Dream job is commenting League of Legends esport.

I can not because it's very small circle and it would involve going out of my country for events which I can't. I don't enjoy traveling too far.

Author.

I've struggled all my life at finding the time to actually finish anything of note. I have folders full of notes, snippets of chapters, character profiles, etc...

All are ideas that I adore, but while I used to consider myself an "okay" writer, it's very much like any other muscle, if you don't use it regularly it atrophies. The longer it's been, the harder it is to get back to it without feeling defeated by the mental effort it suddenly takes to think of one damn metaphor.

And no.... i refuse to use A.I. to slop out some books. That would betray every ethical belief about human creativity that I have; which is that there is no "accomplishment" without "struggle". The time, training, sweat and learning ARE the entire point of creative endeavour.

My real dream job would be not needing to have a job

Commercial Pilot

Even went so far to enroll at Embry Riddle. The money time and desire were all there. This was 40 years ago when I was still a teen. The program I was enrolling in would have taken me all the way from off the street to 737 type rating plus CFI and CFII. That was not all the same program, but multiple. A friend of my dad had contacts with several FBO's and various FAR 135 operators and promised that he'd find a place for me.

It all came crashing down (puns are always intentional) when I couldn't pass the eye exam. I'm legally blind in my right eye. I was originally told that's not an issue since my color vision is perfect... Well it was a problem. I looked outside the United States and I could have achieved my dream. However my controlling mother said if I went outside the country then there would be no money. She went so far to take all of my documents to her safety deposit box so I couldn't even get a passport or visa. She never did give me my original SSN card or birth certificate... When I had moved out of their house I went and acquired copies.

I did make it into the air, but as a skydiver and not a pilot.

I was basically doing it until AI came along, the only difference is that I'd rather pick what I work on. That is, I'm a software engineer. Now, they want AI agent baybsitters making it hard to find work that doesn't use AI.

I guess if I had to pick a second, it would be some kind of professional student or something that works in teams as someone who has a wide variety of knowledge across topics and domains and can use it together while still doing some kind of software engineering along with it.

I'm also a small-scale farmer where I just sell extra, but I don't know that I would like that as my fulltime job; I certainly wouldn't like the salary.

I simply do not dream of labor.

closest i would get to dream labor is labor on a homestead, taking care of animals and such

House husband. Maybe i'll get lucky.

Gas station attendant - Did this for a while and loved it. I was left to my own devices, no one to hassle me about how I did the job, and I got to meet strange and interesting folk. I was once referred to a "gas station guru" by a regular because I'd listen to their woes and give timely if unexpected advice for dealing with an absurd range of things. ADHD and self sufficiency make you pretty good at a lot of small tasks.

Bowling alley attendent - that's just gas station attendant but in an inherently fun and strange environment.

Card shop owner - probably the only place where you're going to look more appropriate gaming on the clock than not, but actually I like the idea of offering a safe space for people with similar hobbies to me.

Appliance repair and modifications - make a living jailbreaking peoples refrigerators and fixing washing machines? Literally heaven.

Alas, none of these really pay enough to live on or actually exist in the later most case.

I have an engineer's heart but not an engineer's brain. I can fix just about anything and I love thinking about how things work. I work best when I'm solving problems.

But I HATE math. My brain immediately checks out, and it was the only subject I struggled with in school. Academically, I've always just clicked more with history and language. I just knew I could never be an engineer because of the amount of math and physics required for an engineering degree. I ended up going for a teaching degree and now I work in museum education.

If I could go back to my early 20s, I would go to travel destinations and bar tend. Alaska, Hawai'i, Bali, etc. I missed out on a lot that I had no idea existed. Today I wish I had the time to tutor prisoners how to read. I think that could be fun.

I would love to disappear into the wilderness and thrive, like Homer sinking into those bushes.

You probably can. Practice literally rewires your brain.

Maybe astronaut for me? Oh, or professional gymnast. I was pretty good, but practice will not rewire these tendons like you can rewire your brain.

Space station architect

I’d love to get paid enough to live comfortably while building custom desktop PCs for people.

Pretty much the same as you. I love designing and creating things; both on an individual and larger scale, managing stuff as well, but i am also neurodivergent and was not really able to complete a degree at the university. At this point in my life (mid thirties) it is sadly very unlikely for me to ever get into an occupation or role where i could actually do something in that vein.

I briefly got my ideal real life job, 1/3 systems, 1/3 accounting, 1/3 client facing. That was nice.

If I had no need to make money, though, I'd open a small bar in the wee strip mall a couple blocks away, and would open right when the breakfast/lunch cafe closed, and would offer on weekdays a to-go supper different each day as well. Have staff so I could still travel sometimes. Hospitality is so satisfying, and such a pain in the ass slog at the same time but I would do it.

Game developer of some kind. In my wildest dreams I'm the Stardew Valley guy.

I've tried to pursue it a few times but I'm not strong-willed enough to overcome the admittedly minor obstacles. I got shafted in school for IT class. Had 100% on the exam but the teacher was a huge bitch and wouldnt take my coursework so I only got a C. Which meant college wouldnt take me for game dev course and I had to do a baby-mode IT course where they made us learn google (seriously, 2 months of learning how to use AND and shit in google) and photoshop. By the time the class moved onto hardware and programming languages the teacher wouldnt let me participate because I didnt finish the photoshop course.

Decided to just try it alone and managed to scrape together an almost functional prototype after a few weeks. Then found out I'd selected the wrong option incredibly early in the process which meant I had to start all over again. Asked for advice online and instead of advice or information on what else to look out for just received shitload of people telling eachother what an idiot OP is and how people like that shouldn't even try when they don't even understand whatever that was. I'm too thin skinned to deal with it so I just gave up.

