Have you ever found yourself peeking out the window on a slow workday, daydreaming about a future where you feel truly fulfilled and excited about your career aspirations? Or stared at your phone, feeling a tiny pang of envy as you see family members and former classmates on social media thriving in their dream careers, maybe in some faraway country? Trust us, it’s an almost universal experience at some point. The question “What’s your dream job?” has the power to evoke a whirlwind of emotions — hope, uncertainty, excitement, or even a sense of melancholy about all the what-ifs and might-have-beens.
We understand the yearning to find that perfect career — the one that not only pays the bills but also fills your heart with joy and a sense of purpose. That’s why, here at Bored Panda, we’ve decided to take a break from our usual adorable animal content and embark on a mission to explore dream jobs. More specifically, what people revealed to be their dream job, no matter how crazy or unrealistic it may be!
We Pandas know a thing or two about dreaming big (and napping even bigger), after all. So, we’ve scoured our favorite bamboo forest, aka the internet, to bring you some epic, inspiring, and honest responses to the ever-daunting question, “What’s your dream job?” You’ll find dream career stories told by people from all walks of life — some heroes who achieved their childhood dream, others who are still chasing it, the ones who gave up and found another purpose, and a few who shared some unique jobs that we’re not even sure exist. This is our dream jobs list, and we can’t wait to hear your personal story of searching for what makes your heart sing!
#1
Xaraxa wrote:
“Park ranger would be cool. Nature cops are bad*ss.”
Commenter No. 2 replied:
“I have a dormmate from college who became a state trooper and did that for a few years, then transferred and became a conservation officer. He seems to enjoy what he does. He drives around a big state-issued truck and sometimes a boat. Spends all day in nature. I’m sure that like any law enforcement job it can be high stress at times.
He was in the news a few years ago for being part of busting a poaching ring.”
Image source: Xaraxa
#2
“This is going to be really specific but I’ve always wanted to be a caretaker at a red panda conservation facility.”
Image source: Vanilla_Neko
#3
“Run a cafe or a small pub in a pretty village.”
Image source: FeriorCat
#4
“Forever student.
I would start with all the fields I couldn’t study because I would not have a decent living with them:
Astrophysics, mathematics, Paleonthology, history, exobiology… So many cool stuff to learn!”
Image source: PinguRambo
#5
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
“I’d start keeping bees. I hear it’s a very risky business now because populations keep plunging, but it’d be a nice way to preserve part of the ecosystem. Also honey.”
hyenamagic replied:
“As a business it may bee risky but if you’re interested in beekeeping look up a local apiary group and your local zoning laws! There are tons of hobby beekeepers! The starting investment isn’t super high compared to some other hobbies, and bees are fairly low maintenance. If you’re not in a place where you can install your own hive, there might very well bee a group you can volunteer with (and get some honey out of). Save the bees!”
Image source: reddit.com
#6
“My job is repairing cars and trucks for a big name manufacturer. If money wasn’t a problem, I’d start a non profit and volunteer to repair the vehicles for those in need. Are you the single provider for your household and need repairs so you can get to work? I’d love to help. I know sh*tty things happen at sh*tty times. That would be my dream if money wasn’t an issue.”
Image source: Joanne_Freel
#7
“I’d love to run a bookshop.”
Image source: Gravy245
#8
“Coral reef restoration.”
Image source: ilaissezfaire
#9
“Taking care of pandas or sloths.”
Image source: reddit.com
#10
“Honestly I’d love to just be like a free-range do-whatever-you-want inventor. Like to just have an engineering lab and getting funding from the government or private investors to just make whatever I come up with and bring all these ideas I have to life on my own schedule would be great.”
Image source: J_train13
#11
“Mad scientist. I wanna engineer tissues for things like organ transplantation and improved cancer treatment. Giant robot can come later, but I married an ME, so that’s on track.
I’m applying for my PhD. Wish me luck, I’m terrified.”
Image source: Jeru1226
#12
“Wind farmer. I love wind turbines; would love to know how to do maintenance on them and then just spend my days driving around the country servicing wind turbines.”
Image source: signalstonoise88
#13
PunkZillah wrote:
“I want to be a death doula.”
JimmyFett replied:
“I thought I was the only one. My wife says nobody would want this but I’ve spent the last 16 years in the hospital watching people having their dream of a “good death” smashed. There is a need.
It’s sad that we cleanse death from civilization to the point that people don’t recognize the eventuality of it.”
Image source: PunkZillah
#14
“Full time crafting.”
Image source: JenFenRen
#15
“Snowplow driver for a small rural township. Just wanna get up at the crack of 1am with a thermos of coffee, hop in a truck with some music and plow the roads.”
