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Dream Jobs of 2004 442

Posted by michael from the a-man-can-dream dept.
prostoalex writes "We've read about the worst jobs out there, the most overpaid ones, the worst job postings and the outsourcing tendencies. Can an article on employment in scientific and engineering fields can have a positive outlook? February issue of IEEE Spectrum talks about the dream ('coolest, baddest, hippest, grooviest') jobs, where people have fun and enjoy what they're doing. IEEE publication covered the dream jobs for Electrical Engineering majors only. The linked article is actually a story about 9 different people with 9 different jobs, each leading to a separate article."
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Dream Jobs of 2004 More

Dream Jobs of 2004

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  • Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:49PM (#8204960)
    I don't want a dream job...

    Dream jobs eliminate the one good thing about life. Vacation. Whether that be on the weekends, your random days off in the middle of the week, or the two weeks you spend lounging in Jamaica.

    They don't call work "work" for nothing. If it was fun they would call it Vacation. Work gives me something to look forward to when I don't have to do it. It shouldn't be an escape from your family, it shouldn't be fun, and it certainly be something you overly enjoy...

    My enjoyment everyday comes in the form of looking forward to the weekend when I spend my free time geocaching [geocaching.com] with my friends or myself. If I enjoyed work I would probably be sitting in my office working. What good does that do me?

    We are a sad society when we put work in front of our "real lives".

    Remember that before you go off in search of the job that you just can't wait to get to everyday. Family, fun, and vacation > work.

    BTW - I don't mind my job in the least. I don't complain about it and I don't hate coming to work everyday. I just think it's better to enjoy yourself outside of your job.

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Informative)

      by kruczkowski ( 160872 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:52PM (#8205009) Homepage
      Work in Germany, under German law every worker must get 6 weeks paid vacation, from a janitor to a CEO.

      • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:4, Informative)

        by eyegor ( 148503 ) * on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:59PM (#8205156)
        Which is great. But by raising overhead rates to pay for the extra vacation time, the overall effect is to make German industry less cost effective than a less enlightened country (all other factors being equal).

        Not that there's anything wrong with that.

        Personally, I'm in my dream job. I get paid nicely to play with computers.

        • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Cyclone66 ( 217347 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:17PM (#8205435) Homepage Journal
          Wouldn't the more enlightened country be the one that realizes working like a dog, 50+ hours a week with only a week vacation is not a way to live?

          • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:33PM (#8205675)
            Moderate parent 5, Insightful. Working 50 and 60 hour weeks with no vacation is very 1890s. Slaving away like a serf for a king is very 1300s.

            Germany and the rest of the European countries have the right idea. A person needs more time to enjoy friends, family, and most importantly for the economy, spend money.

            Yes, I am an American and yes, I might be a little upset since I can't afford to take any time off after my first child is born in August.

          • Maybe you should RTF parent post again... (Score:4, Informative)

            by sean.peters ( 568334 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:42PM (#8205818) Homepage
            ... since he referred to "a less enlightened country" as one that makes you work more than Germany, presumably the two of you are in violent agreement.

            Sean

        • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by HungWeiLo ( 250320 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:42PM (#8205827)
          You talk about overhead, but you're making the assumption that overworked, 60+ hrs/wk individuals will produce output at a constant rate of high productivity. Also, a very high concern for employers these days is medical. Simply, overworked/tired workers are more likely to get more medical problems and drive up medical costs collectively.
        • " Which is great. But by raising overhead rates to pay for the extra vacation time, the overall effect is to make German industry less cost effective than a less enlightened country (all other factors being equal).

          Not that there's anything wrong with that."

          What a boneheaded thing to say. There's no logic to it. Perhaps German cultural factors make Germans more productive with a mandatory 6 weeks paid vacation. Personally, I'm a lot more productive when I know I'm going to get breaks to enjoy other aspects
      • Unfortunately, my job is running my own business, and I can't afford to give somebody 6 weeks paid vacation. To me, Germany is a shitty place to work.
        • You mean that Germany is a shitty place to work if you run/own your own company... it's still great place if you are just an employee.

          What I wouldn't give for vacation time! Oh yea... I'm just an intern and have no hope of vacation time until 2 years after I'm hired FT at my present job (if they do).

        • And as a german, I think that this is great. Learn to do a business right before letting your employees suffer from your incompetence.

          On the other hand, germany is still a shitty place to live, and it's getting worse. Not as bad as the US or Somalia, though.

