Easy, a lumberjack.

Enjoy nature at its finest, and cut it down. Plus, I'd get to sing the song! I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok ... All together now!

Seriously, if I knew what my dream job was, I'd be hunting it down right now. Since I just resigned from my job of 13 years and started independent consulting, maybe this is it.

Maybe this book could help me figure it out!

My job is #1 per Money magazine! I am a software developer having a balance of everything that I look for in a job. But the best part is wrestling with men and machines, every moment is a challenge!

My dream job would be a professional baseball player - specifically a knuckleball pitcher. Why a knuckleballer? Well, it is a niche player who can be tremendously succesful one game, horrible the next, but is always a little different and a lot of fun. Knuckleballers always have a loyal (if sometimes small) fan base, and always draw a crowd wherever they go.

The kncukleball is not very taxing on the arm, so many knuckleball pitchers can pitch for many years. That is great because they get to do what they love for many years, while many pro athletes have short careers.

Pro ball players have a lot of great perks - camaraderie, travel, money, the excitement of the game. It sounds like a great time.

Alas, I am not an athlete, and I am still searching for dream job number 2. But if I ever win the lottery, I might quit work and focus all my energies on learning that knuckler. :)

As a mid-twenties college grad, I'm desparately trying to find what that dream job is. Unfortunately, instead of finding what my dream job is, I'm busy eliminating things from my list.

Currently, I'm a manufacturing engineer. This is definitely not what I want to do forever.

I just finished an accounting class. I think I would prefer not to be an accountant.

I'll be going back to business school in a little over a year, hoping to have that lead me in the right direction and doing research on the options.

I-banking seems much too cutthroat and stressful.

Non-profit management may never pay back my student loans.

I guess my ideal job would involve some combination of challenges, travel, upward mobility, city location, great work environment, short projects or several projects at once and doing good for the world.

If anyone knows what that is, please let me know.

I am a soon-to-be father of three. So when I think about a "dream job", it must satisfy the following conditions:

1) It provides well for my family, and
2) it is something that we can do together as my children grow. Something I can train in, and they can help me.

Why these criteria? I struggle with this "segmented" life--wake up, go to work, spend all day away from my family, go home. I suppose its the aftermath of the industrial age. Now it takes 4-8 years of higher education to specialize in a skill--I chose electrical engineering, and do integrated circuit design. While it pays well, it isn't exactly something that I can invite my kids to do with me when they are of age, and it keeps me away from home longer than I would like.

I suppose more of the old-fashioned "agrarian" careers embody this very well--like farming or ranching. Unfortunately these types of things require quite a bit capital investment, and even then making a good living can be difficult. Also on the radar are other family-business ideas, like owning a country store, a grape vineyard, or raising animals.

Trophy husband. I'll put out regularly, and when the kids are old enough I'll run for president of the PTA.

My dream job is to work at home programming something. The work at home part is essential because I wouldn't want to miss the childhood of my kids.

My dream job is of course, no job (other than checking my residuals and other passive income).

However, for the sake of getting a shot at some free reading material I shall indulge you Sir Flexo.....

If I was to chose an "ideal" job it would be one were I could "work" from anywhere at anytime in the world with no concept of time. The work should be simple, straight-forward, yields tangible results, and keeps me in good shape physically, mentally, and spiritually. Making decent money would be lovely, but it's really not a motivating factor -- all I would need is enough to cover my spartan living expenses, a savings/IRA, and sickcare insurance deductible for my family and me.

All in all I guess you could say that my ideal/dream job would be an arborist.

--M.G.K. (the G is for Phillip)

My dream job would be to run professionally. I don't quite the talent for that, and certainly don't have the time for it.

I settle for running for peanuts.

I thought knuckleballer was a noble profession, but I think it might have been surpassed by trophy husband. ;)

I am currently in IT but my dream job is to open a Patisserie. So much so that at night I dream of Kitchen Aid mixers. They are about $890 in my country, so they are still a dream item for me all. I have been cooking in the weekends and taking the food to my family. I'm not that much into eating it, but I just love creating edible delicacies. I would also like to create a webiste that promotes my great creations.

My Dream job would be to work in the cosmetology field. I just finished up school and I am waiting to take my state board exam.
I am currently working in the accounting field and have been for the last 14 years ...
Wanting to see new people, the interaction, and bringing hapiness to people is what will inspire me to be great.

My dream job would be something that lets me use my brain as I love puzzle solving etc.

What makes me think I'm something special? Well, I took this IQ test and scored in the top 0.1%! No way am I going to take the test again - after all it could have been a bit of a fluke...

PS
A big thank-you to Flexo for THE best PF blog out there, you've got the common sense that appeals very much to me.

My dream job is to be a college professor/researcher. I am in grad school working towards it...

I am really glad that you posted this question. I love to hear what others are aspiring to be.

My dream job would never feel like a job to me. My dream is, and has been since I was in high school, to own my own summer camp in the mountains of Colorado. The summer camp would focus on developing kids' self discipline, faith, love of the wilderness, self confidence, and ability to relate to others.

