As several others have experienced, the definition of “dream job” for has varied over time.
My first dream job was being a professional ski patrolman. First at a smaller ski area, then at a major ski resort. It was seasonal, didn’t pay all that well, was mentally and physically demanding and at times downright scary, but I loved it. I won’t bore you with the details, but the job (particularly at the large resort) entailed developing skills and knowledge I hadn’t even been aware of, including snow science and explosives handling.
My second dream job was guiding inner-city kids on 5 and 10-day trips into Rocky Mountain wilderness areas. “Hoods in the Woods” if you will. We first ran them through a teams course, then out into the mountains on hikes that would give many of the locals pause. Most of these kids came from Chicago, and a significant portion of them were in gangs, or being pressured to join gangs. Again, seasonal, didn’t pay all that well, and had its shares of physical, mental, and emotional demands. And I loved it.
I was also fortunate enough to get into the city planning field, after going back for a masters degree with that goal in mind. Ten years in two towns going through rapid growth, with escalating property values, helped me appreciate the whole process of development, and the critical roles of local government, business owners, contractors, design professionals, and citizens in shaping how communities grow and change. I felt lucky to be able to participate at that level, being responsible for managing short and long range planning, design review, building code administration and code enforcement. I finally left after I no longer felt effective in the role, and became increasingly dismayed at the increasing tendency (correlated with money, it seems) commission of the rules only applying to business and government alike only when convenient (as is the case with probably every field, I expect). So that dream job, for me, ran its course.
In my current position, at the other end of the country, I am once again discovering my dream job. The one I have. I make a decent salary, but more important are the facts that I have the freedom to pursue things that interest me, I enjoy my coworkers, I enjoy working with the people outside of the company that we have a relationship with, I have a great boss, and find the work challenging but not overwhelming. At the point where many people would have retired, I am pretty excited about what I do on a daily basis. Not all day, every day. But mostly.