      • The budget deficit and unemployment due to an unsustainable socialist economy find YOU!

      • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Funny)

        by elefantstn ( 195873 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:36PM (#8205733)
        Another benefit is that more than 1 in 10 Germans [boston.com] gets 365 days off from work every year. What a country!
      • Same in Sweden. And it goes up from there to about ten weeks. Plus, you can't forget the month off at Xmas, from about 15 December to 15 January. And still we're both amongst the most productive countries in the world per capita. I wonder why that is?

        Poor aboriginals in those third world countries like the United States...

        • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:4, Insightful)

          by spruce ( 454842 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @06:15PM (#8207062) Journal
          Well, you should get a -1 flamebait for your aboriginal/third world comment, but it sure is popular to mod against the US.

          I certainly wouldn't mind a little extra time off, but I'm not complaining too much. My work allows me to live a very nice lifestyle, with plenty of time for friends and family.

          From the CIA world factbook - Per capita purchasing powers :

          US : purchasing power parity - $36,300 (2002 est.)

          Sweden purchasing power parity - $26,000 (2002 est.)

          Germany : purchasing power parity - $26,200 (2002 est.)

          So you're being pretty handily outproduced by a buch of aborigines [meriamwebster.com]. Maybe I can use some of my hard earned cash some day to visit the enlightened part of the world, Sweden.
          • So you're being pretty handily outproduced by a buch of aborigines. Maybe I can use some of my hard earned cash some day to visit the enlightened part of the world, Sweden.

            Or, at least, you could if you had the time off to do so!

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205038)
      Why not enjoy both? Sounds like you're trying to rationalize the career you chose.

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mbge7psh ( 633184 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:55PM (#8205067)
      A truely dream job shouldn't seem like a job at all. If you get payed to do what you truely enjoy, where is the harm in putting it before other hobbies?

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Funny)

      by jetkust ( 596906 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:58PM (#8205139)
      Yea, and I want to get cancer just for the remission. Good thinking.

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:01PM (#8205182)
      Uh, it's a sad society that SEPARATES "lives" from "work".

      Why should you only enjoy yourself when you're not working?

      Imagine a job in a small company where you know everybody, you and your wife both work and can freely visit, and you bring your kids to work with you every day and watch them learn and play.

      Imagine you can wear whatever religious symbol you want, and say whatever you like without fear of lawsuits. Imagine that once you finish your day's work, you're free to leave, but you don't because you love doing your work.

      Imagine that your life and your work where completely intertwined and you loved every minute of it.

      Isn't it funny that people say "where do you live" when they ask what you do OUTSIDE of work? If "living" happens outside of work, then when you're working, you must be DEAD right? The opposite of live.

      You should look forward to EVERY DAY, not just the weekends. That's sad.

      I don't have the solution.. I'm self-employed and really enjoy it but I still have to deal with the "walking dead" on a regular basis.
    • Why not get paid to have fun?

      I really do hate my job, so I'm going to quit working for evil bastards. A VC friend of mine and I are starting an entertainment website.

      I get to code, and hang out in nightclubs/bars/strip clubs. I can't imagine a better existence, and it sure beats working.

      I realize not everyone can do this, but I think any enterprising geek *could* get away with working for yourself, and that kind of work is fun for most of us.

      Whatever you do, semper ubi sub ubi.

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by wrp103 ( 583277 ) <Bill@BillPringle.com> on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:05PM (#8205248) Homepage
      I once read that you should make a career out of your second favorite thing to do. That way, when work got to you, you could relax with your hobby rather than your career.

      That said, I think far too many people keep thinking of better things rather than enjoying what they are doing at the moment. If somebody gives me something to do that I don't like, I try to figure out how to make it more enjoyable.

      For example, I once had a boss that insisted that I send him a status report each week. (I hate paper work). So, I did what I often do in situations like that ... I automated it. I segmented the status report into different sections, created text files for each section, and then wrote some code, along with a Makefile, so that each Friday, I ran a single command, and out came my status report e-mailed to my boss along with other interested parties.

      Now, I could have spent time bellyaching about what a lousy job I had been given, but instead decided to make it more tolerable. After it was done, I actually enjoyed submitting status reports.

      Now, certainly there are jobs with little or no redeeming value, but most of the people I hear complaining actually have it pretty good. Most have food to eat, a place to stay, and make enough money to make ends meet with a little left over.

