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What's your dream job?

Jess Lee on March 05, 2018

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ggallynn profile image
lynn

Housewife.

I love cooking and I always feel very accomplished after cleaning. I would love to create a beautiful and supportive household for my family so my children and husband can succeed in whatever they want to do.

In my free time I'd read, write music, and even code!

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cholderby

BTDT and - much to my shock - HATED it.

With all the current talk about increasing gender diversity in tech, I still haven't heard much talk about how incredibly hard is to jump in and out of software development. I took 8 years off. I did lots of freelance and pro bono coding during that time and it was still a very hard hill to climb to come back.

On a totally unrelated subject, I have seen GG Allin in concert, though sadly not the time he famously pooped on stage. Punk legend.

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lynn

Makes total sense. This was more of a "in a perfect world" scenario. Hopefully, in the future, I can manage to find a balance between software development and raising children.

And high five to a fellow gg allin fan! Too bad no poop was thrown, but that's awesome you got to see him in concert. Hope he still put on a memorable show!

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Yechiel Kalmenson

A job at a company with a strong remote-first philosophy that recognizes:

That well-rounded developers > 10x ninja developers.

That having a life outside of work makes for more productive workers.

That having a diverse team from a variety of backgrounds and dispositions > having "cultural fit".

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Gunnar Gissel • Edited

That sounds like a mighty nice place to work. I'm ready to sign up!

Also, on the 10x devs: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Why_I_Never...

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Yechiel Kalmenson

Waiting to find it first 😉

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Ben Halpern

I was inspired to look up the job description of being a ninja:

The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerrilla warfare.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja

Interestingly, western culture glamorizes the hell out of ninjas but it seems like they had a pretty sleezy rep at the time:

Their covert methods of waging irregular warfare were deemed dishonorable and beneath the samurai, who observed strict rules about honor and combat.[

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Fyodor

This dev ninja culture had started from php as far as I remember. Such methods and reputation are quite normal for php 😂

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Yechiel Kalmenson

Yup, sounds just like the type of toxic work culture I'd like to avoid... 😉

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Ben Halpern

The elephant's always had a pretty suspicious look if you ask me.

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Patrick O'Dacre

I don't think I would ever apply to a company looking for ninjas, gurus or "brilliant" devs. I can't imagine working with people that really thought that about themselves.

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Rina

😍

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Ryan Palo

I want to teach! Something in the neighborhood of calculus, physics, mechanics, Computer-Aided Design, mechanical design, or -- last but not least -- programming. :)

Right now I'm just working a few odd tutoring jobs here or there, but I'm keeping an eye out for an opportunity to teach in a more classroomy setting, either high-school or college.

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Stefan Dorresteijn

Fiction author. It's completely different from being a CTO but I've got dreams of sitting by a lake in Italy with a herd of dogs and a typewriter.

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Moe

YES

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Lara

developing software for the anime industry.

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Rishabh Gupta

I'm totally on-board

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Chrissy Wainwright

I would love to be a photographer that is sent around to world to photograph animals.

But fortunately I love my job as a web developer, which I get to do from home

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Moe

Being in a position where I can move to a French-speaking and immerse myself in the language. I don't know what french country yet maybe French Guiana, France, Togo, or Belgium.

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Jen Chan • Edited

I think dream job (a position i'd enjoy doing all day, everyday forever) is different from an idealized position (being this super meaningful impactful person who solved a big social problem with their talents... )
For the former definition wine sommelier or scent chemist might be super interesting. Maybe writing childrens books about really heavy topics to help people understand them? I'm already an artist and have been for 8 years and that is a longterm commitment.

For the latter, I'd love to be one of the people who wrote the ACLU live recording app for recording state misconduct aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-refor...

But actually, I'm working really happily from home at a civic tech company right now, and learning tons.

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Ben Halpern

I think I'm doing it. I'm making a thing I care about. That's always been a big part of my life. I'm having an impact in things I care about, but not pretending to "make the world a better place" in a platitude sense.

And I'm learning all the time.

In my ideal world I have fewer nagging tasks that pull me away from the thing I really want to do at the moment, but I feel free to strive for that situation. I don't think I'd want the version of my life where I automatically get everything I want.

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Ali Spittel

I really love the intersection of code, art, and social justice. If I could do teaching in the future that joins those things well I would be in heaven.

More realistically, I would love to do developer advocacy/evangelism. I really like doing speaking and blogging. I also love building small projects that show a tool off!

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rhymes

code + art + social justice.

take my money already :D!

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jenc profile image
Jen Chan

exactly this

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George

One that pays off my student loans.

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Ben Greenberg • Edited

A job where I get to bring my passion for connecting with people and my training and experience in community organizing along with my technical skills. Something along the lines of developer advocate, developer evangelist (yes, a rabbi/developer working as a developer evangelist would be hilarious) or developer marketing.

