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Ask HN: What occupation or field would you take if money wasn't a concern?
*Asuming that you would take an occupation or a field.
- billconan 7y agoresearcher painter, artist librarian zoo keeper national park ranger
- mindcrime 7y agoI like what I do today, but I can tell you there are a few other things that I considered pursuing over the years, and fall into the bucket of other things I could see myself doing. 1. Private Detective 2. Strength & Conditioning Coach 3. Explorer / Adventurer 4. Firefighter
- wishinghand 7y agoRunning an intricate, possibly multi-part escape room. I love them but lament that once you go through one it has little replay value. Engineering a real world game framework that allows for both modularity in changing the puzzle and emergent game solutions would be a large part of what I’d strive for.
- chelmzy 7y agoThere is a human maze located in Panama City, FL that is built to be modular. They change the layout once every three months or so. Although I'm sure a modular escape room would be much more difficult to construct!
- diehunde 7y ago- Musician - Technical Writer
- ezekg 7y ago1. Sci-fi concept artist 2. Sci-fi writer
- shashanoid 7y agoCooking, Gardening and anything that involves birds.
- bryan_cooper 7y agoMusician, Mattress tester, Twitter influencer
- non-entity 7y agoDoing research would be pretty cool
- PopeDotNinja 7y agoInefficient market seeker --> disgruntled market grinder --> paradigm shifting market disruptor
- jmkni 7y agoI'd be a Chauffeur. Drive rich folk about, learn how they live their lives, would be easy and fascinating.
- farah7 7y agoI think you would be surprised to learn that most would not even want to talk to you, they just want you to shutup and drive so they can fiddle with their phones in peace. Besides, even if they were open I can't see how the novelty doesn't wear off really quick, you'd end up hearing the same themes over and over again.
- skinnymuch 7y agoI assume that would get boring fairly quickly. And all the negative aspects of listening to those sort of people would get more and more annoying as well.
- monodeldiablo 7y agoI suspect you've not known many rich people. Most that I've encountered are spectacularly dull, isolated, and self-centered. Also, if they've hired a chauffeur, it's because they've decided that the time they'd otherwise spend driving is better spent doing something else... And that something is almost certainly not talking to "the help". Unfortunately.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- twoquestions 7y agoGardener Game developer Musician (It changes by the day, sometimes by the hour. Were I not limited by money, I'd definitely be limited by time)
- NKosmatos 7y ago> Were I not limited by money, I'd definitely be limited by time We’re all limited by time, we don’t have all the time in the world. I often get depressed/scared by this simple realization. I don’t have the time required to read all the books/comics I want, see the films/series/documentaries I’d like to see, hear all the music or play the games I like and so on... Returning on topic, I’d love to be a photographer traveling around the world :-)
- dmitrygr 7y agoPilot. It is a very poor way to make money, but I love airplanes. If i didn't need the money I'd be a pilot.
- spai2 7y agoA primary/secondary school teacher.
- alephnan 7y agoNo one here wants to be a programmer?
- noir_lord 7y agoI do. I’d likely work on open source or stuff for charities but otherwise not much would change.
- jessehorne 7y agoI assume that programming would play a decent part in whatever roles most people pursued. It would for me. Although the main role might not be a Software Developer. Doesn't mean software can't/won't get made!
- gnunez 7y agoPure Mathematician.
- tempsy 7y agoPastry chef
- esotericn 7y agoI'd do precisely what I'm doing now, which is a mix of open source and contract work. I can't really think of a time beyond my first job in which money was anything other than an academic point scoring exercise. It didn't feel that way at the time, but to be honest, if you just work and don't spend it all, a few years later you're basically immune to money issues. I don't think that it makes sense to do a job primarily for the money. I think it leads to a boring life. Then again, I don't want to live in London/NY/whatever, so that's just like, my opinion, man.
- skinnymuch 7y agoYour contract work would likely be different though, right? Why do work for some marketing company when you could do work for a local nonprofit.
- esotericn 7y agoI've never worked for a marketing company and I hope never to! I probably work a lot less than I theoretically could as a result. Re nonprofit work - actually I should probably push harder on that. I reckon I could do some work on the side for free or at a reduced rate, but identifying local businesses that need that help is difficult (I'm not the kind of person to just rock up and be like, 'hey, want some computer stuff guys?') :P Which brings me to a good point, actually. I personally think that - in the social circles I'm in anyway - the barrier for most people to doing stuff like all of the potential job ideas people have posted here - is not money, but will. Because it's actually really hard. I have enough savings to not really need to think about immediate profit. But formulating a plan, getting up every morning, working towards it, having enough fun that you don't burn out, eating well, doing all of that stuff at the same time is actually _really difficult_. The structure of a stable career, as stifling and frustrating as it can be, is really helpful to a lot of people.