      Blaise Pascal, in his book Pensees, states that people spend too much of their time regretting the past and dreaming about the future, that they don't have time to enjoy the present. As a result, they are often unhappy when they don't need to be.

      • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Funny)

        by BenEnglishAtHome ( 449670 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @05:15PM (#8206299)
        I once had a boss that insisted that I send him a status report each week. (I hate paper work). So, I did what I often do in situations like that ... I automated it

        I once had a boss that insisted that I send him a status report each morning. I don't mind paperwork, so I did what I often do in situations like that ... I buried him in what some people call "malicious compliance."

        I can write fast and wordy. So every morning, right after my to-do list, I'd write two pages, minimum, listing every single little thing I did the day before. We're talking excruciating detail.

        It took less than a month for the guy to tell me that he didn't need daily reports anymore. He wanted a single monthly report, no more than one page, double-spaced.

        Sweeeet. :-)

    • For Americans life is work.

      Work is life.

    • Re:Your job shouldn't be your life. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jorrit ( 19549 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:06PM (#8205263) Homepage
      Work shouldn't be fun??? That must be one of the saddest remarks I have heard in some time. I would quiet my job the moment it stops getting fun.

      Of course I agree with you that work isn't the only thing in life. Family comes first.

      But if your work isn't fun then I pity you.

      Greetings,

    • An opposing point of view would say (Score:5, Insightful)

      by devphil ( 51341 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:07PM (#8205270) Homepage


      that if you find a job that you like, you'll never have to work a day in your life.

      Friend, if the best thing about your job is the time you spend away from it, you're in the wrong job.

      I'm not saying it should be the centerpiece of your life. (Indeed, my mother tells me that we are a nation that worships our work, works at our play, and plays at our worship. *grin*) I think I have my dream job, but I'm not going to pass up spending time with good friends to get in a few more hours just for fun. But if you dread your job to the point where the only enjoyment is looking to leave, you need to find new employment.

    • uh...ok (Score:5, Funny)

      by DirtyJ ( 576100 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:13PM (#8205364)
      Q: Why do you keep hitting your head with that hammer?

      A: Because it feels so good when I stop!

  • IEEE Magazine? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:52PM (#8205001)
    If I wanted a list of what's hip & cool, I wouldn't look in IEEE magazine to find it.

  • Dream Job (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Linux Ate My Dog! ( 224079 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:52PM (#8205005) Homepage Journal
    As a UI designer, I once saw somebody have my dream job: he was creating an application for JPL to visualize the data and state of a deep-space probe. It would reflect the health of the probe at-a-glance and give access to further data. So it had NASA, space, complex data, and cool visualization all rolled into one. It would be for Depp Space One.

    He was not enjoying the work and the circumstances (like the pay). I would have given my left arm (i.e. learned to program on OpenVMS from nothing) for that gig. We all have different dreams.

    • Re:Dream Job (Score:3, Funny)

      by verloren ( 523497 )
      "It would be for Depp Space One."

      Man, Lance Bass is going to be upset when he finds out Johnny beat him to it.

    • Re:Dream Job (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Dr. Zowie ( 109983 ) * <slashdotNO@SPAMdeforest.org> on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:11PM (#8205340)
      I worked doing mission ops for the SOHO [nasa.gov] spacecraft for four years. It's a cool place to be -- cutting edge stuff, you're beaming commands daily to a spacecraft a million miles away, yadda yadda. But you rapidly learn that "glamour" is something you can only see from far away. When you're actually doing the stuff, it's just another high stress job in a room with no windows, and debugging and fixing the spacecraft is just what you do every day. I used to have to force myself to look at the big picture and realize what an amazing place I was in.

      Now I'm doing pure research and some teaching, in Boulder, CO. This turns out to be closer to my dream job -- more flexible hours and lots of self-directed variety to the tasks. It's certainly not for everyone -- I basically sit around staring at equations, or images, or image-processing software, most of the time -- but every once in a while I get to figure out something nobody's ever known before, and that keeps me going the rest of the year.

      Of course, the problem with a self-directed job is that you're always with your boss... :-)

  • Win the lotto! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by RicJohnson ( 649243 ) *
    Here's my question:
    If YOU won the lotto, what would you do? Would you still work in IT?
    Would you get bored or would you seek to challenge your self with a "dream job"?
    I am such a workaholic, I am convinced that I would create my own company AND I would hire some of those IT people that were layed off!