The main activities would be fly fishing, hiking, camping, survival, white water rafting, canoing, astronomy, rock climbing, and the ropes course (what every camp needs). The camp would be established in a small valley with the guys camp on the left hill and the girls camp on the right hill. The dining hall and main meeting room would be established in the pit of the valley.

In the off seasons (not summer) I would hold family retreats there where parents and children, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, could come and get away in the mountains and learn about each other and connect in new ways. These retreats would focus on helping parents understand the right attitudes to have with their kids and how kids could contribute to their families.

You said to elaborate, so I hope this is ok.

In my life, I've personally met three people who *loved* their jobs. One described his job as "I knew I found the career for me when what I did at work echoed so closely what I did for hobbies at home." Using that criteria, I would like to either be a quilter, baseball statistician, or balancing checkbooks/budgets.

As it's only in the last year I raelized why I have a math minor (playing with numbers fascinates me), I'm slowly trying to find a way into a more numbers-oriented job.

A (micro)brewmaster.

Think about it...what better job could there be than creating the world's oldest and most popular beverage. Helping choose the finest quality ingredients. Creating something that people of all ages and all walks of life enjoy. I would love to travel the world and see and learn how different countries make - and enjoy - their beer. Oh what joy to savor all the nuances of the grand beverage...to have common ground with people that goes beyond language barriers....yeah, that is a dream.

I want to tell people's stories. I want to use my words and my love for people to bring those of different cultures and backgrounds together.

Great post! My dream job is to run a company that raises the consciousness of the world by helping people figure out: a) their place in it (their own dream jobs); and b) how to make those dream jobs happen.

This year, my goal is to give 12 trainings/classes/workshops/etc. in 12 months while I still work at my "pay the bills" job. I'll keep increasing those numbers each year, and by Year 5 I plan to be living off my dream job.

Thanks for the opportunity to put it into words (it really helps!)

Have you seen Van Wilder? Well, my dream job is to be a professional student! Wait, I'm already close to that...
But seriously, as an engineering student, my dream job would be to be a professional event planner. What is more fun than planning events for people to have fun or celebrate? I mean, besides actually going to those events that is!

I'm with b-rad.

I'm trying to focus on finance - I'd like to be a CFP - but more often my job is leading me more and more down a SEO/marketing/consulting gig (at least it's not development anymore!)

I'd love to own a brewery, or a burger joint - I talked to the owner of one in my home town (Crabill's Hamburgers.. yum...) and am considering opening one in a couple college campuses (campii?) at some point - preferably after I'm done with my finance degree. We'll see in a year or two.

My dream job...working either for a non-profit that does humanitarian work overseas, or working for a non-profit that does humanitarian work overseas. I have mad skills both computer and accounting related and could be very useful.

My dream job is to be a homebirth midwife with a team of two other excellent midwives, so we can each have time off-call to travel and spend time with our families. I also plan to write books on midwifery and travel around the globe teaching about women's health.

I'm on my way to this goal...I've been studying midwifery and birth for a decade, and have a busy practice as a labor support doula and massage therapist. I'm working toward become a midwife.

As well, I do travel to teach doula trainings and am working on my first book. Part of my journey has been learning to value my work and make money through various streams of income. I am grateful to make my living doing work I love.

However I love my dream of becoming a midwife, I'm still trying to reconcile work that I love with work that makes money. Midwives aren't rich, and I'd like to be.

I think I most echo KMS, in that I'm doing work I love, but I constantly have to remind myself that my rewards aren't monetary. I am a teacher at a wonderful independent school. My boss is inspirational, my colleagues are entertaining, and my students are curious and motivated to learn. My complaint? Not an hour to myself. As I'm still living my other dream job of being a wife and mom to by kids. For that reason, my dreamiest dream job would leave Mondays open to run my household. To be a mom first, teacher second--just for a day. It's a minor complaint...I actually think I'm as close as I can get to having it all...another zero on the paycheck wouldn't hurt though.

I've got my dream job. I'm a web guy for a major metropolitan newspaper, and I write freelance for one of its sister publications.

I started work after college as an administrative assistant (shudder) and then discovered that work didn't have to be terrible after I took a risk and left that safe-though-dead-end-and-mind-numbing job to be a part-time radio news anchor.

I fell in love with journalism again after ignoring it for a few years, and found that the feeling of informing the public is one of the big intangibles that really make my life worthwhile.

In no one's eyes but my own, I'm doing my dream job. I deliver newspapers. I live in one of the few places where we have an afternoon paper. I can be somewhat flexible, can take a short break whenever I choose, and never have to put up with annoying coworkers. I have been doing this and related jobs for 30 some years now. I get some exercise and can make the habitual route a challenge by starting at a different place. I have no vacations, no sick time, but on the positive - one day off per week. I never thought this would be more than a way to make some grocery money years and years ago. Sometimes a dream job just sneeks up on you.

