Technology – Doing not Dreaming

Where do I stop?

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019Posted in Career, Reflection, RunningTagged adventure, coaching, goals, life coaching, rest, Running, TechnologyLeave a comment

It’s about time for another post about life lessons from running. This one starts in Munich. Usually I’ll be mulling over the many benefits of running from positive health impacts to bringing you into contact with people who share your interest and therefore are one step closer to supporting your crazy dreams. But this is different. It’s a race but there’s no finish line or cut off time – so how do you know when to stop? [See below for the answer in terms of running.]

I was mulling over this whilst I was running, in between checking my watch, grabbing some energy from the food and water stations and enjoying the changing landscape once outside the city. I had no idea where I was going to end up, but instead of staying at the start line and worrying about it, or trying to plan the exact route, I started off when the cannons fired and kept taking steps forward.

2019-05-04 21.31.18-3 — Catcher cars at the ready

Fortunately, there are some clever calculations so you can work out how fast you need to be to get to a particular distance before the car catches you. In some ways you can make it like any other race: run the distance. However, there’s a small caveat – you can’t slow down and make up time later in case you get caught, going too fast sometimes makes you slower so pacing is crucial and what happens when you make the distance? Do you stop running, congratulate yourself and wait patiently for the car to formally acknowledge that you have completed your race? Do you re-calculate, set a new target up your pace and run on to the next km marker, then the next, then the next?

2019-05-06 08.53.18-7 — Once you finish you get a shiny, gold blanket

Of course, there is no right or wrong answer, or rather both of them are the right answer. As life patters on, you may find yourself reaching your goal: getting a new job, taking that dream holiday or buying that house and then what? Sometimes you need to stop and pause for a while, enjoy the place you’re at and reflect, review. After a little while it will be time to decide what’s next – to metaphorically lace up your running shoes for the next race. Other times you may get to the goal and it can be your springboard to something else – new opportunities appear, the route is clear ahead and you have the energy to keep going.

There will always be a time to pause and the great news is that you get to decide when that is.

You get the choice of saying: Good job. I’m done for today. Tomorrow is a new day maybe we go again, maybe we rest. Occasionally if you’re not listening to your body you get a reminder – think catcher car – that says you need to stop for a while.

The truth is you never really stop, you pick your direction with a destination in mind and keep going. Sometimes it feels as if you’re stuck mud and sometimes it feels as if you are way off track. It’s ok to reset, recalculate and even to enjoy the meander for a while.

I would love to hear where you’re heading right now – leave a comment or send a message.

[It’s the Wings for Life World Run where you run until the catcher car catches you. Runners get 30 minutes head start and the car is speed limited. It starts at 14kph and increases speed every 30 minutes.]

If you’re feeling stuck, unsure or cautious about taking action then I would love to help. The first step is to get moving (yes, actually moving, take a walk or dance or something) and then get in touch for a chat. I’m currently offering coaching on a pay what you want basis.

I could never… be an astronomer

July 8, 2018Posted in Career, Running, TechnologyTagged astronomy, Career, career change, science, space, TechnologyLeave a comment

I have the pleasure of knowing Dr Michelle Collins – astronomer extraordinare, and fantastic marathon runner to boot. She kindly agreed to share her story of becoming an astronomer. Reach for the stars, and all that…..

Q. Describe your job and tell us about your career highlights so far.

I’m an observational astronomer, working as a lecturer at the University of Surrey. My job is a mixture of teaching and research. I’ve been an astronomer for about 11 years now, ever since I started my PhD at the University of Cambridge.

My research focuses on understanding galaxy evolution and dark matter by studying tiny nearby galaxies, known as dwarf galaxies. This research has taken me all over the world, which is probably one of the highlights of my job. I’ve lived in Germany and the USA, and I get to use large telescopes in exotic places like La Palma, Chile and Hawaii.

I really love getting to use these telescopes. Not just the process of using them, but when I get to take a look at the data, I know I’m looking at something no other human has ever seen before. I get to ask really big questions on a daily basis like ‘how did we get here?’ and ‘what is the Universe made up of?’. And I get to design experiments that may help us answer these.

Q. Did you always want to be an astronomer?

Not at all! My school report from primary school famously declares that I had no interest in science, and was only interested in becoming a writer. I don’t think I really thought about studying physics until I was 16 or 17. And it was only at University that I decided I wanted to try to be an astronomer for a living.