    • Re:Win the lotto! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by four12 ( 129324 )
      Would I still work in IT? No. Not only "no", but "hell no". I'd play with some computer stuff, but I wouldn't hang my hat on it.

      What would I do? I would be a world-travelling photographer, specializing in great hiking trails and locations. I'd specialize on Europe, but branch out occasionally.

      Yep, that's what I would do... go hikin' and take pictures.

    • obligatory Samir... (Score:5, Funny)

      by *weasel ( 174362 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:00PM (#8205164)
      "First, I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds, and give the other half to my friend Asadulah who works in securities..."

      • obligatory Lawrence (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "two chicks at the same time"

        "two chicks at the same time... that's what you'd do if you had a million dollars?"

        "damn straight, always wanted to do that. i think if i had a million dollars i could hook that up."

    • Re:Win the lotto! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by 4of12 ( 97621 )

      If YOU won the lotto, what would you do? Would you still work in IT?

      I'd set up a foundation to hire 5 of the sharpest, most personable programmers from 3 continents and commission them to produce a Powerpoint replacement based on SVG and get some good international outline fonts made for good measure.

      Not only a good slide show interface, but a good composition interface as well. Vector graphics. Including TeX like formatting of text boxes for math, languages going right to left, left to right, as well a

  • History Channel's dream job (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SoCalChris ( 573049 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205027) Journal
    There was a show on the History Channel this week about the autobahn. They did a short piece on some lucky bastard who works for a Porche tuner. His job? Take each new, handbuilt car onto the autobahn late at night, and certify just how fast it can go.

  • There's always worse. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Geoffd1 ( 466931 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205029) Homepage
    Let me tell you something: if you think you have the worst job, there's always a more dire one.

    I had a job where I was supposed to engineer "smart" plumbing fixtures - keeping water temperature right, measuring turd/bowl ratio, etc. It paid the bills, but it was boring as hell - and always got blank looks at the local SCA meets.

    When the tech boom subsided, I lost the job. I wasn't too worked up about it. I found another job quickly, but little did I know it would turn out to be even worse. It was similar to the above position (experience always helps when applying), but, as I found out upon showing up on day one, I was to be engineering urinals. I fear parties, for people inevitably ask me what I do. Ten years of higher education for this, and people piss on my designs!

    So, don't complain about your job. At least your products aren't full of piss.

    • Re:There's always worse. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Kenja ( 541830 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:05PM (#8205251)
      Are you kidding? I'd have t-shirts made proclaiming that I designed smart urinals for a living. You have a unique job that many people would get a kick out of.

      It should also be notted that getting blank looks at SCA [sca.org] meetings is normal. Somthing about people who get hit in the head with sticks for fun.

    • Let me tell you something: if you think you have the worst job, there's always a more dire one.

      That's only true if there are an unlimited number of jobs, which I don't think is the current situation.

      -Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]
    • Engineering urinals - a decent job and a boon to society.

      SCA meets - not cool. The SCA should be thankful that furries are around to keep them off the bottom of the totem pole.

      Tim

  • dreaming of having a job (Score:3, Funny)

    by maxbang ( 598632 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205030) Journal

    period.

  • well at my job... (Score:3, Funny)

    by JeanBaptiste ( 537955 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205035)
    i get no training and no chance for advancement, monitarily or otherwise. no raise in the 5 years i have been there...

    so my dream job is any job where i get training once in a while on things i am expected to support, and where i might get a raise if i do a solid job. its not just me, nobody else at the company gets raises either. still looking for another job, but the market isnt so good, at least in my area.

    on the other hand, i know people (at other places) that are far more qualified than I am, and they have been looking for a job for quite some time more... so i cant complain too much, i guess.

    to summarize, my dream job would be one where i could potentially advance for doing good work. oh, that and i want to be surrounded by hot chicks.

  • Does this count? (Score:5, Funny)

    by JZ_Tonka ( 570336 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205041)
    Sitting on a couch in my parents basement, posting to Slashdot from my Linux-running laptop, surrounded by empty McDonalds wrappers and cans of Jolt provided through a generous grant from the U.S. taxpayer.

    No, I'm not bitter...

  • Yeah, but what about... (Score:5, Funny)

    by serutan ( 259622 ) <snoopdoug@geekaz ... minus physicist> on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#8205044) Homepage
    Sure, astronaut, deep sea submersibles, yeah, yeah. But they left out bikini team oiler.
    • Sure, astronaut, deep sea submersibles, yeah, yeah. But they left out bikini team oiler.