Image source: BRAVO9ACTUAL
#16
“A few years ago I would have said doctor. Now I am a doctor so if I had to pick another dream job I’m going wizard this time.”
Image source: SwiftDontMiss
#17
“Retirement. Just retire and work around my cabin in the woods. Cutting trees, splitting logs, cleaning, hunting, fishing.
Soon. Really soon.”
Image source: reddit.com
#18
“Water slide tester, I fear no slide.”
“**Apparently you get paid around $70k per year.”
Image source: BENJ0P
#19
HCgamer4Life wrote:
“Getting paid to do absolutely nothing. I’d love to wake up every morning and see 10,000$ has been deposited into my bank account. Ah, the dream.”
am0x replied:
“I like working, but working on what I want to work on.
Even if I had this, I would still have a job of some sort, even if it is a failing Twitch streamer.”
Image source: HCgamer4Life
#20
monty2 wrote:
“Redevelop historic buildings in urban areas in a way that respects their unique features and history and also equips them to improve the surrounding urban fabric.”
waitthissucks replied:
“Hey I’m a city planner and this is was historic preservation planners do. Make it so!”
Image source: monty2
#21
“Wandering dude that parents tell their kids to avoid but they don’t listen and so he guides them in saving their town from an ancient evil with awesome kung fu lessons and occasionally wise yet comedic banter. He also can fly with his beard like ice king.”
Image source: GodDamnRight-
#22
“At some point, I wanted to be a writer. Wandering places and writing about people, culture, history and experiencing them first-hand. Didn’t get to be one. Now I wish to retire to a quiet forest life. Where it snows and I have a place to view nature. Where I cut wood to heat the place up and make tea. Where I could read, farm and hunt.”
Image source: Seensoon2
#23
“I would be a storm chaser. Particularly, a storm chasing photographer.”
Image source: SeaChemical
#24
GamingBeluga wrote:
“Either a helicopter pilot, an F1 driver, or an F1 pit crew.”
cannedrex2406 replied:
“I wanna be an F1 Engineer!
So far, I’m on my way to the goal by nearly finishing my degree in mechanical engineering and now I’m applying to graduate schemes at McLaren, Williams and some smaller supplier teams!
I’ve spent 6 years preparing for this sh*t so it better be worth it dammit!”
Image source: GamingBeluga
#25
“Running a combo of a winery, brewery and coffeeshop at a beautiful location with easy hiking trails and fire pits outside, plus a built-in movie theatre with laying around room and a room for playing board games, pool, skiball, some arcade games, etc. Also, dogs are allowed and encouraged. There’d be snacks sold and some vendors could have trucks outside.”
Image source: Elliejq88
#26
“Trick question, I do not dream of labour.”
“Real answer, cat cafe proprietor. We would rescue cats off the streets and pull them from overcrowded shelters and let them live happily in the cafe where they’d get lots of pets and have lots of windows to sit in and also you could adopt them if you wanted to.”
Image source: smallof2pieces
#27
“I’ve always been into cocktails. I always wanted to be them fancy bartenders flipping glasses and making cocktails, martinis and more. Would love to be a bartender for a big fancy wedding for someone famous. Play with fire and all of that. Something about it seems so fascinating to me”
Image source: shadowsky44
#28
“Astronaut.”
Image source: takemylilhand
#29
“Author, but successful enough to be like George RR Martin, where you get so much from royalties that you don’t actually have to write much anymore.”
Image source: Dovahnime
#30
“Stay at home dad without kids.”
Image source: CompetitiveLynx7570
#31
ILAND3R wrote:
“Professional sleeper.”
dee615 replied:
“Maybe you could be the caretaker of an old building in a remote safe location, a place that only needs a warm body to occupy the building and notify owners in case of serious structural damage.”
Image source: ILAND3R
#32
“Artistic blacksmith.”
Image source: LieutenantCrash
#33
“Work for Disney/Pixar as an animator or someday be an imagineer like my great grandpa.”
Image source: GodzillaNerd2003
#34
“Movie director.”
Image source: lainemontana
#35
“Celebrity chef… kinda like Anthony Bourdain where you get to travel the world just tasting all kinds of food. Or just someone who develops recipes for a TV show or cookbook.
I would not want to be the type of chef that works in a restaurant.”
Image source: d_pug
#36
“Mountain guide and wilderness SAR. I’m pretty much doing my dream job.”
Image source: albin294
#37
“Pastry chef. I want to own my own little shop that can hold like 10 ppl. But I want it to be pastries that aren’t common or have unusual good flavours. I’ve thought about it so much that I have a name and a logo in mind.”
Image source: shrewberryblew
#38
“Writer and blogger.”
