# The problem with wanting to have your dream job..



## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

EDIT: I'm not sure how to change the thread title to, the problem with wanting to have an arts job/career

I'd love to have my dream job. To have a job involved with 
art and where I can draw and design etc.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with aiming for your dream job, except... The way the world is going your job may not even be relevant or important enough to keep.

Yeah my job is boring, not mentally stimulating at all. But the way the economies around the world are going I feel like I have no choice but just to stay where I am and keep my dream job as a hobby. Or I could go with my 2nd and 3rd choices such as a vet nurse. There's always animals that need taken care of so I could do that. But anyway, with the high unemployment rate, and its only going to get worse, if I left my job I probably won't get another one.

I don't wanna crush anyone's dreams, but mine certainly have been because the future looks quite bleak. I've just accepted that I have to live with what I got, or have a look at my other options. I was going to study animation last year but after a long hard think about it, if I got a job in that field would I be made redundant in the next few years? Jobs that are needed the most are nurses, chefs, teachers, and trade jobs etc. They really make the world go around.

If you're already in you're dream job that's awesome. But if I were fresh out of high school now, I would think about it, maybe have a few options and not just one.

By the way its 12am where I am so sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm a bit tired.


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## EndsOfTheEarth (Mar 14, 2015)

As someone who's had an arts career and is working on another one, I'll put it this way. Yes you can have your dream job but you will have to realise that your dream job probably does not exist in an office working for a major corporation and doesn't come with a regular pay cheque either. It exists in the realm of self-employment. 

In my 20's I had no clue about how to go about self employment and no funds either. So I took a different career. In my 30's I became a freelance artist for the first time. I had the money, I quit my career I moved interstate and I studied my art full-time for 2yrs before getting a govt grant to start my own business. I didn't have much trouble selling my work for a reasonable price and demand was good. What I had trouble doing was sticking with it, I got bored, my passion turned into work, I lost interest. I packed it up and traded it in for a regular pay check and some stability. 

In my 40's I left that stable career again and am once again setting myself up freelance. The difference this time is that I know no matter how great the passion anything you do for an occupation is work and sucks from time to time. You will not be forever in love with your dream job. The enthusiasm waxes and wanes and some days it's just as hard to go to work doing something I love as it is to go to work for the man. Except I feel even more pressured to do it because if I don't. I won't eat at some future point in time. 

Sometimes hauling yourself into an office and reading emails, doing work for someone else is a lot easier than working for yourself. I'm also set up financially so that I don't need to rely on just this money for years. That's the reality, you need to be funded to be freelance if you're going to survive the start which can take 2-5yrs. 

*Bottom Line* - Dream jobs aren't real life dreams. They're what you imagine your life will be like when.... Every single dream job becomes work at some point and you won't feel any different about it than you do about your desk job now. Freelance careers are easier and better handled later in life. You have more understanding of business, more life experience, usually more discipline and more idea of a plan. I simply could not have done an arts career in my 20's, I was too clueless. You also need to be funded to do a freelance job. In the beginning it can take a year to get any kind of dependable income. 

So if You feel despondent as if you're not going to be able to have your dream, that's probably only true of your early life. There is value in spending your first working years working for someone else. Everyone is somewhat clueless in that age and it takes a while to get it. Better to do that on someone else's money. Arts and entertainment careers are well sought after, competitive and stupidly difficult to break into, do well in. You have to know the odds. In my last paid job 1 in 700 people got hired into the job. In this career I'm creating it's more like 1 in 10,000. It's not even the top 1%.


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## shazam (Oct 18, 2015)

Stop wanting.

and tits.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

I was saying that its probably not a good idea to have your dream job, haha.


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## Word Dispenser (May 18, 2012)

Lemmy said:


> EDIT: I'm not sure how to change the thread title to, the problem with wanting to have an arts job/career
> 
> I'd love to have my dream job. To have a job involved with
> art and where I can draw and design etc.
> ...


It depends on how long your dream sticks, and what your goals are. And nobody says you have to do that one thing forever. Animation can take you to a lot of lucrative areas-- Being an artist today might be the easiest it's ever been to find good work-- If you can put out good work. Do it until you don't want to anymore-- Make money while you do. Win-win.

Honestly, when it comes to all the choices, doing art is one of the few things I know I can do for hours at a time, and not lose focus. It may be that I go into that 'zen drawing' state, and maybe have a lot of fun when I draw, too. But, it's also that it's something I can just power through. I learned about my art work ethic when I went to college for foundation studies-- I was on the honour roll. My painting won best in show. I'm kinda biased, but I do think I was the top of my class. 