      I would NOT want to be an astronaut. Aside from the risk, it is often uncomfortable. The space suits have all kinds of poking and scratchy things in them, and you have tight quarters with even less fresh air than an office cubicle. Plus, you are expected to keep constant concentration with lots of funny beeping and flashing things all around. And The Food! Oh my. Think airlines are bad. And, there are jillions of col
  • My dream job is to pursue my passions, which are currently issues of website usability and accessibilty. Sorta in a 'geek eye for the internet guy'

    I also like the team/technical/mentoring thing ... I learn so much from my exchange of experience with the younger turks' savvy (and energy)

    I'd like it to pay enough where I could do the same work for the variety of charities of my choice

    I'd like it to last for more than 2 years

    Bottom line, I want to work, work hard, work productively at what I love to do.

    Do

  • A supermodel's trophy husband (Score:5, Funny)

    by Golias ( 176380 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:54PM (#8205049)
    A great dream job would be a trophy husband to a beautiful, weathly, fun-loving supermodel.

    Oh, they are talking about dream jobs for Electrical Engineers only?

    In that case: A great dream job would be a trophy husband to a beautiful, weathly, fun-loving supermodel.

    What? You think having EE degrees means they would rather stare at oscilliscopes all day!?


    • There is an ugly, poor, fun-loving waitress out there who thinks the same thing about electrical engineers.

      Watch out!

    • Having a supermodel girlfriend is exciting for the first 4-6 months (with unbelievable bragging rights), but after that you also get tired of her shit, bugs in her head and personality flaws, and realise that they're just like everyone else (but with super looks). But then you're given crap for being overweight (she works with stick figures all day), not hunky enough (she works with male models), not seducive or witty enough (hey, everyone is trying to seduce her), etc. so you're always trying 100% of the
    • What? You think having EE degrees means they would rather stare at oscilliscopes all day!?

      I'm not sure I see a benefit, either way you're staring at curves all day...

      I guess the fun lies in the frequency of oscillation.

  • I have a dream job... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by milgr ( 726027 )
    After being unemployed for several months, almost any job became my dream job.

    Being paid to work on Linux device drivers makes it even dreamier. Or at least geekier.

  • Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)

    by FreemanPatrickHenry ( 317847 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:54PM (#8205051)
    I don't know, I would guess CowboyNeal has pretty close to the ubergeek paradise job. I mean, come on, he's got unlimited mod points [slashdot.org] for God's sake!

  • Dev (Score:4, Funny)

    by savagedome ( 742194 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:55PM (#8205068)
    Stress tester for Playboy website development team. 'nuff said

    • Playboy photographer ranks right up on my list. Maxim / Stuff / FHM photographer would run a real close second. But hey, if configuring load balancers for playboy.com is all the fun you need, that means less competition for *my* dream job.

  • I can say that my job is NOT a dream job...

  • Sleeping (Score:2, Funny)

    by mschoyen ( 633921 )
    Currently my day is split into thirds: Working, Sleeping, and Other. If I could find a job that involved sleeping for 8 hours, man, I'd be set.

  • How many here (Score:4, Insightful)

    by onyxruby ( 118189 ) <onyxrubyNO@SPAMcomcast.net> on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:57PM (#8205107)
    How many here simply dream of a job? Wont be long until there are no more employed westerners outside of wally worlds, fast food and politicians. Can we outsource our politicians and ceo's to India too?

  • I just got my dream job (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @03:58PM (#8205132)
    I work for IBM. A nice person from that company trained me how to do the job. He was nice but he seemed very sad. Anyway ,I now have a job and I can feed my family.

  • make it so (Score:2, Insightful)

    by polymorpheus ( 748411 )
    It's not just about "pursuing" that dream job, it's also as much, if not more, about creating that job. I've found it amazing to what latitude employer's will go when presented with unique job ideas. Most often one has to envision and then sell (to one's boss) that dream position before one can have it.
  • One with a paycheck and no layoffs until we figure out how to use the phone.

  • dream jobs and being subjective .. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by psycho_tinman ( 313601 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:02PM (#8205188) Journal

    Naysayer that I am, I think a "dream job" is impossibly subjective.

