Childhood Dream Job

We all had a childhood dream job at some point… police officer, doctor, fire fighter, president or politician, astronaut, superhero, billionaire; the list could go on forever. I remember my parents flipping through TV channels one day and we landed on a sports show covering a robot battle arena. The robots fought in the ring with either their interesting designs, or their weapons which ranged from saws to hammers.

Honestly it wasn’t the violence that captivated my attention (no matter what anyone else says!) I was amazed at the machines themselves. I was impressed by their construction, how they operated, and what they could do. I knew from that moment that I was destined to become a robotics engineer.

Loss

Perhaps this happened to you, too. As I grew, my dream seemed so very far away. I don’t know when it started to slip, but I felt it slipping away from me. I was interested in robots but intimidated by the path of learning to get where I wanted to go. I didn’t find math homework enjoyable, and somehow, that became the major crutch that allowed me to lose my dream. “Ah, if I’m no good at math then I definitely can’t make something as complicated as a robot." For whatever reason, because I didn’t see a clear road ahead, I was too afraid to make the jump. I felt like I’d more likely settle for something easier.

I explored other ideas. I had other interests, but none of them seemed to pull me toward that wonder I had as a child. I resigned to “that’s the way it is” and expected that a career was meant to be that way. I explored business, considered medicine, tried my hand at a crafty solo jewelry business… none of them stuck. Looking back, it is surprising how easy it was to lose my dream. It started with some concerns and discomfort, but suddenly it turned to numbness and nothingness. I almost forgot that I wanted to create robots.

Reawakening Dreams

I spent 2 years in Japan. Funny enough, that’s not why I rediscovered my love for robots. Maybe if I lived in a big city like Tokyo, I would have seen the giant Gundam statue or met one of the several service robots in the airport. Living there was a very humbling, lovely experience. I spent most of my time there in the countryside, by the rice farms and with kind people. During that time, I served as a technology specialist for the Japan Kobe Mission, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During that time, we had an issue.

We were trying to measure some statistics from the whole mission, an undertaking which took a very long time. Each group had to send messages up the chain with their stats until finally, the office would try to manage collecting and grouping this information. We needed another solution, one that would make sense of the data, and would keep people focused on their service rather than wasting time texting their stats, counting totals, and then texting that up the chain.

I worked with a mentor who taught me about the role of the mission’s tech specialist. It was mostly a role that involved troubleshooting tablets and ipads, but we also had access to a computer, and we decided the best way to solve the problem was to create a custom tool for it. Neither of us knew anything about computer programming. We did know, however, that spreadsheets could perform automatic calculations. We discovered we could hook up a google form to a google sheet, and the rest from there was hours of experimenting with spreadsheet formulas until we finally had what we longed for. A custom tool, that saved thousands of volunteer service hours each year.

Spark

I felt it again. Finally, after years of giving up on my dream, I felt it again. It wasn’t a robot, but it was darn close to the same thing. A computer program, in my mind, is like a robot. A helpful machine that accomplishes a task. From that day forward, I decided I would learn programming, build tools, and keep going. I was back on track on just a slightly different line. I’ve thought about this experience a lot lately. Especially after starting this blog. Would I have been able to contribute to that success if I wasn’t interested at first in robots and computers? Would I have had the skills?

It made me wonder how many others have prematurely given up on their dream, when something else was just around the corner. This isn’t to say my experience is one-size-fits all, but at the very least, I do think giving up entirely on a dream could be a mistake.

It might be time for you to revisit what your dream is, or what it was, or to finally find it. After all, what you find compelling might just be around the corner.