When AI started taking off a few years back I got a little excited, thinking it could be time to try again now that I can ask computer-daddy to help. Before I've even got round to seeing if its feasible, you know, take a look around.

Full time musician. I have a mortgage and a (moderate) lifestyle to maintain. I still make and play music on the side but can never make it a full time job.

If it helps you at all, I believe in learning on the job.

I didn't know much about money or finance so I got a job as a teller, moved up until I felt I knew what I was doing.

In a similar vein as you, I knew nothing of tools and working with your hands, so I became a mechanic, then a maintenance worker.

And now I'm looking for an IT job. I never went to college but since highschool I've never stopped learning. And BTW I sucked at both fields when I started, but 2 years in you'll figure it out. 5 years in you might be ready for your dream career, or moving on like me.

To answer the question though I'd love to go to Mars! I think I'd be the kind of person who'd be good at being among the first. But I don't think I'd be able to permanently say goodbye to the creature comforts of Earth. Especially pets.

I wanted to be an archeologist.

Astronaut. I can barely handle carnival rides without tummy troubles now.

Either a botanist or wildlife rehabilitation. Life sort of turned really shitty really early and I had to get a “less idealistic” college degree so I went with social/behavioral stuff. Literally have become a cog in machine. It did support me and my son his whole life, but when I was recently given the option to start school again… I couldn’t make the decision to switch to something like what I wanted because I already have almost 20yrs working in this field. So now I’m just getting licensed and rooting here for good. I just watch hella documentaries

Man, I just wanna sit at a bench and fix things. More than that, I want to go to school to learn how to design better things. Can’t do either ‘cause I’m broke as hell. Can’t find work doing it because nobody wants someone who just wants to sit at a bench and fix things, it’s always gotta include some other (corporately mandated) bullshit.

Tournament organizer and commentator for various retro competitive puzzle games. Was something I used to do for a while and felt like I'd found my passion there. But things fell apart for... a number of reasons. Struggled badly with low turnout, which can be attributed to a lack of new releases bringing new players in, until the last major IP that was still standing got shot dead by a flurry of consecutive terrible decisions from the publisher.

These days I've pivoted to focusing on Riichi Mahjong, and I'd love to find a way to turn that hobby into something more. But there are already enough talented commentators and content creators in that space that I dunno if there's room for me to ever carve out a name for myself.

I would like a sinecure as the front desk correspondent for a society of jaded cassandras. I would get to write scathing told-ya-sos on the behalf of smart people, shall we say four a day at most so that I could take time to soak in the context, sit in the affronted rage, and write something truly bilious on somebody else's behalf. It would then get sent to the responder for a round of notes and corrections before being printed, neglectfully stained with a coffee mug stamp, and mailed out to the offending party.

On second thought, two or three a day. I could easily get sidetracked.

I'd have loved to be an animator doing 2D hand drawn animation for movies and/or TV. I love seeing my work come to life. I went to school for it for a few years and had a great time and did really well, but then I ran out of money, and I didn't want to get into crippling student debt so I dropped out. I was just not born into the right income bracket, compared to most of my classmates, who came from affluent families.

2D hand drawn animation is all but non existent in major motion pictures now, and has only really remained a staple in TV - even that is on shaky ground sometimes, if media corps decide to give your show the axe on a whim (see: Scavenger's Reign, Bojack Horseman).

Though I am happy to see that hand drawn animation is enjoying a small renaissance in indie projects like Lackadaisy and Knights of Guinevere.

In lieu of a career in it, I remain an animation hobbyist and make little things from time to time to practice and keep my skills up.

Someday I’ll rent an old school wrecking ball and my 7 year old self will be so fucking excited at knocking down a building. Then I’ll need to learn to run real fast so I can get away from the building’s owner.

owner of a professional soccer team....

sucks because you have to start with millions and then lose most of it before you gain it back

I would have liked to pursue art but I have no interest in the promotion or business side of it so it doesn't matter that I also lack the talent or learned skills 😅

It's okay to do hobbies imperfectly! Or at a much smaller scale. I enjoy art as a hobby, free from expectations and pressure. I hope you are able to do the same.

Being a good looking movie star would not be wrong. :)

Tom Cruise is living the life I want.

I'd love to be a philosopher, but the only job you can really get is teaching philosophy. Which is more of a teacher job and not really a philosophy job ironically enough.

I work in a metal fabrication shop so I'm usually tired when I get home most days so it would be hard to try and start a YouTube channel or something, and I'm not charismatic enough to just talk openly to a camera and have people watch.

I still read up on old thinkers, i just don't get money for it. Kierkegaard is an older one i like. Idk if Alan Watts is considered one but he's my favorite modern "thinker", he gave me the most beautiful idea I've ever encountered so he'll always be in my top 3.

Occultism/Natural Law/Hermeticism also have some interesting ideas.

Have to wade thru a lot of shit tho, especially in older books. My favorite was someone legitimately believing if you boiled piss for 5 years it would turn into the philosophers stone lolol. And if the temperature changes even 1° at any point in the 5 years you have to start over. And that's why philosopher stones don't exist anymore. I think the alchemists would say he had the "gold fever" as alchemy was more about turning a person as worthless as lead, into someone as valuable as gold. And there's a clue to finding the actual "philosophers stone" in its name.

Designing custom items for the elderly and handicapped seems like a fulfilling pass time. This is something that would have to be mostly done for free or very low cost.