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Wahib-Ul-Haq

I can relates so much with this :) Somehow I try to take small steps towards it by running a slack community of android devs, organizing tech meetups and volunteer in civic innovation projects as mentor.

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Martin Himmel

Game developer - it's been my dream job since I was 5 or 6, shortly after we got an NES.

As a web developer, I'm closer to it now (especially after being a dental tech for 15 years), but not quite there yet. I've dabbled in game dev, but haven't seriously looked for a job in it - not sure what the market really looks like for remote HTML5/JS game devs. Currently learning Unity, but the remote question still comes into play.

Given that last paragraph, I should qualify it as "remote game dev."

Remote is a big thing for me, too. I almost moved to New York 3 years ago for the company I worked for (remotely), but then that company went under. Glad I didn't move. Also decided then that I wouldn't move for a job - something that isn't guaranteed which could jeopardize my family's well-being.

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Jem

I really want to become a mobile app developer but right now due to a growing interest with APIs, I am planning to eventually dive in to JavaScript (maybe, soon if time will suffice), too. I want to create my own APIs for my future mobile apps.

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Donald Merand

I'm a homeschooling parent and also a full-time salaried tech worker. In my dream world, I would be able to do both of those things together, without feeling like they were at cross-purposes. That might sound strange, but I like the idea that my child could participate in my work, or that the work of helping to educate my child could also be part of my salaried job.

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Gunnar Gissel • Edited

Probably my dream job is being an artist that works in the media of computing - I can imagine generative and reactive pieces that's be fun to work on and probably cool to experience. I imagine something like Vermilion Sands.

On the more prosaic "dream version of developer" end,

A job that ends when I go home

A job that respects my commitments outside of work

A job with a defined vacation policy - unlimited vacation doesn't count

A job with a door, and a window - view optional

A job with a remote option

A job with a strong benefits package - health insurance, 401k matching, maybe equity or a pension....

A job with a respectful culture that values listening, collaboration and consensus

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Damien Cosset

Working with a technology that goes beyond helping a single company. Feeling like I'm part of something greater than myself and I am using my knowledge to empower people. I want to feel like I'm a participant in something like that. This is one of the reasons why I started to learn about blockchain. I believe it will have the potential to change our societies for the better, and I want to be a part of it.

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Ben Sinclair

Honestly, I've always wanted to be the caretaker of a hotel like the one from The Shining. Something where I'm on my own for months at a time in a huge, sprawling playground but where I'm my own boss and have a schedule of work to keep me sane.

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Sam Ferree

3rd shift mattress tester.

I think I would really enjoy being a developer advocate for a company, if it was a product I believed in.

Or maybe a position where I help large non-tech companies run their IT using modern methods. A lot of companies in sectors like finance have sluggish IT with codebases from deprecated technologies, and outdated methodologies because the top players at the company are in a slower business, and as a result their IT department fails to keep up with the best practices and standards that pure tech companies strive to adopt.

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Ben Sinclair

I once had a job where I got to sleep on piles of Persian rugs. Admittedly I wasn't supposed to do this, but if I positioned the security cameras just so, it worked out nicely. Most expensive bed ever.

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Ioan Lucut

A 30 hours per week job, where I can do only things that matter, being well paid, having enough freedom & flexibility, therefore having plenty of time for family and private life.

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David Boddie

I have been doing desktop support for WAY too long. In the early 2000s I was doing web development, but went back to desktops. I want to get back into the webdev game, maybe even full stack development. I want to work on a team, not solo, and I would love to work on game development. So, if anyone wants a likeable guy who can learn anything, I'm your guy!

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Kasey Speakman

I've thought about this a bit. The answer would be different if you asked me a few years ago.

I think the closest thing to what I want to do could be called software product research. I have several ideas that I think could be profitable and beneficial if explored, but no vehicle/resources to realize prototypes of those ideas. I don't have a lot of interest in the tedium of setting up corporate structures, or I probably would have started my own company by now.

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Jerome Raymundo

Music producer. I want to compose music for video games, and learn to code them for fun

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Sammy Israwi

My answer would be disappointingly simple: a gig where I would legit be proud of what I do because I know that it adds value to people's lives. A gig where I can experiment with different solutions to a problem, and I can work on improving the knowledge of those around me with talks or teaching sessions. A company that cares about the professional and personal improvement of their employees, and the community around it. A company that cares about the morality and good will of their goods and services.

Other important things would be casual dress code, comfortable company dynamics, good work-life balance, hip office in a metropolitan-ish area.

And an espresso machine. I've worked at one location that had a proper espresso machine, and no other place has had that perk since.

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Flavio

Remote game designer or developer :) ,

Whit time to play and learn.

