I had an interview recently and the question threw me off, hard. I opted for sincerity and told the interviewer: "I see myself as a mercenary and have no career goals, I do my job, improve things and generate profits for my employer. I will do whatever is needed as long as my family is well fed." He seemed satisfied and I got to the next stage of the process anyway.

Still, I keep wondering if that was a good answer. I truly have no career objectives, as long as my family is ok I don't care if I am building data models or cleaning manure (not a bad occupation, actually it can be quite profitable and the biology behind it is amazing, just using it as hyperbole).

On other occasions, I have tried coming up with something on the spot, but I am quite incompetent at lying and I notice they notice...

How do fellow engineers, scientists and hackers deal with this old question?