I’ve been thinking about this lately. I wanted to be a doctor, but my family broke apart in my teens, which affected my mental health and, subsequently, my studies. I worked in construction and as a driver on the side for a bit before replacing the former with work as a personal trainer. Now I work as a bodyguard for a rich kid, which is de facto more of a surveillance, driving, and companionship role than a security one, since his dad has hardcore professionals for times when security is really needed. I didn’t expect my life to turn out this way, to be honest.
So many things…
Racecar driver
Veterinarian
Astronaut
…with a new plan every month or so.
When I got older and my interests started taking shape, I just said “IT” because I liked computery stuff, and while I didn’t have anything specific in mind, I knew it would probably involve tech. I remember an ad for this tech university, running around this time saying something along the lines of “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But I know that the occupation doesn’t exist yet”, and I felt drawn to that idea.
Then I started doing software development, nothing big, but I liked it. So for a while in my early 20s that was my plan. I also did a lot of network stuff, but I saw networks mainly as a means to get other stuff up and running.
And then I stumbled into a career of offshore seismic survey. Computers stuff was a big part of it. And then I ended up in a supporting role that is mostly centered around offshore networking and storage clusters. And looking back, my current occupation didn’t really exist 25 years ago.