- tapvt 7y agoGrasslands restoration researcher
- linguae 7y agoI'd be an independent computer science researcher who would hold an adjunct professorship to have an academic affiliation and also to occasionally teach.
- mrburkins 7y agoPhysical therapist. I get to help people recover their dignity while learning how I can maintain my own self sufficiency as I get older
- peterbozso 7y agoSame here. And actually you can make really nice money with it (maybe not top level engineer/manager, but certainly enough for a decent living), so it's not even entirely a matter of income. ;)
- cm2012 7y agoPontificator
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- potta_coffee 7y agoI'm trained as a visual artist. I'd love to be doing that but it's not realistic for everyone.
- jnellis 7y agoLion tamer. I already have the hat.
- codingdave 7y agoOutdoor guide - I've spent most of my adult life exploring the Rocky Mountains, and would love to show them to people for a living.
- bfostbfost 7y agoSame. Teaching curious people respect and ethics for the outdoors, and passing on the things that make me feel most “alive” would be amazing.
- orky56 7y agoScreenwriter/Director/Cinematographer - It would take time & money to get good but I would enjoy it on day one if money wasn't a concern.
- emit_time 7y agoPhysicist probably. Maybe work in a national lab? Not sure if I’d like being a professor. Physics or math are probably likely for me.
- bloodorange 7y agoI'd be teaching kids Maths, Science and Computer Science.
- jessehorne 7y agoAmen
- twiclo 7y agoFarming
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ScottFree 7y agoI'd design electric motorcycles and cars.
- ahmtokta 7y agoI'm dealing with economics and software mathematics physics is actually all in one another
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoWriter. I don't know, though. I actually have running code out in the field. If I wrote, would I have books that anyone read? The odds are against me.
- KorematsuFred 7y agoNone. Be unemployed and do what I feel like doing at that moment. I think it would mostly be traveling, living in lavish hotels and sleeping with high end hookers.
- stephen82 7y agoWell, if I had lots of money, then I would do whatever I want. Feeling like playing music? Music then is! Feeling like writing a blog post? No worries, consider it done. Ah the memories...exactly as I was as a college student; those were the days of my life!
- jessehorne 7y agoI'd use my unlimited funds to go to school and eventually be able to land a position working on a team pursuing Space Exploration and what not. EDIT Assuming money wasn't a concern, I'd likely work for free as well as find ways to profit from my work so that I could hire more people, pursue larger goals, etc...
- jessehorne 7y agoI've found a couple interesting open-source/non-profit related sites I'm going to be looking into. Thanks for the inspiring Ask HN post. https://libre.space https://libre.space https://code.nasa.gov/ https://code.nasa.gov/ https://essr.esa.int/ https://essr.esa.int/ http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/volunteer/ http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/volunteer/ http://www.spaceenterpriseinstitute.org/ http://www.spaceenterpriseinstitute.org/ https://www.spacefoundation.org https://www.spacefoundation.org
- nunez 7y agodefinitely would be an airline pilot or flight attendant
- monodeldiablo 7y agoGardener/mechanical sculptor/independent researcher
- probinso 7y agoThe problem is more than money. I would love to be a teacher, but the pay is not great and your time isn't respected.
- askafriend 7y agoSomething in Design or the Arts broadly.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 7y agoI'd get back into game dev.
- drakonka 7y ago* Small farm animal rescue owner. * Full time life simulation developer (likely living either on a small farm to combine with the above or in a camper van, travelling wherever I please while working on my life simulations) * Fiction book author (Same as above, living on a farm or in a camper van)
- gt2 7y ago#1 developer, I only choose projects which are challenging and interesting, with usually short term contracts. I would have said research, but I feel like this occupation already encompasses that since I gravitate toward projects which have some domain I want to research more. musician - have a lot to learn/practice there, so it may not be so fun to actually work in the field yet. athlete or trainer - since I want to spend more time on that anyways, would be great to spend all day on it for work.
- demiurg666 7y agowould the organizer of the biggest metal festivals