• Question: Did you want to be anything else before becoming a scientist

    Asked by joeyboii to Anzy, Aoife, Dave, Matt, Tomasz on 19 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by codeemiskin.
    • Photo: Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan

      Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      Hi joeyboli,
      Yep I wanted to be lots of different things! A physicist, a doctor, a ballerina, a lorry driver, a lot of quite varied career options actually! It’s definitely good to let your mind wander when you’re younger and think about all the different things you’d like to be. Plus even if you start doing one thing/taking a particular path I’m a big believer in the fact that it’s never too late to change your mind : )

    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      I wanted to be a pilot when I was about 13 (I think I’d watched Top Gun) then by the time I was 15 I wanted to be a doctor but the thought of blood put me off. When I got to college I’d decided to study science at university and I wanted to either work in research or on the business side of science. It was only during my degree that I thought about doing a PhD.

      I think it’s important to realise that you don’t need to know what you want to do at 16, lots of people have several different careers throughout their lives, at the moment I’m a scientist, but who knows what the future holds. The trick is being ready to take advantage of the opportunities that come up.

    • Photo: David Christensen

      David Christensen answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      I was never sure what I wanted to be, but when I was about 16/17 I started thinking that I might want to do medicine at uni and become a doctor. Then I remember realising how boring I found the things my sister talked about while she was studying to be a doctor, so I decided I didn’t want to be a doctor. I wanted to do science at uni so I just thought that if I did a degree that would give a few years while on that course to decide what I wanted to do for a job. I never really decided so I just carried on doing science!

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