So, I know I have what it takes.. And I've wanted this (To be in the game industry as an artist) for 10 years. 6 of those years, I was trapped in a highly controlling, and abusive (mentally and slappy physically) relationship. So, I got free last January. And I'm going to school this September for Game Art and Design... And hopefully I'll find a place in the industry for real, and get to work at what I love.

For artists, there are also films. There's book covers. There's advertisement. There's a lot of things-- Tons I don't even know about. And I think the great thing is that there's something for every artist. Including you.

Because if this is something you want to do deep down, you'll come back to it later. Like I did. :kitteh:


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## shazam (Oct 18, 2015)

Lemmy said:


> I was saying that its probably not a good idea to have your dream job, haha.


Nobody wants you to have it.


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## BlackMage (Dec 23, 2013)

The problem with wanting to have your dream job.. Waking up.


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## HAL (May 10, 2014)

Lemmy said:


> I was going to study animation last year but after a long hard think about it, if I got a job in that field would I be made redundant in the next few years? Jobs that are needed the most are nurses, chefs, teachers, and trade jobs etc..


Yeah, there's always this annoying balance between being employed in a thing you enjoy, and just 'being employable'. Specially when it's so easy in this digital age to see people being paid to do the most amazing things. More and more I find myself thinking about what I can do to make myself employable, rather than what I 'want' to do.

I kind of detest how many people are focused on doing the things they find fun forever. It's an unhealthy offshoot of the consumer/advertising world we live in - "If it isn't fun, you shouldn't be doing it!"

I know for sure that I am/was a victim of this.

@EndsOfTheEarth- I agree with the idea about freelancing. I'm going to try doing that at some point too, in my area which is programming. I also had/have absolutely no idea about self-employment in my youth, but now very nearly 30 the thought of it seems more and more approachable. Cheers for the interesting story/advice.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

fartface said:


> Nobody wants you to have it.


Alright Mr. Troll. Why, do you want it? I'd probably just do it as a hobby.
So who cares, ta ta.


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## shazam (Oct 18, 2015)

Lemmy said:


> Alright Mr. Troll. Why, do you want it? I'd probably just do it as a hobby.
> So who cares, ta ta.


I'm not trolling I'm serious :whoa: Everybody else is doing what they don't want so that makes them jealous. I don't troll, I was drunk with my first comment... tits, you know.

I'm serious that is the only if not huge problem.


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## Shiver (Nov 10, 2016)

The problem for me has always been with the combination of the two concepts themselves. "Dream job". It's practically an oxymoron.

I've generally expected that a job would help me pursue a dream, not that it must _be_ the dream itself.


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## dulcinea (Aug 22, 2011)

It depends on what your dream job is. If you're interested in art, for instance, why not learn a trade, and apply it to remodeling, working with stain glass, painting, creating murals, etc.? You can use your creativity in practical ways, and there's always a demand for people working in construction/remodeling. 

If your dream is to be a singer/songwriter, and you're not talented, then if you reach for the stars you're going to end up in the gutter. However, you still have options. You can learn an instruments, and give lessons, become really good at your skill, and advertise to perform at parties, and be a street performer, and seek small gigs at local venues. You can still make a little money at music if you work really hard at your craft. It may not be a full time job, but it will still help pay the bills.

If your dream job is to be an actor. You can look at YouTube or maybe some alternatives to YouTube and create a show and get it monetized. You can create independent films and look for venues like on Amazon where you can sell or market them.

If your dream job is to be a writer, start by blogging, then get a Wattpad account, and you can get promote a fundraiser to get your work published. Or you can submit to websites that need content writers, continually submit to journals, and enter contests. It takes a while before you can earn an income, so look for websites, blogs, that might pay you $100 here and there for a post or article.

If your dream job is animator, then get blender, practice your skill, and start by creating artwork, and maybe selling it on Etsy or other venues. Create content on YouTube and get it monetized. Maybe find someone who is a programmer, and collaborate on a game. Become well known of Fiverr. Build a profile on upwork and look for freelance work.

In short, if you go straight for your actual dream job, you're more likely to fail. Maybe start with finding a trade or a job that you like that pays the bills, and do your dream as a sideline, and work at it until your good enough for other people to take notice, and at some point, it's likely that you can end up doing what you're passionate about for a living.


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