I spent quite a lot of time at school getting into acting so I was really torn over what to do at college – the traditional A Level route or a BTEC in Theatre Studies. It was a tough decision, but I went for A Levels. I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career so I just tried to pick subjects I would enjoy. We had the option to do AS Levels first, then, so I picked Business, Sociology, English Language, Computing Studies and Media Studies. Quite a mix!

In the end, I only did Business, Media and General Studies through to a full A Level. By my second year, I was much keener to get a job than study, so I persuaded college to let me concentrate on two subjects and get a couple of part time jobs around them. Dad had his own plumbing and heating business, so I worked alongside him, topping that up with bar work, and I enjoyed the mix.

I went on to study Business and HR (Human Resources) at my local university, the University of Hull, which meant I could continue to live at home. I did well at university and, in my final year, started applying for graduate scheme jobs. I must admit that only doing two full A Levels did limit my options after university, but I was lucky enough to make it through to the final rounds of interview on the British Aerospace (BAE) graduate programme.

At that last BAE interview, the manager who interviewed me said he could see that I wasn’t sure about accepting the role and sent me away to think about it. He was right! Partly distance was an issue, BAE Head Office in Farnborough is a long way from home in Hull. But I also felt that I might have missed out on some life experience by not going away to university, so I turned them down in favour of a year travelling, which became three years! I spent three summers in Mallorca, working in bars and enjoying the sun and lifestyle. In the off-season, I came back to England working for a company who build commercial greenhouses, CMW Horticulture.

CMW offered me the chance to have one last summer abroad with the promise of a full-time job to come home to, which was project managing greenhouse builds. I had the fun of managing what was then the UK’s biggest commercial greenhouse in 2008 in Norfolk, which used waste heat and CO2 from a nearby sugar plant to heat it. We also got to build the greenhouses in the Oman Botanic Gardens, a bit like the Eden Project ones. These greenhouses were my first step into construction, and I was with them until 2013.

By then, I was starting to think about other options, so I left CMW and worked part-time with my Dad, which gave me time to explore ideas. Dad had been approached to install things like energy-efficient boilers and heat pumps under the Government’s Green Deal initiative, which seemed like an opportunity to me. I set up my own company, Green Albion Ltd, to specialise in domestic, sustainable technologies like this. Most of the time, it was just me working on my own business but, early in 2020, I was asked by a local estate agent if I would take on the maintenance of all their properties.

Effectively, this saw me step back into managing projects. I would work on the jobs I could do and manage other skilled trades for everything else. It was a really positive experience as one of the landlords was really into green and renewable energy and wanted to make sure all his properties were sustainable. I was researching how to make a very old stone cottage environmentally friendly, which really inspired my interest in all sorts of sustainable energy options.

In August 2020, I saw a company called Sero had advertised for a Project Management role working from home. I read the job description and it really felt like it had been written just for me. Although my career by then had been so diverse, it felt as though this role would bring all my skills together. I even sent the job description to my best friend from university, and he said it was the job I’d told him I wanted to do when we were 18! Even working behind bars in Mallorca, I was always trying to make sure things worked as efficiently as possible and that’s what a Project Engineer does.

My job at Sero is to use my construction and installation technology experience across all of our projects, helping to find efficiencies and ensure they are sustainable. I also head up what we call the ‘Decarb Army’, informing small businesses, suppliers and sole traders in construction about these sustainable and renewable technologies. I spend quite a lot of my time speaking at events to get people on board, which I guess even plays to my love of performing! When I’m not at events or our offices in Cardiff, I work remotely from home in Lincoln.

Looking back at my own journey, although I never really had a career plan, I’ve always done what has interested me and I’ve always learnt from those experiences. I hope I show that the decisions you make at 16 or 18 years old won’t necessarily influence the rest of your career, as long as you’re prepared to keep learning and following opportunities.