And empaty, its hard for someone with anxiety to explain why i cant go early for work without someone telling 'try to put more alarms next time' or 'relax' when you have a bad wake up.

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Peter Mbanugo

I don't know if the best answer is I don't have a dream job.

I want to do different things at different points in my life.

  1. I love that I can craft things with code. I want to spend time working on projects that excite me. Taking them one step at a time, and maybe turning them into profitable products/companies and moving onto the next exciting thing.

  2. I love medicine and hope to learn it sometime in the future.

  3. I want to be a professional football or tennis player. I don't know if I'll be young enough when I retire from programming to venture into sports :)

There's this urge to want to try so many things :)

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Dustin King

If there was just one, it would be much easier to plan my career. Ideally I'd have some control in choosing my projects, and there'd be some variety to them. Maybe on one project I'd be doing full stack web dev, and the next I'd be doing AI or VR, and the next I'd be rescuing a legacy project. Enough structure to keep me going, but without micromanagement. Awesome coworkers to learn from. An office environment that gives me enough privacy to get into my work, but that has space where I can have serendipitous conversations with coworkers. Someplace to walk around outside in the afternoons.

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Helen Anderson

I'm pretty much there ... I think.

I've moved from a data analyst role to a consulting role where I help my DA friends most of the time and learn new stuff from the senior consultants the rest of the time. The company is growing, they look after our health and wellness, pay well and I can see the path to my next senior role.

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Hunter Drum

Working for DARPA. I doubt I will ever work there, unless I spend more time in Robotics/Engineering instead of focusing so much in computer science.

But the idea of working with beyond state of the art tech, that is classified, just seems awesome to me!

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Robert Newton

Anywhere that doesn't call me a rockstar or a ninja.

Remote

Still helps out with amenities like computers, internet, etc.

A place that supports me as a person and is completely inclusive of everyone and anyone.

A place that pays women just as much as men.

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I am Josh.

Philanthropist. If I have an entrepreneurial bone in my body, it's to get stupid rich and then spending my life trying to spend it all helping people. Like a social justice Batman.

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Thyag Sundararmoorthy

Any programming job that lets you work remote during winter. That is, I want the ability to work in warm sunny weather to replenish my vitamin D.

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rhymes

"Head of the machines" when they take over

or

Therapist to devs so I can tell them it's okay not wanting to spend so much time of their lives waiting for webpack to compile

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Ioan Lucut

Yeah, we all agree that a job without good money is not a dream job :)

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👑 Fred Amare

I want a kind of remote job where I can decide to live in Italy for a month, then move to Germany for another month, then Australia, then Brazil and so on. Solving problems while I get to travel and explore.

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Manuel Mariñez

(insert Martin Luther King) I have a dream, that one day I'll lead my own team of game developers and walk among the big ones #Kojima #Miyamoto

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Gareth Bradley

Microsoft!

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Abraham

A dream job would be not having a job at all. In the meantime, high salary + no bullshit + get in touch with new technology + remote + workmates who know more than me is my starter pack.

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isabolic99

self-employed, working from home, picking my own projects/users..

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Les

I applied for a js dev job at Automatic a week or so ago. That would certainly be a step in the right direction. 😊

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Aswath KNM

Chef or Running a kids school or a dog shelter.

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Meghan (she/her)

Founder/CEO at my startup to make an competitor to YouTube

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Frank Carr

I'd be happy with a job that helped me get past level 2 on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

 
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Ioan Lucut

Sounds very bad. Glad you switched up!

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Erhan Kılıç

I don't like working. I do my hobby and they pay for me :)
But I want to do lots of things. I want to explore space, make a game, learn ai, learn robotic programming. I don't have a single dream.

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boredandcode

Dream job is to drink coffee and talk about it casually.

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andrew

Working remotely and finding a good co-working space.

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Tailo Mateus Gonsalves

Radical sports guide. It's is very crazy heheheehe

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rodgerp

PGA tour pro.

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Arden de Raaij

Every job I have, until I don't like it anymore! To be honest, I've always been very content with every job I had. Ideally I'd help making an actual difference in this world though

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

My dream job right now would be an AWS Technical Evangelist.
I would clean up so well in Toronto.

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Burdette Lamar

Test Automation Architect:

  • Go there.
  • Build the infrastructure.
  • Including documentation.
  • And including documentation on how to extend.
  • School the test team.
  • Go home.
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Jon Ribeiro

Working remotely and with open source

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Bennett Mouton

As of right now I'd like to do IT with an emphasis on networking.

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Filip

Simple... work in Aerospace Industry... write software for flying stuff.

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Ilyas Karim

Dream Job:

The office should be Switzerland

My dream job!

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cholderby

My husband's best friend is traveling around the world right now so that he can "source rare, artisanal liquors".

I am currently sitting in a cube in front of a computer.

Where did I go wrong?