• Question: I would like to know how you became a scientist and you journey to acheive this

    Asked by thus520jeer on 18 Dec 2024.
    • Photo: Blair Johnston

      Blair Johnston answered on 18 Dec 2024:

      I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school. I almost left school early as I really enjoyed my work placement with an electrician. I always enjoyed maths and science so took those subjects further and realised I was good at them too so I chose them at University. It wasn’t until my final year of University before I found out about Clinical Scientists and knew that was what I wanted to do

    • Photo: Carly Bingham

      Carly Bingham answered on 18 Dec 2024:

      I had a very wiggly path to being a scientist. When I was at school I wanted to be a Formula One engineer, but when I went to university to do engineering, I realised I wasn’t very good at it and I didn’t like it very much. I changed to doing an engineering course about making things for the human body and I liked that a lot better, but I also really liked coding so I did a bit of both.
      When I finished university, I applied for lots of things and one of those was as a ‘Clinical Scientist’ which allowed me to work in a hospital and help people while still doing science and engineering!

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 20 Dec 2024:

      I always enjoyed science so when I had to start thinking about a future career I chose a science related one. My other option was art history but I didn’t think I could get a job with that so have kept that as a hobby to do rather than my main work.
      For science careers, I changed alot – doctor, nurse, astronomer, biochemist, chemical engineer – until I settled on researcher.
      I initially went to university to study International Science, which was a science subject with a foreign language – I chose physics with German (I was to spend my third year at a university in Germany). But in my second year, I realised I didn’t enjoy learning about quantum mechanics and preferred the programming/technical subjects. So I changed degree course to physics and instrumentation where I could focus on learning about programming and working with the machines researchers used instead. I ended up graduating with a First Class Honours in Applied Physics and Instrumentation.
      After that I went to work in control systems and ended up in the nuclear industry.

Comments

  • Photo: sandrarobertson

    sandrarobertson commented on :

    While still at high school I really enjoyed all the hands on practical activities, but started to struggle with the studying from books, and sitting tests. After school I decided not to go to college or university, but to look for a job which allowed me to do the ‘hands on’ activities that I really enjoyed. My first Laboratory Assistant role was with a company making foam products for packaging and sports protection. It was nothing like what I did in a school laboratory, but I was experimenting with formulations and testing final products, and although this job didn’t last very long due to the company closing, I knew I had made the right choice for me. My other jobs since then have all been about ‘transferrable skills’ as much as my qualifications from education. Learning to follow procedures and instructions accurately. Taking the opportunity to learn new equipment or techniques as technology has developed. I now work for a company where peoples lives depend on the quality of the products I make, which is really challenging, but also very rewarding.