I had two competing ambitions when I was a child: I wanted to be a Scientist and Discover Great Things, but I also wanted to be an Author and Write Great Things. I've always tried to combine the analytical with the creative, to some extent or another, because I find it hard to do one without the other. I've worked as a tech journalist, social media consultant, and now am self-publishing fiction.

The internet has made it possible to meet more people, make more connections and do more interesting work than would ever have been possible . It enables serendipity at an entirely new scale.

As for where I am now, well, social media didn't exist when I was a child, and I never would have guessed just how much of a role in my life and career technology would play.

I first learnt to program a computer when I was nine, when my dad got a ZX80, but I think I would have had to be a particularly perspicacious child to have foreseen the iPad or Twitter!

It hasn't always easy to combine these two competing ambitions and, in retrospect, it's a shame no one steered me towards science communications, which I think would have suited me down to the ground. But careers advice has largely been absent from my life, so I have pretty much made it up as I've gone along!

It might sound trite, but happiness is a decision not a destination, and my choices now are all based on whether not a particular action will get me closer to my goals. It's something I'm quite ruthless about, and it helps me avoid the aforementioned wild goose chases!

I am terminally curious, so I tend to be attracted to the shiny. That's a mixed blessing, as sometimes it means that I can end up right on the cutting edge, but sometimes it can result in wild goose chases as well. Either way, it makes life interesting!