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Asked by KatieD13 on 30 Sep 2024. This question was also asked by yerk519sops, keep520aced, teed520aced, seat520phew, gave520regs, sake520wear, rays520wear, rest520name, keen520cuds, push520zyme, paca520putz, hewn520agha, Mimi, hear520raku, jump520maes, they520repp, neck520repp, near520jury, data520jury, star520nona, yeah520pots, ease520pots, ImanA, Rhys Leach, what519wren, yays519rote.
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Rebecca von Hellfeld answered on 30 Sep 2024:
I always loved the ocean and ideally wanted to work at/near/with it. But I always thought I had to be SUPER GOOD at science, and in school I never really got good grades in chemistry or physics. So I decided to do a more generic environmental undergraduate, realising that I was totally wrong and should have gone with marine biology straight away. So I did a marine focussed masters, and the rest is history.
For me, its the calming nature of the ocean, and the fact that we still know so little about it. I saw an interview with Sylvia Earle when I was a kid, and that made me realise that you can actually work as a marine researcher!
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Michael C Macey answered on 30 Sep 2024:
I was always interested in science as a kid, and I wanted to do medicine originally but when I was attending a medical talk I discovered I have a strong blood phobia (by nearly fainting…). I realised I still liked research and went into biology for my undergrad, discovered microbiology and did a microbiology PhD.
For my job now, there was an advert on a facebook group for microbiologists about a job at the Open University researching extreme microbes – the timing was perfect as I was finishing my PhD, the project looked interesting and I had the skills needed. Eight years later I am still here.
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Martin McMahon answered on 4 Oct 2024:
Strangely I didn’t really pick my jobs, I just kind of bumped into each opportunity at the right time and changed jobs when that happened.
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Michael Schubert answered on 4 Oct 2024:
I always wanted to go into science – and especially life sciences. I loved biology because I loved learning about the world around me (and about myself)! Once I decided I liked that branch of science, I couldn’t decide what to do, so I did a little of everything: plants, animals, dinosaurs, medicine, you name it. Eventually, I did my degree in medical sciences… but even then I couldn’t make up my mind, so now I work across a lot of different life sciences.
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Rachael Eggleston answered on 11 Oct 2024:
I actually just stumbled into it! I thought plants were pretty interesting while I was in high school, but I thought everything was interesting. I decided to study plants because a professor at my university took the time to show me around the department and talk about what a career in plant science could be.
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Ashley Hecklinger answered on 12 Nov 2024:
It was actually during my Master’s degree that my thesis project introduced me to the field I’m currently in now!
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Luke Fountain answered on 21 Nov 2024:
I picked my job because I wanted to be an astronaut. That’s a hard goal to achieve, but working as a scientist contributing to human space exploration is about as close as it gets without actually going to space! I made that my mission pretty early on, but it wasn’t a straight path to get there. For a time I was interested in Physics, then I moved to planetary geology, then molecular biology, and finally to plant science. It was ultimately my move to plant science that allowed me to get a job at NASA, so I always like to point out that while it is good to have a specific goal or job in mind, the journey there can take many different forms, and the main thing is to follow your passion and curiosity, For me, that passion is space exploration, and I will never get tired of researching how we can use plants to help us explore the cosmos.
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Matthew Wadge answered on 12 Mar 2025:
Funnily, my career path was accidental! I wanted to do Medicine, but I was unsuccessful at getting into Uni to study it. My backup option was a degree in Biomedical Materials Science at Nottingham Uni, and ever since, I have been in jobs to do with this degree! All my jobs have been research roles, and although I had a lot of rejections, I have managed to be accepted on a number of really interesting jobs! My current one, I love! 🙂
Comments
Andrew M commented on :
Short answer is “they advertised it”
I didn’t really pick it. It picked me. After finishing university I didn’t have any clear idea what I’d like to do or where I should work. I applied for a great range of jobs across a broad range of fields without targetting one field or industry or place in particular. After many interviews and assessment centres I narrowed my desired jobs down to three I really wanted.
And promptly got none of them
I talked myself out of one and didn’t talk myself into the other two.
Instead I was offered a role I had applied for but hadn’t much considered. Lacking any alternative I took it, a wage is a wage. I grew into it and have been here 21 years now..
Martin M commented on :
I knew I wanted to be a scientist but the question was who to work for… a company and being told what to do… or in a university with all the freedom of choice that gives. I went for the latter as I don’t like being told what to do!
aureliabrzezowska commented on :
I found a greater love for cybersecurity at University after studying it in a module. I had always known I liked it but not to such an extent!
Sheridan commented on :
I never chose to start my working life as a Rocket Scientist at 19 years old. I simply applied to the MoD for a job!
Tim C commented on :
I’ve always had an interest in technology right back to my first ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 computers. I’ve had many roles as a computer scientist from mainframe programmer when I started right up to a Cyber Consultant as I am now.