Q. Who/what inspired you?

Is it cliché to say Star Trek? Because that probably was a big driver in my love for space science. It was pretty hard to have a real female role model in astronomy when I was growing up, so I had to make do with Captain Katherine Janeway. One of the reasons I do a lot of public talks in astronomy is to try and show girls that there’s a place for them in this field. Our most famous science communicators in this area are almost exclusively male, which I think can put women off this career path as they don’t see a place for themselves.

Q. When did you realise that you could do it as a job?

It is drilled into you fairly often in your PhD that not everyone who studies for their Doctorate in Astronomy can get a permanent position in this area. So, I spent the first 7 years of my career not knowing if I’d really be able to be an astronomer forever. I still feel like it was an incredible stroke of luck getting my position at Surrey. It was the perfect job for me, and it came up at the perfect time. That was when I knew that I could really be an astronomer forever.

Q. What are the good bits and bad bits, day to day?

My favourite parts are talking about new scientific ideas, and designing observations to test them. My least favourite parts are probably the fairly constant rejection you experience as a scientist. For example, each time I was on the job market, I would apply for maybe 20 jobs and be rejected from almost all of them. The telescopes I use are great, but heavily oversubscribed, so I frequently get my proposals for time rejected.

I received my most recent rejection just a few weeks ago. I applied for a big European grant to hire people to work with me, but the scheme is incredibly competitive. I was dreading the feedback from the panel (they can be quite brutal), but it was all quite positive and encouraging. Definitely one of the better rejections I’ve received!

Q. What advice would you give someone who wants to be an astronomer?

Go for it! Apply for a physics degree, and try to do some small research projects with people over the summer if you can. Ask for advice from professors as you apply for PhD positions, and come and chat to astronomers at public talks. We love answering questions about our work, and we’re always willing to help out people who want to do this for a living.

Q. What’s your favourite astronomy fact?

It’s so hard to pick! The Universe is nearly 14 billion years old, and it formed all the particles it needed to make what we see today in only a few seconds. We can still see the afterglow of the explosion that created our Universe if we look at the emission of microwaves across the sky.

Our Sun formed out of the material left by another star after it exploded.

Volcanoes exist on other planets, and we’ve filmed one erupting on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons.

95% of the Universe is made up of stuff we can’t see (dark energy and dark matter).

All the gold in the Universe may have been created by colliding neutron stars.

Q. What challenge is next for you?

At the moment I’m a lecturer in Physics, which is the first rung on the faculty ladder. Our department has only ever had 1 female physics Professor in 50 years. I want to get myself and the other female lecturers in my department promoted, so we can change that.

If you have a dream, and want an action plan to make it happen – sign up to my waiting list for coaching. Doing is better than dreaming.

I could never…land something on Mars

June 25, 2016August 2, 2016Posted in TechnologyTagged Beagle2, engineering, Mars, space, TechnologyLeave a comment

Beagle 2 was a project to send a lander to Mars with the aim of undertaking geochemical and atmospheric analysis and investigating the possibility of life on the red planet. Beagle 2 was launched as part of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Mission in 2003 and without communications from it, it was initially deemed a failed mission. However 12 years later, photographs from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter proved that it did land, but solar panels likely did not open to power any activity.

Beagle2 photo — l-r Stewart Hall, Matthew Cosby, Ed Chester

I spoke to Matthew Cosby, Stewart Hall and Ed Chester about their experience of this challenging and award winning project. It was delivered on an extremely tight timescale, with a small project team.

In the interview they told the story of their involvement in the mission and I found out that the key aspects to making this a success were:

trust
teamwork
tight timescales

as well as lots of hard work and maintaining a sense of humour. Particularly a sense of humour.

The trio agreed that working on Beagle 2 was a brilliant experience – best job ever and a massive learning experience. Risks were taken, the industry was sceptical about the project and methods adopted but this gave the team a triumph to look back on and knowledge that anything that needed to be faced in the future could probably be achieved.

So whilst you may not be considering a career as an engineer, I hope you can take some of these tips with you for anything that you want to achieve be that in your personal or professional life. Take a risk, try something, review it and do a little bit more.