Invisapeeps 2.0

kinalikamom · Senior Member

At what age did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?

Forty-two · Guru

My kid is a freshman in high school and she does not know where she wants to go to college mostly because she does not know what she wants to be when she "groes up". I always wanted to be involved in science and medicine, I used to think I wanted to go to medical school but I am glad that I didn't. The cost does not seem to outway the income in the ends.

When did you know?

huckleberry · Senior Member

not until I was well along in college. Folks had been telling me I would be a lawyer most of my life but I never believed it until then

Forty-two · Guru

Do you love it, Huck?

huckleberry · Senior Member

Absolutely, 42!

I consider myself very fortunate.

kinalikamom · Senior Member

Um....I'm still working on it? Yeah, at 58 I guess it's time to decide soon, isn't it? wink

Forty-two · Guru

huckleberry wrote:
Absolutely, 42!

I consider myself very fortunate.

How did your parents know and it took you longer? I think my daughter would be a great lawyer but there seems to be a glut of them these days...maybe not in 10 yeaars.

kinalikamom · Senior Member

Engineering seems to 'run' in my and DH's families, so our kids were pre-programmed, so to speak. DD had the smarts as well as the engineering personality, but it wasn't until one of her math teachers said, "Have you considered being an engineer?" that she actually gave it serious thought.

Yeah, both of my spawn are engineers.

Forty-two · Guru

kinalikamom wrote:
Engineering seems to 'run' in my and DH's families, so our kids were pre-programmed, so to speak. DD had the smarts as well as the engineering personality, but it wasn't until one of her math teachers said, "Have you considered being an engineer?" that she actually gave it serious thought.

Yeah, both of my spawn are engineers.

I am curious what you would describe as an engineering personality since both of my husbands are engineers...I wonder if your decription fits them smile

huckleberry · Senior Member

Forty-two wrote:
huckleberry wrote:
Absolutely, 42!

I consider myself very fortunate.
How did your parents know and it took you longer? I think my daughter would be a great lawyer but there seems to be a glut of them these days...maybe not in 10 yeaars.

Not sure how others knew and I did not. I remember one of my stepfather's nicknames for me was "Perry Mason" and I don't think he meant it as a compliment. But I was always talkative, liked to write and a was a bit of an idealist.

When young people ask my advice about going to law school, I say only do it if you will love being a lawyer. Law school is expensive and boring, and practicing law is gruelling and hard on the ego. It's only worthwhile if you love the life (kind of like being a medical doctor I imagine)

huckleberry · Senior Member

Interesting discussion developing here about professional personalities.

I am not related to any engineers but know quite a few pretty well. They, in any case, all think there is an engineer personality. It's not just about being smart, but also extremely detail-oriented, persistent, and doers rather than talkers.

Very different from the trial lawyer personality!

I also know that many healthcare people believe there is a surgeon versus a medical personality.

kinalikamom · Senior Member

huckleberry wrote:
Interesting discussion developing here about professional personalities.

I am not related to any engineers but know quite a few pretty well. They, in any case, all think there is an engineer personality. It's not just about being smart, but also extremely detail-oriented, persistent, and doers rather than talkers.

Very different from the trial lawyer personality!

I also know that many healthcare people believe there is a surgeon versus a medical personality.

Absolutely! But trial lawyers need to be persistent, too! DS is married to an attorney and the two of them made a formidable team when they negotiated the price of their home!

Forty-two · Guru

kinalikamom wrote:
to 42:
DS we consider unusual because he really does not have the total personality. He is a very social, outgoing guy. He picks up on social cues well and is comfortable in group settings.
DD is introverted. Social interaction is something that she rarely actively seeks although she can hold her own in group settings.
I think a quirky sense of humor is almost universal for engineers. I love to be in a group of them, even though I frequently don't understand what the heck they're talking about! I think they are so comfortable with their intelligence that it's hard for them to grasp that not everyone is as smart as they are/don't think like they do. One of the favorite family games is pinochle. I'm a hack. I always will be a hack. At 12, my daughter was a better player than me. When the 4 of us play, it is obvious which one of us is NOT an engineer (DH is also one).
I probably haven't answered your question. (But I do thank you for the opportunity to talk about engineers!) How did my musings compare with your observations?

-- Edited by kinalikamom on Saturday 10th of November 2012 04:01:35 PM

I would say that neither of my husbands are particularly humorous. However, I used to work with a bunch of engineers who exhibited the personality you describe. They were freakin hysterical.

Except DH all of the engineers I know are extremely social.

Regarding intelligence I don't view them as being any more intelligent than other professions (I only say that because you say being comfortable with their intelligence).

Now sales and marketeing people that is a definite type!

kinalikamom · Senior Member

Ooooh, do not get DH started on marketing...they are Evil Personified.

Forty-two · Guru

Why do you say that?

kinalikamom · Senior Member

He's retired now, but sales/marketing did not understand the product and would promise what could not be delivered. He had little respect for them.