Image source: PsychologicalRow6110
#39
platoniclesbiandate wrote:
“Luxury travel critic.”
bmeireles85 replied:
“Would it include food too?”
butthemsharksdoe added:
“If you dream it to, yes.”
Image source: platoniclesbiandate
#40
“Animal care specialist specifically with marine mammals.”
Image source: Nasa4321
#41
“Host on Top Gear. The original British one, not the new British one or the American one.”
Image source: leons_getting_larger
#42
“Depends on what dream I’m in. Sometimes I run a little shop, sometimes I’m a crime fighter. Last night, it was strictly about survival.”
Image source: mywifemademegetthis
#43
“Breaking stuff. I like doing it, I’m good at it, I should get paid for it.”
Image source: Cthulhuhoop
#44
KittenMaster9 wrote:
“Video game designer or play tester as the first thing I do even when not trying is break games as soon as I start playing.”
ChaoticArsonist replied:
“It’s a fun job until you realize the full scope of what it entails. I was once assigned a crappy movie tie-in game that could be completed in about 10 minutes. I was expected to play this for 8 hours to find any bugs. It was rough. It was more like three identical 3-minute races, followed by a trailer for the movie. The trailer was the best part.”
Image source: KittenMaster9
#45
“A voice actor in video games.”
Image source: Eve-76
#46
robotlasagna wrote:
“Space bounty hunter.”
ben70 replied:
“See you, space cowboy!”
Image source: robotlasagna
#47
“Owning my own used video game store selling only games that come from the PS2/Xbox era or earlier.
Coffee and snacks available with a retro arcade in the back.”
Image source: Admiral_Fancypants
#48
“Professional choir member. Sing in a choir and get paid a livable wage would be great.”
Image source: arschgeiger4
#49
“It’ll probably sound boring to most, but being a mortgage Underwriter sure feels like a dream job to me.
Stimulates my mind every day, comes with a level of prestige that gives me a sense of pride/self-worth, and I am off by 5 every day with 10 paid holidays a year. Tons of autonomy and flexibility to take care of family business and appointments during the day without being treated like I’m not a team player. I couldn’t ask for a more satisfying career.”
Image source: reddit.com
#50
“Indie Game Development. Always been interested and now I’m trying as early on as possible to succeed. Even if that doesn’t work, I got a backup in software engineering so I’m not too scared, but still, I really hope it works out.”
Image source: 1n53rtNam3
#51
“Architect.”
Image source: LazyMan0320
#52
“A small video game museum. Just cool stuff from gaming history and legendary high scores. I’d love to just tell stories about gaming past.”
Image source: Bologna_Thunder
#53
“A candle maker. Picking out the vessel, mixing scents, pouring the wax— it’s just so calming to me. Now if I HAD to sell a thousand candles to pay my mortgage, it probably wouldn’t have the same vibe.”
Image source: Popular_Replacement
#54
“Being an 8th-grade teacher. Fortunately, I have my dream job. Working with young adults is so much better than working with adult adults.”
Image source: GuntherPonz
#55
menino_muzungo wrote:
“Firefighter.”
Commenter No. 2 replied:
“The job is great. Wouldn’t change it for anything. The only thing you have to prepare for is long work days ( mine is 24 hours on, then 72 off ). I’m sure it varies by location. Some days are slow, and some are non-stop, but it’s honestly the best job in the world. I wish you the best of luck, you got this!”
Image source: menino_muzungo
#56
“To be a farmer.”
Image source: Independent_Cow_4959
#57
“18 wheeler truck driver.”
Image source: Marco_Polo2021
#58
loztriforce wrote:
“Nintendo Game Counselor in the 90’s.”
am0x replied:
“You would want to talk to 8 year kids on the phone all day?”
loztriforce added:
“I mean, while I never called into the hotline (*cough* never needed to), I can’t imagine it was anything like tech support. Young kids who are really excited to know where to bomb on the map or how to kill the final boss? Sure! I’m not into kids and will never have one but I think it’d be kinda fun. Maybe the only reason I think it’d be fun is because I don’t have kids.”
Image source: loztriforce
#59
“Probably like acting. And I’m actually serious about it. I’m doing a drama course in college.”
Image source: GuiltyOriginal2111
#60
“Piano Teacher.”
Image source: yeahisaidwhatisaid
#61
“Fisheries biologist for the department of wildlife.”
Image source: WhatChewieSmelled
#62
Rusky82 wrote:
“Condom tester.”
Equivalent-Ad-2503 replied:
“You’d probably be sitting in a brightly lit room putting condoms on bananas and j*rking them off to see how long they take to break.”
Image source: Rusky82
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