My dream job is to be a magazine writer either at Marie Claire (it's improved ten-fold in content since Joanna Coles took over, more substance, less superficial) where I'd cover women's issues or at a financial publication writing about international trade/import policies.

I left journalism after I only lasted a few months at my first newspaper job because my writing needed major work. So I spent the first year depressed and trying to get out of a slump. When the new year hit I realized time's going to keep passing me by if I don't take action. So I pitched my first story idea and now i'm freelancing sort of regularly but also working on my writing challenges. i'm taking an online news writing course, i cut out articles from the paper and take apart the structure to figure out how the writer put it together and i'm practicing the craft.

So by freelancing, taking classes and taking apart stories and figuring out the structure, that's how i'm going to pursue my dream of being a mag writer. that and showing people my portfolio.

My dream job is to get back into my profession of substance abuse counseling. I through my own addiction and recovery and am now ten years clean and sober. I have really enjoyed being able to help other addicts to find their way out of remaining stuck in self destruction. It's not easy, and it's often frustrating, but when you do help another person to break their habit of a bad coping mechanism, you've helped them to make a decision to take charge of their own life. something clicked in my own brain to make me stop reaching for chemicals to deal with uncomfortable thoughts and situations, and I want to help pass that on. Noone should have to go through that. I've heard that this book is a great source for helping you to find be aware of how to present yourself best to prospective employers. I would love to win a copy!

My dream job would be to work as a magazine writer either Marie Claire or something like the Economist either in the US or overseas. Marie Claire's content has improved since Joanna Coles took over. The articles cover the globe on topics such as women's rights, politics and health issues.
But I'm also interested in writing about international trade/globalization particularly with the recent food import issues.

I loved working in journalism the moment i started writing. but my father kept telling me to be realistic - i need to eat, survive and pay bills and urged me to reconsider. i didn't and when i only lasted two months at my first newspaper gig because i needed to work on my writing, i thought it was a sign i should work in business like finance or accounting.

so i spent the last year in a job i hate where there's no room for advancement or growth. and im staring at the computer for 8 hours a day making numbers look good.

when the new year hit i realized a year had passed and it was time to stop wasting my potential. so i pitched a story idea at the suggestion of a friend and i got paid for it. now im freelancing regularly, cutting articles out of the paper taking apart the paragraphs to see how the writer structured it and im taking an online news writing course. so im taking a lot of different steps to improve my writing so i dont have as difficult of a time when i move into the job of my dreams again.

i'd definitely love to win a copy. i've been inspired by so many blogs to take charge of my finances, my career and my goals.

I want to work in the front office of a professional sports organization like the Chicago White Sox or the Bears. I have always wanted work in Business Management or be a Sports agent but I ended up in the computer hardware business. It pays the bills but I don't want to do this for the next 30 years.

This is question is ironic because my wife and I talked over dinner about me going back to school to do something that I really want to do. I am in the exploring stage but my goal is to get back in school this fall.

Sean

My dream job would be to become a PGA Tour professional. Am I doing it now? No, but I am working on it--getting back into the swing of things. What else can you ask for than to play beautifully manicured courses in the most beautiful places and possibly get paid for it?

How am I getting there? I was able to lessen my hours to part-time so I can focus more on golf. And I've started a website about my dream that helps me keep focused and maybe eventually help me quit my part-time job.

But in the long run, if I play well on tour, I could earn enough money so that my wife could quit her job and focus more on helping others. The more money I make, the more I will have the ability to help others as well. I will also have more of a wider opportunity to share with more people what Christ has done for me and for us.

My dream job--will I attain it? I don't know but I will give it everything I've got. And if it doesn't work out, maybe this book would be helpful.

I'm currently involved in software development and as much as I enjoy my job, I cannot say it is my dream job. When I think of a dream job, there are a few things that come to mind:

1. Own a small, local bar that is a great little after work stop and busy enough on the weekends. Think Cheers...I've already got the name picked out but don't know a thing about running a bar.

2. Travel the country speaking to children and people struggling with debt on steps they can take to begin the journey to debt freedom.

3. Stock broker/trader. I don't have a lot of time to do it now but I am hooked on technical analysis and would love to do that for a living.

My dream job is being able to work any time any where and where ever I want to work, with streaming passive income. The most important thing is working close to my family, my wife and my son.

I've been visualizing and applying Law of Attraction to get my dream job.

As of now, I've achieved part of my dream job. I can work any time any where and where ever I want to. I also work at home, close to my family. I just need the streaming passive income :)

My dream job is to have my own fitness/women's magazine. However, I'm not anywhere close to that field...I'm just a programmer...

Thanks everyone, this giveaway has ended. The winner will be announced shortly.

My dream job is to have my own cafe/tea shoppe/restaurant, then B&B. Anything that involves cooking/creating and having people enjoy my food. Its the biggest high I've ever experienced. Coking doesn't seem like work to me. No matter how many hours I'm in the kitchen.