What is my DREAM?

What do I really want to be?

This is the question that I ask myself everyday, every second these days, even to the very second I fall asleep. Having a dream or a clear goal to achieve seems to be a crucial thing to achieve in my early 20s in my opinion. I am that kind of a person who gets the fuel to move forward by having the right motivation at the right time, and early 20s seems like to be the time that I should make my decision about my career.

Of course, I am a hundred percent sure that the specific details of my dreams will alter throughout my lifetime, but I believe the big picture, the forrest will not be overturned completely. Therefore, it became evident that I should make my choice which tree to bark on. These thoughts led me to a more fundamental question.

"What do I like? What makes me happy?"

I believe one's hobbies cannot be perfectly matched to one's job. Of course, someone can pursue a career in the field that one really loves, such as a famous Korean cook/entrepreneur/TV celebrity 백종원. (A proud Yonsei graduate!) He loves to cook and he surely is crazy for tasting new foods. It seems like he will be truely happy to be in the status that he's in because that's what he loves. But would he not undergo through any stress or any difficulties? Completely not. A hobby is a hobby in that one does not experience stress or anxiety during the activity, rather feeling enthusiastic about it. But even Paik who loves to cook, owning hundreds of restaurants all across the country and appearing on TV must be a demanding job to do since it's not all flowers and roses 24/7. He might get criticized for his poor acts on TV(not saying he actually did), or a bad economic crisis might pose a threat on managing the restaurants successfully.

Compensation is inevitable when it comes to having a professional job and pursuing a career. I am clearly aware of the fact, and mentally preparing for the hard tsumani that the cold society will bring upon. But even though ends cannot meet when trying to match hobbies with one's career, I guess committing  to the closest thing possible to my hobby was the best thing that I could do if compensation and pain was a thing that I cannot avoid just like Mr.Paik.

Again, done with all the side talks, and back to the question, what do I truely love?  Until my high school days, frankly, I had no idea what I wanted to be for sure. Being an engineer seemed like a cool thing to do, and while many top-performing colleagues dreamt of being a doctor or a lawyer, becoming an electronics engineer was my dream. This was not a bad idea for a kid that had no idea what he wanted to do, because I turned out to be a big nerd and a fanatic for TECH stuff. I might not be informative when talking about tech like those tech youtubers I enjoy watching on a daily basis like MKBHD, but I had quite a hug passion for trying out new electronic products.

The first thing that always captured my mind when entering a department store was the electronic aisle displaying the latest Apple products, and I wanted to try out the newest iPhone and Apple Watch so bad while on my military service that I headed straight to the Apple Store in Garosugil, Sinsa when I got a chance to leave for a vacation. Though it is a shameful thing that my iPhone8 shattered into pieces due to my mismanagement, and I often break lots of electronical devices, my interest for them does not fade away that easily. (My mom doesn't really approve of my habits of treating an electronic device-she thinks I treat them too harsh.)

Entering college, I now have a chance to learn more deeply about what consists an electronic device and what makes it work in the way it does. It is magical that everything could be done via a small device-I am sure our ancestors will call this thing a magic or a wizardy object. It is even more fascinating that these things are not magic. Even small and miscellaneous scientific facts are taken into consideration and are applied to this little piece of steel in my hand. The fact that this thing is a product of science working in full capability couldn't be more fascinating and inspiring. Making the ingredients that contribute to keeping this magical thing alive seemed like a perfect job for me. Especially, out of all of the ingredients, the semiconductor is considered the most crucial one, which made me interested. That's how I began to dream about being a semiconductor engineer.

But one thing that must not be ignored is whether this job will be around for a long time. The advent of AI is a big threat for many of the existing jobs. Cab drivers are worried if they would be replaced by FSD technology, and even doctors are worried if the robots would diagnose an illness better and perform better surgury than they do. Looking at the job that I dream of in a objective perspective, it seems not to be the victim of threat posed by Artificial Intelligence. Creativity required when designing a circuit for a semiconductor is still a capability exclusive to humans and will be for a long time. I do not know the exact required skills when designing a circuit precisely, but I am sure it is not a field that will perish after a year or two or even few decades.

There are more to talk about my thoughts about my dream, but I think it's better that I keep it short tonight and keep the other stories for later times.