I wanted to grow up and become an adult.

Be careful what you wish for.

We took some goofy career test in high school, and my top choices were 1) Lighthouse Keeper 2) Mortician and 3) Librarian. Wound up becoming a librarian for the past 24 years. So I guess the test was accurate.

I did, and I am sure a lot of you are too.

Programming is a passion for a lot of young nerds, and it is quite exceptional in that it also makes for well paying jobs even without being part of an elite. I consider myself very lucky. Many other "dream jobs" can be fiendishly selective, don't pay, have hard to overcome barriers if you didn't win some lottery, or may be way worse than you think.

I am not saying that programming is the absolute dream job, I hate Jira as much as everyone else, but honestly, if I didn't have to work to get paid a good part of my days wouldn't be that different than a regular work day. Not 100% of course, work is not all just fun, and I don't always want to be in front of a computer, but it is definitely more than 50%. For many people, it is 0%. And I get paid for it, enough for pretty much everything that is not luxury. And even though my skills are not that exceptional, there is enough jobs available for me to be picky, it is even true for people lesser skilled than me. It is almost unfair (but I take it!).

If you are on HN, there is a good chance you are passionate about tech, that it is more than just a job. And chances are that it started from a young age.

I picked up on web development and started doing it freelance by 17 or something, but ironically was getting more work then than I am now at 32, and someone looking at my spotty resume would think I'm a lunatic for not finding something else. Problem with obsessions is they tend to be hard to pivot from.

I have a middle school career aspirations sheet from the mid 90s, where I said I wanted to be a software developer at a particular place (now out of business). I came really close, ended up doing software dev in the same industry by 22, but moved on long since.

Carpenter as a small child. Found programming around 10 or 12 but I realized I found it boring at about 15. Decided I wanted to run big servers and networks about then.

Still administering systems at 32. I think I wanted to build things from birth.

Pretty much. I wanted to be a software developer, although I think I specifically wanted to work on games (I've mostly done web dev, buh.) I also wanted to retire at 30, which didn't happen.

I wanted to be an astronaut, animator, inventor, back to stop motion and time lapse animation and then physicist. I can't be an astronaut, but those other things are still achievable.

Me, more or less. I knew in 4th grade wanted to be a scientist. And I went on to get a few chemistry degrees. Currently work in the pharmaceutical industry.

Always wanted to do cool stuff like Jimmy Neutron, I guess programming is as close as I can get, not bad at all.

I did it twice. A decade as a working musician, then as I got older, pivoted back to "plan A" in IT.

I wanted to be an inventor since like 8... Programming feels close enough. :D

Well, I am not a veterinarian or a ski instructor so I failed.