    Some people may be thought to have dream jobs because it pays well in general(professional sports stars). Some people because it is something you wish you were paid for (professional gamers or err.. movie critics, if you like). Some may have dream jobs because you wish you were doing that job (it's description, at any rate.. some people entertain fantasies about being a photographer for a magazine like Playboy :p). Some people may wish for cutting edge technology jobs.. Hey, when Marcelo Toscatti was interviewed, I remember a comment saying "he's 20 years old, kernel maintainer and married".. :)

    So what is it that we like about these jobs ? The fact that the grass always looks greener on someone else's pasture ? or the fact that we wish we were doing something else ? :)

    For me, the job I landed immediately after I graduated was my "dream job". Hey, I was paid to code. I loved writing code, I liked finding tricky solutions to problems, I just liked my job. The fact that they paid me (obscenely well by the standards of an undergraduate who had been paid nothing before for doing mostly the same thing) didn't even enter the equation. For about 6 months or so, I was one happy puppy. Churning out code, design specs..researching things I wanted to do, learning new stuff.

    Then the rest of my life kicked in. You figure out the 12 hour days are ok, but you didn't want to stay in office and miss the rest of your life pass you by. A progamer interview I saw recently (ShowTime, a War3 player) said he plays almost continuously for 15 hours a day. I may like gaming, but I couldn't take that continously for too long. Even people with dream jobs need to find a balance somewhere. If a dream job demands all your energy, your time.. leaves you with no energy for anything else.. then it won't be your dream job forever.

    A true dream job (definitely not something you can be paid for, so I wonder if you can call it a "job" anymore) would allow you balance. If you're earning a wage for it, then sooner or later, you will find yourself wishing for something else.

    My $0.02

    • You definitely have very good points and I agree.

      However, I think the thing we should all remember is that it's called a "dream job" not just a "dream". Meaning, it still is a job.

      That doesn't mean that it has to suck, you have to be doing boring things, that you have to hate it or that you have to work with assholes. But, what it does mean is that there is going to be an element of responsibility with it. Which responsibilities you choose is up to you but it will often require some sort of sacrifice

  • Article Index - 10 Jobs (Score:4, Informative)

    by funny-jack ( 741994 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:02PM (#8205203) Homepage
    The linked article is actually a story about 9 different people with 9 different jobs, each leading to a separate article.

    Actually, like the article says, they really do talk about 10 jobs. They just don't link to the last one in that summary page. Here's the index page:

    http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/contents/index.html [ieee.org]

  • fallacy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kin_korn_karn ( 466864 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:04PM (#8205232) Homepage
    how many times have you heard people say that they loved computers until they started working with them professionally?

    There is no dream job. The fact that it's a job takes all the enjoyment out of it.

  • I have my dream job (Score:2, Interesting)

    by track5200 ( 320449 )
    I am the Systems Admin at, what our marketing dept. likes to call, a world class ski resort.

    In fact right now, after finishing a quick lunch, I am lacing up my snowboard boots and will be spending some quality time on the snow... and I get paid for this!!

  • Dream Job for Linux Sysadmin (Score:5, Informative)

    by Stinky Cheese Man ( 548499 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:05PM (#8205253)
    PNL [pnl.gov] is hiring [pnl.gov] a Senior System Administrator for the world's largest Linux cluster and 5th fastest supercomputer [pnl.gov].

  • I have _THE_ best job in the world! (Score:5, Funny)

    by GoMMiX ( 748510 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:06PM (#8205261)
    $345 a week and all I have to do is send out three resumes during that week.

    That Master's degree sure is serving me well now!
  • That was my job for about 6 months in 1998. Taking 12-foot-tall industrial robots that can lift 500lbs and smashing them into things. Almost no one has bigger toys than that, and they don't usually get to test them to destruction.

    It was kind of secret. Everyone walking by must have thought I was the worst robot programmer on Earth. But I still had that big grin on my face...

  • Here's a serious answer (Score:4, Interesting)

    by edremy ( 36408 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:12PM (#8205349) Journal

    I'll hype my position: Instructional technologist

    Yeah, the pay's not great, but here at least are a few of the perks, at least at my school.

    • Lots and lots of different things to do. I've worked with everyone from physicists to ancient Greek profs.
    • Imagination counts. Try to figure out new ways to teach old concepts.
    • Your choice of tools. Learn whatever you want if you can justify it. Just today I've done work with PHP/MySQL, Flash Actionscript, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.
    • Fun toys for the asking. Already told my boss I'm getting a dual-G5 and a top of the line PC desktop soon. She knows I'll actually use them.
    • A technically clued boss who will support my decisions if I can justify them. (No, we're not going to pay for Blackboard/WebCT when I can install an Open Source CMS.)
    • Very few night/weekends needed, not on call.
    • Very flexible vacation/timeoff policies.

