he wasted.

I have a high school buddy that's pretty high up doing stuff with SAP which I still don't fully understand. He gets to travel to many cool places (Dubai, London and Tokyo are a normal travel month for him) but with his oh so important job he has an oh so important ego now, I would hope if I was lucky enough to get such a special career it wouldn't go to my head.
skibum609
8 years ago
I have been a lawyer for almost 35 years, but have only hated it for the past.....well 35 years. If I had it to do all over again I would have stayed at my summer job, like my buddies did, move furniture, buy a truck(s), age out to dock to dock and bitch at union dockworkers.
gammanu95
8 years ago
Reply to longball... My local rep offered to write a letter of recommendation for me to West Point or Annapolis, but I chose the full and free ride to a private college. After years of Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump as CINC - I'm glad I passed on an officer's commission
a21985
8 years ago
I wanted to get into copywriting/editing (what a boring ambition, huh?). I went to school for it, I offered services to friends and classmates writing and editing their essays, and planned on it being my career path. But as many people do when they get out of college and get thrown into the real world, I panicked at went to the first job throwing money at me. That's how I got sucked into the world of software/tech and am still in that world 11 years later. About 4 years ago, I did about 1.5 years of technical writing, but rather than pursuing that further, I went the product management route instead.

I still get tagged as the official important / mass email writer and editor in my department, so I guess I still kinda get to live out that dream in my own way.
Longball300
8 years ago
@ gammanu; I hear you and hell, I might have gotten shot down in Desert Storm..... on the other hand I could be retired at this point collecting a full pension and working TSA security at the Myrtle Beach airport playing golf everyday and hitting Thee Dollhouse at night.... what if.
san_jose_guy
8 years ago
If I were to live again, I would be either a Divorce Lawyer, or a Pimp.

SJG
twentyfive
8 years ago
^^^In other words just like the other posters that post as ridiculous junk as you do.
jester214
8 years ago
I'm pretty happy where I am. In the past there were times I really wished I gone the Foreign Service route or gone into Academia. Now though I see more of the negatives of those jobs.

My only real regret is I didn't take a year or 18 months and go live somewhere after undergrad teaching English.
bvino
8 years ago
I always wanted to own a restaurant but I realized that I would never have enough money to do it the way I wanted. I worked in the business for years and really got to know it. I ended up as a college professor and it ain't all tits and ass. Now I wish I could be a bartender on a cruise ship, this may happen yet.
twentyfive
8 years ago
Have no real regrets I started as a window cleaner in NYC became a licensed rigger learned how to operate machinery like Tower Cranes and ended up in business for myself because I was extremely opportunistic, the only thing that I do regret was growing a business to a point, of being so busy, that I was unable to take real time off until the last 8-10 years, but it has been a satisfying and lucrative ride.
twentyfive
8 years ago
@Che only if you were one of those dicks who parked directly across my safety lines.
TeoTommy
8 years ago
Forest Ranger

Because I've always wanted to shoot the fuckers who trash pristine wilderness.
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