<p>My computer programmer son has wanted that job since he was seven. And it’s in his fifth grade year book too. I think he’s the only one in his class doing what he said he would be doing!</p>
<p>My son has a friend whose original plan was to be a doctor. He’s temporarily dropped out of college and is now an EMT. He loves it and is now training to be a first responder for disasters and interested in being a paramedic. He’s an adrenaline junkie, ADD and the truth is this may be a better fit than slogging through med school. (Though I think he’d be great in the ER.)</p>
<p>I have a school printing lined paper where my 5 or 6 yr old son wrote " computer programmer" in response to the question what do you want to be when you grow up?</p>
<p>He is now an engineer/ physics guy writing programs to solve problems.</p>
<p>He also answered that question in 4 th grade with " to be outrageously happy " as his answer</p>
<p>I also have our church Xmas program that my daughter drew the cover for when in preschool. Sheep, camels etc. She called me yesterday to describe the professional cake she designed and decorated for a child’s birthday. Yup, she was creating animals for the cake and being paid for it.</p>
<p>Both kids happily employed. Daughter just scrapping by cobbling a career of an artist together but happy.</p>
<p>I’d also add in general personality type, whether measured by Myers-Briggs or something else. Do you feel energized or drained by others? Do you want to lead or follow?</p>
<p>Absolutely, but they generally don’t require a 4-year or even a 2-year degree, and in many larger municipalities the necessary training is offered at a fire academy that is internal to the department.</p>
<p>"Another job that is something kids want to do since they were 6 years old is: PILOT</p>
<p>For the top career captains, the pay is great. And then there are the awesome travel benefits…"</p>
<p>Of course, I have to agree with that. My friends and I have absolutely no desire to do anything else. Then again, we are all captains at a successful airline. If we were paid 1/10th as much, very few of us would still fly. It’s a lot more fun when you’re able to support your family. You can live on nothing when you’re 20, but not when you’re 50!</p>
<p>It’s amazing the discoveries I’ve made from this thread. For example clergy is top ranking in satisfactory jobs. I think your satisfaction comes when the job gives you fulfillment and joy. It also depends on what you want to achieve in the long run. No wonder the helps jobs also rank high. We are wired towards helping others…Love your neighbour as yourself.</p>
<p>It is fascinating to me that teachers are ranked as highly satisfied with their jobs. Most of the ones I know love kids but can’t wait to get out of the system and/or retire because they hate the constant pressures from No Child Left Behind and other mandates. Additionally, our state has been fighting the union about the teachers’ contract for many many months now.</p>
<p>My H LOVES his job and is passionate about it. He has a lot of control over his conditions of work, which I think contributes to his enjoyment a great deal. He also enjoys many of the people at his workplace. He worked at his job for over 44 years and held many positions over that time period, having to do with computer systems and phone systems. He came to realize over the years that many others he meets do not have the same love for their job, which he thinks is unfortunate.</p>
<p>Public health as a profession seems to have quite a few people satisfied when they are making a difference. Unfortunately, the low pay makes for a lot of turnover and is tough for morale.</p>
<p>I think having a passion for what you do, having good skills for your field, having pleasant & supportive collegues, having considerable control over your conditions of work, some job security, and earning a decent salary so you can support yourself are all things that make a job/profession highly satisfying.</p>
<p>I think satisfying jobs and careers are where you feel your skills are valued and you’re accomplishing something that’s important to you. And you’re compensated well enough to afford the life you want. For me, I feel like I found a job/career where I’m using what I’m good at and helping people, which is important to me. The money part isn’t there right now, but it was, and it may come back.</p>
<p>I think the flip side is an interesting question – what careers have high frustration rates? I think if you’re in a job/career where your skills aren’t used or your personality is not a match for the type of job you’re asked to do, that would be frustrating.</p>
<p>Wow, bclintonk #9, Pizzagirl keeps dinging me for being STEM-obsessed (at least I think I am the one she complains about)–but I would not have said that artists are self-indulgent (knowing one well), nor would I have said that about authors.</p>
<p>I think there is an inner compulsion to create, that emerges quite early. My cousin, who is a successful artist, showed his artistic inclinations clearly by the age of 3. We still have a few “works” of his from that time.</p>
<p>From what I have seen, artists can be very much as driven as lab-obsessed STEM researchers. </p>
<p>Some authors are self-indulgent, no doubt, but someone who is striving to create serious works of literature is very much tied in with the rest of us, and the motivation is something very different from self-indulgence.</p>
<p>Yes, interesting that clergy is on the list of most satisfying careers yet is also on the list as a career more likely to appeal to psychopaths! :eek:</p>
<p>Someone ought to point out – and I’m doing it – that this is just dead wrong. In fact, there are many creative and inquisitive accountants and actuaries. (And I don’t mean “creative” with air quotes, as in “fraudulent”.) </p>
<p>Accounting, at its heart, is a noble and romantic profession, pursuing the admirable but Sisyphean project of creating a comprehensible but simple model capable of comparing any form of human activity to any other form. It has rules, but they are highly dynamic, constantly in flux, and accountants have to deal with gray areas all the time.</p>
<p>The creativity of actuaries is legendary. The reason the field is so hot is because actuaries have done an incredible job over the last couple of decades demonstrating the value they can add to big-ticket products and services – not just life insurance, but health insurance, warranties, all kinds of things.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, ER doctors are required to act quickly and decisively, but I think the best ones are inherently rule-followers, checklist-lovers. (My sister is an ER doctor. One of the best things I have done in my life was to convince her that was a field she could enter, when she was 33, unemployed, and directionless. And I pointed her there precisely because she was smart, decisive, and really rigid, a complete my-way-or-the-highway person. She didn’t have an entrepreneurial bone in her body, but she could enforce a complex set of rules in the midst of chaos like nobody else. And, just as I thought, that set of personality traits has made her a really successful ER doctor.) Firefighters I know less about, but I imagine it’s the same with them – the situations they face are infinitely variable, but they follow very precise protocols, and their success depends on every team member knowing exactly what his or her role is, and what every other team member will be doing.</p>
<p>I think that the OP asks a reasonable question. If you hate, hate to dress up and wear a suit and tie, then you really should forget about careers that require that mode of dress. If you hate living in the urban city, then make sure you have suburban or rural options for your career choice. Same goes for travel, long hours, job security or lack of it, etc. Little things can mean a lot.</p>
<p>I agree with what you say, JHS. Specific to accountants, niece tells me it’s expected to work long hours during tax season, in the spring.</p>
<p>Also to consider is whether you work better in a self-motivated situation, like where you are handed a project and expected to schedule your own activities and motivate yourself, or whether you work better in a ‘hurry up and wait’ situation where you have down time, then sudden emergency situations. I think of firefighters that way, and I know that some of the tech support jobs were like that. The few times I was stuck in the support role, the down time drove me nuts. I prefer steady work. Some people like it tho, and thrive when someone lights a fire under them and says ‘now!’.</p>