As part of the #NoWrongPath campaign, In2scienceUK partners with volunteer Carly Officer to support Scottish students receiving their exam results – highlighting that there’s no single or straight path into a career in STEM.
As exam results arrive across Scotland this week, many students are opening them with a mixture of excitement and anxiety, believing that these grades will define their entire future.
At In2scienceUK, we are committed to challenging this myth that careers into science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) follow a single, linear path. Through our online career panels, we highlight the diverse and often unconventional journeys of STEM professionals, demonstrating that there are many routes into these fields.
To support our Scottish students during this potentially uncertain time, we have teamed up with one of our dedicated volunteers, Carly Officer, to take part in the annual #NoWrongPath movement led by Developing the Young Workforce – a national initiative in Scotland aimed at better preparing young people for the world of work.
Currently an Application Foundations Engineer at Edinburgh-based accounting software development company FreeAgent, Carly has championed the value of “squiggly” career journeys by speaking at several In2scienceUK career panels, including our first-ever Women in STEM panel on the In2STEM programme and our In2careers programme’s Careers in data and engineering: Empowering women to succeed workshop.
Here, Carly shares her personal experiences to reassure young people who may feel uncertain about their career direction or discouraged by their results to remind them that there is no wrong path to success!
Explore your interests
When I heard about the #NoWrongPath campaign, I knew I had to contribute! If I’d heard a career path like mine when I was younger, I don’t think I’d have been as stressed out about my future.
I left school with no highers, which now I know was due to undiagnosed dyslexia and various other neurodiversities that made studying almost impossible for me in the usual format of the 90s and early 00s. I also just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I feel really strongly that putting that much pressure on a young person is crazy – who knows what their life holds as a 14 year-old picking school subjects?!
After I got my results (eh or lack of!) I quickly found a college course starting at the easiest level studying beauty therapy. I dropped out as I didn’t fit in and was having a terrible time – and found myself temping (a great way to get experience) in banking, at a football club, in accounting, on a building site, and an IT startup! I was everywhere!
I realised I was so young and I had time to find what I liked. I met so many cool people too, and I was able to learn a new system in one hour and get stuck into a brand new job. Repeatedly!
I realised I was so young and I had time to find what I liked.
Building skills and confidence
Having this experience meant I turned out pretty good at finance. After having such a bad experience at school I realised I was building up my confidence in my abilities. I decided to take the plunge and apply one last time to college. I’d been rejected so many times for so many things, but this time, I got in to do HND Accountancy at Edinburgh College. I will always be so grateful to them for accepting me and taking a chance!
I left Edinburgh College with great marks – all assessments in the 90s and mostly As – apart from one single B! I was like a different person, because they believed in me but also I was diagnosed with dyslexia and got the time and help I needed.
I worked in the civil service in Accountancy, but it wasn’t for me. After I debugged some issues at work, I realised – wait I like IT & Computers! So I studied at CodeClan and got my PDA in Software Development.
Where I am today
I now work building Accounting Software at FreeAgent, as an Application Foundations Engineer. I love my job, and even better I love shocking anyone I grew up with when I tell them what I do!
I feel my career changes have got me to where I am. Engineering is competitive, but I had this strong Accountancy background along with it.
Don’t ever underestimate how advantageous a strong and varied work history can be to you! I now am in a job I love because of it, and I’m happy to say I’m studying for my Computer Science degree with the Open Uni.
Even after all those rejections I made it, and I believe in my abilities rather than thinking “I didn’t get anything at school so I can’t do XYZ”.
I feel my career changes have got me to where I am.
Advice for students
If you don’t get what you thought, don’t worry. You are young and have so much time to experiment with what is out there. I’ve done jobs I thought I’d like that I hated. I qualified as a hairdresser for fun, but decided I don’t like working Saturdays!
There’s no set path. If you want to change about, do it! Don’t worry, everything will work out and it isn’t dependent on what you open in that big envelope after school.
I do talks at schools now, and run workshops with young people. I even ran a recruiting stand at the University that rejected me 3 times.
If I can do it, you can too!