• Question: Was being a scientist something you knew you would become or was you expecting to go down a different pathway. If you was, are you still happy with the way you've gone?

    Asked by anon-186221 to Verity, Trystan, Raquel, Danny, Catherine, Andy on 6 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Catherine Smith

      Catherine Smith answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      I considered a few different careers whilst at uni and found it quite difficult to decide what to do. When I first left uni, I had a job outside of science but then I realised that I missed science and wanted to get back to it! I am happy that I chose to do it now, but I don’t think that it is the only career that I would have enjoyed.

    • Photo: Danny Ward

      Danny Ward answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      I was quite flexible with the path I wanted to take growing up. I followed what interested me and what would make a sensible career choice for me. During GCSE’s I wanted to be a medical doctor as I wanted to help people. During my A-levels and university however I decided that a research doctor and scientist was more for me. I like finding out new things, solving problems, tackling big issues and carrying out experiments. So far, I am really happy with my decision.

    • Photo: Trystan Leng

      Trystan Leng answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      I didn’t know I would become a scientist. I did my undergraduate degree in maths and philosophy, so after that I actually wanted to become a philosopher!

      I’m very happy with the path I have gone down – I love doing science and scientific research. However, sometimes I miss doing philosophy on a daily basis!

    • Photo: Verity Hill

      Verity Hill answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      I honestly still don’t know if I definitely want to stay a scientist! I try to choose what I feel excited about doing at each stage of my life, and so far that has been studying infectious disease outbreaks. I’m very happy where I am, and I’m pretty sure I want to stay doing science at least for a while, although it’s possible that I might move away from research and towards practise (ie helping to organise epidemic control on the ground).
      I definitely didn’t know that I wanted to do a PhD until I got until the end of my undergraduate degree, I didn’t know that I wanted to do science at university until I was 17 – stay flexible! One piece of advice though is take a lot of maths at school if you can – it’s useful for many different careers

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