My interest in biology began when I first sat in the class of my year 9 biology teacher. I just enjoyed biology but I was much better at maths. I continued studying biology in high school and did equally well in maths and biology. Then came university and I had to enrol in something. I never thought about what I wanted to do after university but chose to do a Bachelor of Science. I got in and had to choose subjects; having no clue I just chose to follow the 3 year biological science plan. I finished my degree and got the best results in a subject called genomics and bioinformatics. I applied to do honours with many group leaders involved with biological projects but was turned down for many reasons (mostly they had no room). All that was left was a project in bioinformatics and I got accepted. I finished my honours and started looking for work, any work at all. Lab technician, lab assistant, soil tester, lab cleaner, anything! Alas I was unsuccessful. One day I decided to look at the CSIRO webpage and found a work experience program. I applied and got accepted. After 6 months of work experience I was hired by them. My first real job. When it neared the end of my term I found a job advertisement, a position just around the corner. I applied and got the position. A major snafu occurred just before I started and it would haunt me for the entire time I was there. Determined to set things straight I worked tirelessly. My efforts would not go unnoticed. Recently I was told of a PhD opportunity by a previous colleague, something I’ve always wanted to do. It was an opportunity that fitted to every requirement I had. I had rejected the opportunity once, but it still came back to me. So I applied. And I got the position.
And here I am about to start my new journey. You can argue that everything that has happened shaped the future, rather than having everything planned. But I still feel that I had been destined. Had I not only one last honours option, would I have worked as hard as I did? If I had not been rejected so many times when I applied for work, would I have cherished my CSIRO position as much and worked like I didn’t need to sleep? Had I not made a major snafu just before the start of my position, would I have had the cause and focus to work like there was no tomorrow? And had I not been doing extra work, would I have ever been noticed and been told of the PhD opportunity?
And what if I had never bumped into Dr. Davies my grade 9 and 10 biology teacher? Mathematician? Astronaut? I’ll never know since that wasn’t the plan.