WIRED Staff
Culture

Slideshow: Building a New Career Is a Snap

Three talented -- and lucky -- candidates earn dream jobs as Lego master builders in a two-hour, on-the-spot competition. Daniel Terdiman reports from Carlsbad, California.
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The three winners of the Dream Job at the LegoLand competition, Nathan Sawaya (left) Kristi Klein (center) and Aaron Sneary.

See related story: Building a New Career Is a Snap

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Kristi Klein, the only art institute student among the 27 finalists, was chosen for her colorful model of an octopus' garden.
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Winner Aaron Sneary, a former comic-book distributor, built a miniature scene of children and a master model builder playing at a table full of Legos.
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Baking in the Southern California sun, competitors in the master model-builder search spread their bricks out, creating a colorful mess at each table.
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Finalists in LegoLand California's master model-builder search rush to fill bags with Lego bricks from bins of all shapes, sizes and colors.
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Winner Nathan Sawaya, a Manhattan corporate attorney, will be abandoning New York's fast lane for his lifelong dream job, being a LegoLand master model builder.