What do you want to be when you grow up?

[bullbugle307]

Our ups driver takes January through March off every year to guide snow geese.

Yeah a lot of the delivery done by all 3 organizations mentioned is contracted so that doesn’t surprise me. I’ve worked for two of the 3 on the processing and maintenance sides. They’re demanding jobs with a lot of OT, but they can be pretty financially rewarding and offer quite a bit of time off depending on how you do things. I work a ton of holidays to get my annual leave up to about 5 weeks a year.

Another funny thing about those companies is how much they actually work together in rural areas. USPS delivers a ton of Fed Ex, UPS, Amazon etc in rural areas.

 

[Southern Elk]

Something I’ve always wanted to do is own an archery shop. The main reason I’ve never tried to do it is because I love to bow hunt and bow season would be the busy season.

 

[Elkoholic]

As a kid I always wanted to be a veterinarian, spent 3 summers around age 11-13yrs hanging out at a local veterinarian office, would be right there in any surgeries watching and assisting, I remember doing many incisions, he'd let me do some tail docking and ear cropping too, it was so cool. Later in HS I discovered girls, beer and fast cars, I then realized I didn't have the brains nor the dedication to make veterinary a career.

Currently 34+ years now in management in the auto industry, staying the course for 1.5yrs more then its RETIREMENT at age 55!

 

[Nameless Range]

I think about this a fair amount.

I believe it is a truth, that in this world there are thousands of people you could end up with and love, there are many places you could live and feel the conviction that it is country made for you to never leave, and there are a multitude of jobs that can be as good as you can imagine a job to be.

And yet, I married one woman and that will never change, I grew up on a chunk of earth I still live on and struggle to imagine ever leaving, and I have job that I often have to pinch myself in terms of the luck I feel to have it.

If I had to go back and pick a different career, I could imagine quite a few I would be fired up about. I work in natural resources but I drive a desk for a living. At the place I work, two careers that I deeply admire are the archeologist and the hydrologists. They both spend a good portion of their careers outside, spend the winters inside playing with their data, and their jobs provide some of the finest venues in the world for daydreaming - humanity before us is fascinating and there's something about rivers that I can't look away from. I like to think later in my career, I will do something that probably pays less but gets me outside more .

 

[Deleted member 48080]

lf you don't mind my asking, why is that...

I don't know, there's just always been something simple and beautiful about it to me.

Object X needs to get from point A to point B. Get to wear a sweet uniform, work solo, meet dogs, drive a truck.

No on gives a shit about line types, font styles, company standards, billable hours or file structures. Just walk around all day, set stuff on doorsteps and wave at old folks.

Maybe I watched too many trucker movies as a kid.

A lot of people would be surprised at what UPS, Fed Ex, and Postal Workers make. It’s not terribly hard to clear 6 figures in those jobs after you work your way up a little and get some time in.

That's it, I'm applying.

 

[Gellar]

Yeah a lot of the delivery done by all 3 organizations mentioned is contracted so that doesn’t surprise me. I’ve worked for two of the 3 on the processing and maintenance sides. They’re demanding jobs with a lot of OT, but they can be pretty financially rewarding and offer quite a bit of time off depending on how you do things. I work a ton of holidays to get my annual leave up to about 5 weeks a year.

I don’t envy his job at all. He’s always running to get his deliveries in. He delivers to my office at 2:30 and he’s at my house around 5:30. I told him he can just drop my personal boxes at my office. I hope that saved him some time.

 

[Pucky Freak]

The grass always looks greener elsewhere. I probably have it a lot better than I think I do though. I really enjoy getting a full month of paid vacation every year, and being able to retire well before 60. I had to draw a weapon on someone today. Comes with a price.

 

[Elkoholic]

Something I’ve always wanted to do is own an archery shop. The main reason I’ve never tried to do it is because I love to bow hunt and bow season would be the busy season.

Yeah, I have a really good buddy who owned a shop for 15yrs. It was horrible for him, never time to bow hunt himself, and dealing with complete idiot customers. But man I had a lot of fun hanging out in the shop, helping out, fondling & shooting all the new demo bows.

 

[Scott85]

Retiring with enough to live on or do you still have to supplement?

With retirement and hopefully good % of disability I’ll be looking at around 80k a year.

 

[MTGomer]

I think a city fire fighter is the career to have. The way their shifts are structured, they have so much time off it allows you to pursue something else on the side that you have a passion for and having the real and stable job makes it so the pressure to be immediately profitable in your passion project is not there.
I have several friends that have done this and built successful businesses in real estate, outfitting, etc. And the firefighting job itself pays well and has great benefits and all of that

 

[bullbugle307]

I don’t envy his job at all. He’s always running to get his deliveries in. He delivers to my office at 2:30 and he’s at my house around 5:30. I told him he can just drop my personal boxes at my office. I hope that saved him some time.

Yeah I wouldn’t want to do the delivery side either unless it was a rural route. I really like working on the automation side of things. It’s pretty fascinating stuff and with the way things are going it’s good job security.

 

[Gellar]

Yeah I wouldn’t want to do the delivery side either unless it was a rural route. I really like working on the automation side of things. It’s pretty fascinating stuff and with the way things are going it’s good job security.

I live 25 miles from my office. He has over 175 stops in a day. He told me before COVID he only had around 80, but things have changed.

 

[Nick87]

I think a city fire fighter is the career to have. The way their shifts are structured, they have so much time off it allows you to pursue something else on the side that you have a passion for and having the real and stable job makes it so the pressure to be immediately profitable in your passion project is not there.
I have several friends that have done this and built successful businesses in real estate, outfitting, etc. And the firefighting job itself pays well and has great benefits and all of that

I pretty much told him the exact same thing, make good money and still time for something on the side. He likes to fish so I broke it down like this. Do all the side work you want or don't want come prime fishing time you can say no to all of the side stuff and pretty much have a ton of time and your still making a great living. Hindsight ya know...

 

[Nick87]

The grass always looks greener elsewhere. I probably have it a lot better than I think I do though. I really enjoy getting a full month of paid vacation every year, and being able to retire well before 60. I had to draw a weapon on someone today. Comes with a price.

Egg farm?

 

[jrabq]

I sort of stumbled into a decent career, now retired, and mostly enjoyed working. It did pay reasonably well and had a good vacation policy, so i was able to spend a lot of time outdoors. But I was/am envious of a friend who knew he wanted to be a doctor from a young age, he had a specific goal and achieved it.

I've got no regrets so don't bother thinking about what I would do different career wise. But don't ask me about women, wish I had a few "do-overs"!

 

[MTelkHuntress]

Happy/ content...but really, I see a lot of bitter people everyday.
I still have no idea what I'm doing so it's interesting to see everyone else's answers. At least I'm picking up skills here and there though

 

[Nick87]

@Randy11

 

[hank4elk]

When I was a kid I wanted to be a Park Ranger. I did when I turned 38... made my mom proud.
22 years later and now 13 years after ,I have my own elk Park. LOL

 

[elkduds]

I’ll retire in 2026 with 23 years in the Navy. My plan when I grow up is fly fixed wing commercially.

Thank you and your family for your service and sacrifice. Best of luck going forward!

 

[brockel]

Been doing generally the same work for the last 15 years. Still not sure what I want to do when I grow up. It has funded my family and my hobby’s nicely but I do wish I had a degree to fall back on and if I could do it over again I’d probably go to college even though I’d probably still end up doing the same as I am now