    It's not perfect by any means. Pay and benefits lag industry, there's some scut work, and I'd really like to get back to teaching students instead of faculty, but it's got some pretty nice bennies.

  • I don't care what kind of job I have.

    I care about what kind of compensation I get!

    Being underemployed sucks. But being undercompensated sucks much worse! If someone were to offer me a job shovelling horse dung 50 hours a week for $120k, you'd better believe I'd jump on it.

    Computers are great and all, but at the end of the day I have bills to pay. I think a lot of people have this false idea that "oh well I'll get a job with computers, I like those, so I will be working but it won't feel like work!" M
  • Test subject in a sleep study laboratory.

    But, people keep telling me I take things too literally.

  • Whoa, too nice? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Faust7 ( 314817 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:13PM (#8205373) Homepage
    "Once you get through to them, engineers are too nice to hang up," says Fruehling.

    Do you really want us to supply counterexamples? :)

  • A Short List of Dream Jobs: (Score:4, Interesting)

    by VoidEngineer ( 633446 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:13PM (#8205374)
    - International Courier - Movie Producer - Astronaut - Virtual Reality Engineer - Rock Star - Vertebral Paleontologist - Chaostician - Professional Skydiver / SCUBA Diver - SWAT Team Member - Pyrotechnician - Demolition Expert - Entrepreneur - Emergency Room Doctor - Supreme Court Judge - Shaman / Rainmaker - Ranch Hand / Wrangler / Cowboy - CIA Agent - Striper - Detective / Private Investigator - Security Systems Auditor / Hacker - Catburgler - Magician / Illusionist - Black Hat etc. etc.

  • That just wrong... (Score:3, Funny)

    by LilMikey ( 615759 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:19PM (#8205462) Homepage
    You're not supposed to like work... that's why it's called 'work'.

    Besides, if everyone liked what they do, there would be noone posting on Slashdot.

  • Ultimate job: House husband... (Score:5, Funny)

    by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:21PM (#8205505) Journal
    ...to a rich and sexy and loving wife.

    Rich, loving, sexy wife: Honey, I'm home. I made another million dollars today. And I stopped at Fredrick's Of Hollywood today, but that's a suprise.

    Lucky husband: Great. Oh, the 25" mirror for my new telescope arrived today along with the racks of G5 XServes. I'll mount the mirror out in the Large Array tomorrow morning.

  • My dream job (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:23PM (#8205533) Homepage
    I'm involved with a lawsuit where a partnership is attempting to kick out one of its partners. For the last 2 1/2 years the partner has been locked out of his office, but he still collects a salary of over $90,000 a year while he sits at home. Sure it's a drop from his normal $250,000 salary, but I could certainly live on it!

  • Obligatory Simpson's Quote (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:31PM (#8205657)
    Smithers: Uh, hello. You got a Help Wanted sign in the window?

    Moe: Yeah, I need someone to help me with the midnight beer delivery. Your job is to distract Barney until it's safely off the truck.

    Smithers: I'll just wait out back until then.

    Barney: I look forward to working with you!

  • The obvious answer... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by djeaux ( 620938 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @04:44PM (#8205857) Homepage Journal
    ...which I didn't pay any attention to when I was younger, is "do something you absolutely love to do."

    I worried too much about money (and to a secondary extent, the "prestige" of the job) with predictable results. Now, I make a good salary, I have a fancy title & I have days that are merely a tick on the calendar en route to my pension.

    Of course, if you happen to absolutely love doing something lucrative (and legal), more power to you!

  • Festival Seating (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ranger ( 1783 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @05:10PM (#8206226) Homepage
    Let me tell you about my dream job:

    Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get worse at my place of work, they do. We are no longer going to have assigned seats. We'll have a new cubicle to sit in everyday. They have chosen to call it 'festival seating'. I call it crap. I did ask my manager does that mean I might be going to a new floor everyday looking for a place to sit? She said no. And then I asked does that mean if I go to lunch my spot won't be occupied? She also said no to that one as well.

