Get To Know TJM: Our (Very) Early Career Plans

With all the emphasis on back-to-school this month, we wondered about that question just about every child gets asked sometime around first grade: What do you want to be when you grow up? For most of us, that changed several times over the years, but there's something fun about those first aspirations. Here's what we had to say:

Matt Fischer

The earliest profession I can remember wanting to be was a garbage man.  They got to ride on the back of awesome trucks and that seemed like so much fun. It helped that the garbage men always seemed happy and had a smile and a wave.  At the supermarket, I would ride on the cart and my mom would tell me what to get and I’d hop off to collect it and then throw it into the cart, just like the garbage men did.  

Justin MacDonald

A superhero. Without a doubt, for many years, this was my plan. And you know what? It still is. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but my ultimate goal is to be a superhero.

Kristen McKinney

The first thing I remember wanting to be was a veterinarian. I was always so fascinated by animals, and I always insisted on visiting the pet stores so I could see the newest additions. Despite our frequent visits, my dad wasn't too keen on pets, so we had one cat, and that was enough pets, according to him. My mom and I got him to agree on a pair of parakeets for a while, but that didn't last long, and they were re-homed.

 We had these large windows on the side of our house, so birds would accidentally fly into them and get injured. My mom and I would put them in a box (somewhere safe from the cat) and take care of it until it was ready to fly again, That was a really great feeling watching it fly off. I assumed that it went to find its family.

As I got older, I was allowed to have small animals like hamsters and gerbils. Mom and I even had a few cats and a dog. Today, I am the proud owner of 2 cats and leopard gecko ... and that's probably all I can handle for now, but I will always help injured wild birds.

Rick Cundiff

From a very young age, I was fascinated by mechanical and electrical devices of all kinds. I loved taking things apart to see how they worked, although Mom wasn’t really impressed when I couldn’t quite put her appliances back together.

That sparked an interest in becoming an electrician. That dream short-circuited not long after I discovered the subversive magic of Dr. Seuss. I am, however, still a bit shocked that it didn’t work out. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Sean Bottass

Growing up, I loved playing with Legos. I found it both fun and peaceful, and I enjoyed creating storylines with the characters I had. Playing with those types of toys sparked my early interest in design and construction. For a time, I was fascinated by the idea of becoming an architect and even took related classes as I got older.

However, I quickly realized that architecture requires a somewhat strong foundation in physics and math, subjects that weren’t my strongest. While I still enjoy building with Legos, I’m happy to leave the larger-scale projects to the professionals.