• Question: How did you know what area of science you wanted to work in?

    Asked by anon-314270 on 14 Mar 2022.
    • Photo: Andrew Parrott

      Andrew Parrott answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      I always enjoyed science at school and in particular chemistry so I knew that was what I wanted to do at University. At University I was introduced to ideas of Green Chemistry, how to generate chemicals without harming people or the environment. Ever since then I have been working in that sector, but I have done 4 different jobs all with very different aspects to them. You have to adapt as you go along, but having a good science background helps you make these transitions.

    • Photo: Hayley Russell

      Hayley Russell answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      I chose to study chemistry at uni because I enjoyed it in school. But I’ve changed my mind on the type of chemistry I want to work with very often, through a mix of what I find interesting and challenging.

      For example, I didn’t enjoy computing in school but took some coding courses as an adult and now code in my job as I really enjoy it.

    • Photo: Veselina Georgieva

      Veselina Georgieva answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      At university, we had different classes on a different part of the chemistry, then we had a lab experiment and homework. By trying different things I found that closest to my heart is the material chemistry

    • Photo: Matthew Macariou

      Matthew Macariou answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      Good question. I think chemistry grabbed me more because it felt more “real” to me. There was opportunity to learn more about theory and understanding throughout my A level. Biology seemed to be a lot of facts and not so much understanding.

    • Photo: Stephen Doughty

      Stephen Doughty answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      I always knew that I wanted to do chemistry research so I chose a degree that had 2 years of chemistry research involved in it. I think I might have been a bit odd.

    • Photo: Amit Vernekar

      Amit Vernekar answered on 15 Mar 2022:

      My interest in that particular area of science led me to take up a research career in that area.

    • Photo: Sophie Strickfuss

      Sophie Strickfuss answered on 16 Mar 2022:

      I went to a career fair before going to university. I was attracted to jobs in chemistry because I could see how they related to people’s lives, from pharma development, to monitoring water quality, to development shampoos and soaps!

    • Photo: Graeme Barker

      Graeme Barker answered on 18 Mar 2022:

      I studied biology, chemistry and physics at school, and I always found chemistry the most interesting. Once I was at university studying chemistry, I found that my current area (organic chemistry) was the most interesting again, so I’ve stuck with it.

Comments

  • Photo: Lucy

    Lucy commented on :

    This is a great question! And the answer is I didn’t!

    I think its important that you google lots of different areas of science, and if you get the chance to watch youtube videos on them – do that too.

    Work experience was also crucial for me to find out which area I wanted to be in.

    I now work as a Science Producer ( I used to be a biomedical scientist in hematology) but my job allows me to work in almost all of the areas of science because I get to talk about them ALL! So if you cant pick ( like me ) then there are options out there for you too! ✨🥼👌

  • Photo: David

    David commented on :

    I wanted to be a teacher until I did my final year project at University. It was in catalysis and used radioactive gases to follow molecules through a reaction. That was it, I was hooked on catalysis research, there was nothing else.