    Now this insult is in addition to the staggered schedules, the required overtime (since Thanksgiving of 2003 and thru March of 2004), and the required sales goals (it doesn't matter how good a tech you are. no sales. no job. nor does it matter that your original job description did not require sales). I forgot to mention we talk to angry, pissed-off customers whose problems we can't fix. This is after they had been on hold a minimum of ten minutes. My favorites are the ones who've been on hold for twenty minutes and transferred to the wrong department. Mine.

    For example: Customer says "I can't place or receive any calls." Do you say A) "I"m sorry you've been transferred to the wrong department. They should have transferred you to a trouble specialist. I do data support. and then transfer them after arguing with them for several more minutes. Or do you say B) I'm sorry you can't place or receive any calls. Let me check a few things for you (while you twiddle your thumbs for a few seconds.). and say Hmm... well everything looks good here. OK power cycle the phone. Try placing a call. Hmmm.. still no go? It looks like I need to escalate this call to one of my trouble specialists. They have access to more tools than I do and can check into this more thoroughly to fix this problem. Let me transfer you. but before I do would you like to add X service to your plan."

    As one of my co-workers put it "There is no bottom to this place." Theoretically the outsourced call center employees could unionize, but cell phone carrier would just pull their contract. We were ostensibly told that we are simply not making the most efficient use of computers and space. The real reason is that my company is expanding and they are cheap bastards who don't want to rent more floors in our building because they plan on expanding to other facilities later.

    Whenever I hear the word festival I am reminded of the Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons" with everyone yelling 'Festival! Festival!" and "Are you of the body?"

    The floggings will continue until moral improves!

  • I had a dream job- (Score:5, Interesting)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @05:31PM (#8206481) Homepage Journal
    I worked in a morgue. It was a wonderful job

    Think about it for a moment. The co-workers were (dead) quiet, I could play all the loud music I wanted and none of my co-workers ever complained.

    I could read on the job, sleep on the job (overnight stay was part of the job) and no one cared.

    Granted, it was a little cool at the place, but Management realized it was a dead-end job, so they allowed you free reign. We ordered pizzas, had friends over, watched movies, even got paid pretty well!

    Only problem with the job was, as I said earlier, it was pretty much dead-end, though if I died on the job, they had full benefits.

  • Dream Job (Score:4, Interesting)

    by IceFox ( 18179 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @05:58PM (#8206846) Homepage
    Maybe working at Apple or Microsoft of Red Hat would be your dream job. Or maybe it would be building model trains or some other nitch thing. A number of my freinds and I talked about it last week. At the end we concluded that the company culture mattered 1000% more then the actual work. If the company is a fun place to work, feels rewarding, you arn't frustrated every other day, you arn't over managed, you arn't required to stamp in between 8:28 and 8:32 ever day, that is a dream job. When looking for a job the company culture should matter a lot more then it might currently to you. Maybe during lunch they have an old NES system set up in the lunch room and even the managers come over and play. Letting you buy books that can be marked as work related, helping you get a better degree. These are good companies. Working with people that have too big egos, try to over control everything makes the days horible even if you job is to read slashdot for neat ideas.

    -Benjamin Meyer

  • Bar Job (Score:3, Funny)

    by pixel_bc ( 265009 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @07:16PM (#8207748)
    ... I have a friend who tells women at the bar that he's a Hostage Negotiator. ... it works. Sometimes.

  • My new job (Score:3, Insightful)

    by joehoya ( 541611 ) on Friday February 06, 2004 @09:36PM (#8208842)
    Back in November, I took a job I found through the washingtonpost.com [washingtonpost.com]. The job was for tech support to executives at a non-profit bio-tech research lab. I started the job on a Monday, on Sunday I was on a private jet flying to Newport, RI to get on a 95-foot sailing yacht about to embark on an around the world research expedition. Since then I have sailed from Newport all the way through the Panama Canal.

    In the process I outfitted the boat with 7+ PCs, a VGA matrix switch system, a 42" plasma, a wireless LAN, ran 1000' of cat-5 and 500' of VGA cable in the boat, installed a $30K microscope with built-in webserver, configured several satcom systems and learned the rudiements of sailing and knot tying, all while being filmed by the Discovery Channel.

    In two weeks I will be headed to the Galapagos Islands for a week to make sure everything is working before the boat heads across the Pacific.

    As much as this has been a dream job, it has (on repeated occasions) nearly cost me my 3-year relationship with the most wonderful woman in the world. I think the hardest thing about a dream job (just as others have noted) is finding a balance with the rest of your life.

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