Published on 12, July, 2020
I understand that many of us do not have jobs, and I know that those who do (myself included here) struggle a lot with them. This got me wondering about what dream job(s) we can think of, or even hope to do one day. It may be inspiring and help some of us find something that allows forum users to get a job or get a better-suited job.
I will put down some thoughts to get the ball rolling. My main priority is to be away from an office or busy environment.
1) work from home permanently doing some kind of PAYE employment for salary certainty. this would ideally just be for 2-3 days a week. if money was not a constraint then I would not do this work at all, and I would do something more fun like a gardening job in the summer, maybe become a landscape garden designer, write novels and short stories professionally.
2) design board games 1-2 days a week.
3) volunteer at a charity in a non customer-facing role 1 day a week.
4) maybe a part-time bike mechanic and/or frame builder 1 day a week. i can't afford the training costs and time needed to get the qualifications to do these things now but maybe in the future.
A 'portfolio' career is my ideal because I can get bored doing the same thing and this also allows me to think in terms of escapes - when things get too much doing job X I can flee to safety with job Y. I think this mental trick would be very beneficial for me.
How about you?
Thanks everyone for joining in the discussion, some really interesting thoughts. I've made a bit of progress in identifying things that I like doing, and hopefully this helps others. Bit of a random list below, basically a brain fart so sorry for lack of structure!
I like repetitive tasks. Always like modelling, coding. Software programmer may be a good one but I don't have a portfolio of work. I could I suppose start doing some in my spare time and record it on GitHub but it seems daunting to go for this at the moment.
Being a maker, self-employed, seems v attractive so long as I don't have to get work through one of those per hour freelance websites. The intense competition and regular submission of CVs etc. would destroy me. Small number of high quality jobs would be ideal for me, where I can be left alone to concentrate on the task. Maybe cap number of jobs per year and have that public on my own business website, updated regularly. Haven't figured out what I would make yet, but bear with me hahahahahah!
I very much like the idea of writing stories for the Black Library, part of the Games Workshop / Warhammer company. I could put together a catalogue of work there and submit it and see what happens?
I need to find a job where there aren't formal barriers to entry, as in a specific degree or work experience, because I can't meet that at this stage of life. Software programming, web design, writing seem good for this!
I get where you're coming from. It's tough.
I often think having a job would be great, but, meh.
Self-employment is great if you have discipline and motivation. I suffer from a lack of both, haha. I do people-centric work, and would like to work with people more, but I don't like being around people that much. Unfortunately, most things require some form of interaction with people.
Some technical / analytical /scientific work appeals to a certain extent, I tried in my youth, but it just didn't fit with my make up. Free spirit artist suited me much better, and allowed me to experience failure more quickly and more often, hahaha.
My issue is I tend to be process driven, but without an end goal most processes are somewhat redundant. If I think about it too much, which I am wont to do, many goals are also somewhat redundant.
What I would suggest, and it looks like you're already on that path, is find a niche craft / skill / product etc. Make it good, be good at doing it, specialise.
The downside of specialism is it's only valuable if people actually want it, but if people do want it the rewards can be pretty great.
Then the tough thing is finding that audience, marketing/branding, and so on and so forth, and motivation, ugh motivation...
But there is something satisfying about actually creating something.
The "client" is always my issue. I've tried very basic website building. But I've struggled because quite frankly clients engaged too early without their content. Building websites, albeit I used WordPress and plugins which is ultra simple, is the easy bit. Design wise I can go away, knock up a live design, and run it past then for any corrections or modifications.
As cb says though, if your on a website like people per hour, someone might post a job for a simple 5 page website with target price of say £150. It's easily doable, but you've got a 1:50 (or worse) chance, I.e. 50 people submit a proposal for the work. Even if you send 50 proposals a week, and there's not even 50 jobs being sought every week. You might get one on the law of probability. At which point you build the site, but then have the time value trade off of a client who doesn't know what to put on it. I've never taken more than half up front either, often less, so your then stuck in a completion issue.
Perhaps it's my issue of being too polite, or not formal enough, with clients. I did a website for a French pigeon race being run by British expats... this rumbled on for 5 years in total, including 3x trips out to France in order to give handover training as she pleaded lack of knowledge. Every excuse under the sun was given on each trip, she just couldn't be arsed.... it took me a long time to say "NO MORE!"
Totally agree on skill/craft. Like you I prefer to have artistic freedom to an extent. I like processes/numbers/analysis, but the formality of accounting principles doesn't allow much room. I might consider experimental science, but seems a bit late for the.
Hence I've looked at crafts, post the distillery. The distillery was perfect, I could experiment with combinations and I get you've got to keep yourself motivated, but for me at least, enjoying your work can definitely help with that!!
My issue with processing a food or beverage again would be the paperwork/licensing/red tape. The process itself is fun. I do have a big love for food and drink, having previously looked at micro-brewery, and vineyard before distillery. I could perhaps see myself go into viticulture, I.e. just the grape growing aspect? The legals tend to be tied with processing.
I like the idea of split cane rods, mainly as you can make a reasonable sum, from just a few commissions each year. It's calming, process driven and you doesn't have to be boring. You can get some quite arty designs. :-)
Is an example of stolen from google for this post... my own skills perhaps need a little more practice... here's an attempt I made December 2020 to do a trout under some reeds...
V helpful and the quality over quantity part is what I would aim for if I can identify a niche, as you say! Thanks.