Forty-two · Guru

Yeah that they do!

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

I still don't know what I wanna be when I grow up.

But, I'm never gonna grow up... so that's o.k.

NANN2 · Leader of the Woof Pack

November of 92. I was staying at Centro Campesino. I thought..this is fun. This means something. So I thought about it and when I went to college that next year I majored in biology and minored in chem. I was going to join the Peace Corps.

Forty-two · Guru

NANN2 wrote:
November of 92. I was staying at Centro Campesino. I thought..this is fun. This means something. So I thought about it and when I went to college that next year I majored in biology and minored in chem. I was going to join the Peace Corps.

That's exciting! DId you join the Peace Corps? What do you do?

NANN2 · Leader of the Woof Pack

I didn't get to do it. My jr year of college I got my first blood clot. :( If they ever figure out a way fix me permanently.....

Forty-two · Guru

I am sorry to hear that Nann.

NANN2 · Leader of the Woof Pack

Thanks, I do what I can locally and that sort of make up for it. A little. LOL

1dog1cat1snake1rat_akaTheZoo · Veteran Member

Up until the end of junior high I wanted to be a nurse. I was really gung-ho about it, "practicing" on my younger brothers and sisters and pets.

However, from the time I could read I was such a bookworm, reading several books a day, including in high school while keeping an A average. I decided that I'd rather be a librarian, but even back then I knew I didn't want to be a school librarian! In the 70s at most of the colleges around here librarianship was a minor, attached to an educational degree major. There wasn't much wiggle room, but I found a school far enough away from home but not tooooo far, where there was an actual library science degree. I still took classes in education and did student teaching in both an inner city elementary school and a very rural junior-senior high school - to cover all my bases, so to speak! - but most of my professional life was spent in public library service.

I've never regretted it, but will admit from an income standpoint, nursing would have probably made me 4x as much money. There's none working in libraries!

Forty-two · Guru

1dog1cat1snake1rat_akaTheZoo wrote:
Up until the end of junior high I wanted to be a nurse. I was really gung-ho about it, "practicing" on my younger brothers and sisters and pets.

However, from the time I could read I was such a bookworm, reading several books a day, including in high school while keeping an A average. I decided that I'd rather be a librarian, but even back then I knew I didn't want to be a school librarian! In the 70s at most of the colleges around here librarianship was a minor, attached to an educational degree major. There wasn't much wiggle room, but I found a school far enough away from home but not tooooo far, where there was an actual library science degree. I still took classes in education and did student teaching in both an inner city elementary school and a very rural junior-senior high school - to cover all my bases, so to speak! - but most of my professional life was spent in public library service.

I've never regretted it, but will admit from an income standpoint, nursing would have probably made me 4x as much money. There's none working in libraries!

Do you work in a school now? I ask because with the internet I have absolutely no need to go to a library. I down-load books on my e-reader, etc. Is this a dying field? I would think people are not going to the library as much as they used to.

1dog1cat1snake1rat_akaTheZoo · Veteran Member

I am retired from the library business. After I resigned from the public library to be more at home with my kids - son has learning issues and was having problems - I did spend one semester subbing in a school library on an emergency basis. Their librarian just QUIT w/o notice, and they called the public library in a panic, asking if they knew of anyone with a teaching certificate with library experience who could step in. They asked me. The next person down from the school librarian stepped into HER shoes pro tem, and I stepped into that 2nd place. It was fun, because it was temporary. I really was meant all those years ago for a career in public library service, but it was nice to find out for sure. ;)

Our library here in town has moved with the times and is adjusting to what people want, in addition to traditional books. I hope that other libraries are doing the same, but a lot of that is a matter of funding. People like me will never abandon paper books, and I hope that they will always be available. I'm also hoping that libraries can continue to be relevant for everything they can provide going into the future.

kapper · I am always right, unless I am wrong.

11

I was going to be a song writer. I wrote poems to the music in my head. Learned to play the guitar just so I could play the tunes in my head. Dated the lead singer for a local band all throughout high school and college. I have a thousand notebooks crammed with finished, unfinished, and barely started songs. Then I had the realization that I would probably would never be able to make a living at it. Now I run the publications department of a national food distributor but I still have those songs in my head.

eta because it was those songs not thongs songs (although that gives me an idea...lol)

-- Edited by kapper on Friday 16th of November 2012 12:09:38 PM

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

13

I wanted to be a mother. I knew mine was all messed up and I was determined to 'do it right'.

It's funny because my youngest is 13 now and I wonder if she thinks she knows everything the way I did. She seems nothing like me at that age.

Forty-two · Guru

Kapper does it make you sad that you are not a song writer? Do you regret choosing money over art?

kapper · I am always right, unless I am wrong.

I don't regret it because I can still do it as a hobby. Gotta pay the bills and I still get to be creative with what I do for a living.

tigerlily · Guru

I'll let you know when I figure it out :)

I don't think that I should be a computer scientist, but I have no idea what would be a better fit for me.