SFR Dream Jobs?

Sorta fishing-related
Had it! Therapist working with combat vets with my three Labrador therapy partners, pay was good, benefits were, too. Had a 40 hour week/ 10 hours a day, three day weekend, and the best boss I ever worked for. Did get burned out, though, there’s just a point where I had heard enough of the worst. Fly fishing for SRC’s couldn’t soothe enough on the weekends. It was the most rewarding thing I could have ever done as a profession.
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Cabezon said:
I want to be professional fishing client. Lodges and high-end fishing operations would hire me to assess and work with their guides and other operations staff, especially during the prime weeks of their season. I would pose various client-challenges to the guides and see how they responded. I would be in South America November to February and North America from June through September. In the "shoulder-seasons, I would be working in the tropics. A guy can dream can't he...
Steve
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@Cabezon for the win in the fantasy dream job category.

My 12yo self would likely think I ended up in a dream job. "Fixing robots, working with lasers, and inventing stuff - COOL!". My 60yo self can't really complain, but the gee-whiz factor started to wear off over 20 years ago.
 
I thought briefly about trying to work in the recreational fishing, or more niche area, the fly fishing industry. Some positions do come with good perks in the form of cool fishing trips. But most of the jobs offer fairly low pay to very low pay and low to no benefits. That was pretty much a non-starter for me because I wanted a family and the ability to support one financially. Then one would have to contend with, or put up with, sport fishermen, or worse, elitist prick fly fishermen, the know-it-alls, the wannabes, the coulda', woulda', mighta' beens, etc., along with some truly salt of the earth folks in an environment that mostly consists of muddling along. So instead I pursued work in fish conservation. I think I found my niche, where I belonged. The pay and benefits was modest for a long time, but I could live on it, and it gradually got better to the point that I could send my kids to college. And I got to work with mostly dedicated professionals (not always, but mostly), biologists, geologists, statisticians, bio-statisticians, engineers, business executives, and even some lawyers I respected. I worked for private, state, and federal entities and agencies over the years. In addition to applied science, I learned more about working with people and more about my self, than I would have ever imagined. It was usually a team effort to protect fish habitat, restore fish habitat, mitigate hydroelectric project impacts to fish and their habitat, enhancing productivity and capacity. I've been truly amazed at what can be accomplished when you don't care who gets the credit. That's an absolutely incredible ticket to spend other people's money for fish protection and enhancement. Geez, the things they don't teach a guy in school! It wouldn't be everyone's dream job, but I think I only regretted Mondays mornings a couple times over 40 years, so it was a darn good fit for me.

But all things must pass. Others have touted the wonders of retirement. Now I'm over 6 years into it myself and pretty well adjusted to it. As much as I enjoyed my work, the sleep issues I developed made it more difficult to live according to an alarm clock. That is why I've extolled a main benefit of retirement is that you can't beat the hours! Some times after a bout of insomnia, I fall back asleep until 7 or 8 AM. That makes for a good day. And I get along great with the "new boss." However, I must confess that I'm less demanding of myself than the old boss was, but I deal with it. If I don't get it done today, maybe I will tomorrow, or next week. If only retirement didn't involve getting older and acquiring the physical attributes and limitations that come with that, I'd say retirement is the perfect dream job!
 
I had the dream job as well. After college and seasonal stints with the National Park Service, I spent 34 years working for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, primarily restoring and managing wetlands on public lands for fish, wildlife and people to enjoy. My territory included Great Basin wetlands in North Central CA, tidelands at the mouth of the Eel River and around Humboldt Bay and tidal lagoons in both Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Towards the end of my career, I also worked with Klamath River Watershed ranchers and farmers to help develop fish friendly ag practices which benefited chinook, coho and steelhead. It wasn't always unicorns and rainbows but overall , very satisfying. Honestly, I would have done this job for free.

The best part of all of this is that we raised our three kids in rural Northern California. They attended good schools, hunted, fished, camped, rode horses, worked on ranches and helped dad with various tasks including trapping and banding ducks and geese. I too am six years into retirement and highly recommend it!
 
I'm pretty jealous of the guys in retirement and looking forward to doing the same in another 5 years or so.

I sometimes get tapped to do new hire onboarding and I always tell the new folks that I feel like a professional athlete in that I get paid to do something I'd consider doing for free if I didn't need to get paid...

As the above poster noted, it's not all unicorns and rainbows. At least when I work late or deal with friction at the office, I know it's in service of doing good rather than making some already rich guy richer like it was back in my corp finance days.
 
My dream job would be to make enough to live comfortably (not necessarily excessively) but also to always be able to drop my kids off and pick them up from school every day. Go to all of their extracurricular activities and for my wife to never have to work. And to be able to go on a few vacations every year with the entire family. And then to retire at a relatively young age. Haven't found that job yet.
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
My dream job would be to make enough to live comfortably (not necessarily excessively) but also to always be able to drop my kids off and pick them up from school every day. Go to all of their extracurricular activities and for my wife to never have to work. And to be able to go on a few vacations every year with the entire family. And then to retire at a relatively young age. Haven't found that job yet.
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That's not a dream job but dream paycheck. Interesting take... with lots of flexibility.
 
kerrys said:
Dream job? United States Senator. Decent pay, good benefits and lots of vacation time. Do some on the side speaking engagements and the pay can be boosted to well over seven figures. Don’t need to be an expert at anything except the ability to talk about anything and say nothing.
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US Congressman might be better - only two years and you get a lifetime medical and retirement plan plus all the perks lobbyists grift, I mean gift, you.
 
Buzzy said:
US Congressman might be better - only two years and you get a lifetime medical and retirement plan plus all the perks lobbyists grift, I mean gift, you.
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I think you have to serve more than a single term in order to become fully vested in the benefits, but that's worth checking out. Seems like I did check on that once, and they are subject to the standard rules for vestment, but that coulda' changed.
 
I think I might have my dream job; I went into the office this morning, started to get a runny nose, and sneezed a bunch. I talked to my boss about it and they said, “go home and get well”. All of my previous bosses would have made a big deal about it. I think most workers just want to be treated like humans and sadly most managers and higher ups in America got ahead by treating people like disposable robots. I would follow a legit leader almost anywhere but most of my leaders have been leaders in title only and are more concerned with themselves then anything else.
 
kerrys said:
Dream job? United States Senator. Decent pay, good benefits and lots of vacation time. Do some on the side speaking engagements and the pay can be boosted to well over seven figures. Don’t need to be an expert at anything except the ability to talk about anything and say nothing.
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I know you, and you could never do all that and keep straight face.
 
HauntedByWaters said:
I think I might have my dream job; I went into the office this morning, started to get a runny nose, and sneezed a bunch. I talked to my boss about it and they said, “go home and get well”. All of my previous bosses would have made a big deal about it. I think most workers just want to be treated like humans and sadly most managers and higher ups in America got ahead by treating people like disposable robots. I would follow a legit leader almost anywhere but most of my leaders have been leaders in title only and are more concerned with themselves then anything else.
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Own your own business and you treat yourself like a disposable robot, I've been really hating it lately.
 
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