This.
When I was on the ramp at UPS SDF, I arranged a visit to the NOC out of curiosity on the logistics and operation of the airline . My dad was a pilot with them. I then sat with our erstwhile forum member 69beers while he was doing North Atlantic ETOPS flight planning.
I was about 20 credits short of finishing my college (music) degree. I never had any intention to go into aviation whatsoever. At all.
I dropped everything and decided to become a dispatcher. It just clicked - "I want to do this as a job. This is so cool!" Hopefully you have a revelatory moment like that to point you in the right direction; be it one way or the other. I'm so happy that this fell into my lap as a career. I can't imagine doing anything else for steady employment. If someday the position within aviation safety and operations is eliminated, I'll be devastated.
You don't need to have an interest in airplanes or aviation to want to do this job. I'm not saying this to be cute, but I don't think I could reasonably care less toward either - I just want to know as much as I can about how to do my work in the best way possible. To me, it's about the problem solving, dissemination of information to make a proper decision, the dynamism, the instant reactions, an interest in logistics, curiosity about weather, all the cool computer programs we get to use, and all the people I have the responsibility to help and keep safe.
Here's a clue. When we had reduced working hours during the pandemic, I found myself playing games on the PC to pass the time. They were the types of games I played when I was younger, such as "Civilization," and "Command and Conquer (or Dune - same concept)." A few others, too, that were similar. Games which required a sense of micromanagement, a certain flexibility, problem solving, attention to detail, attention to action to react, etc.
What I didn't know until later was that, in the absence of doing my job, these games were feeding my brain to a very similar extent in comparison of the nature of my job. During my life throughout close to two decades before I got my license, I was drawn to these games and had become "wired" over time to sit at a computer and execute in this way.
So, when I saw the nature of the profession first-hand, it was (subconsciously at the time), like watching a real life strategy game play out. This is not to say that I view my profession as a game or diminish the sense of responsibility we have in any way. But, if I can compare it to anything to someone who is interested, I would still say that it is at least not unlike that kind of game. And, if you enjoy that sort of thing, you'll probably be wired to enjoy the work and do your best to excel. Or Win
