• Question: Did you family support you?

    Asked by Eonatola to Helen, Hollie, Matt, Phil, Steve, Sylwia on 8 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Hollie Heard

      Hollie Heard answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      My family have always been very supportive of the decisions I’ve made and paths I’ve chosen. I’m lucky in that my family have always just wanted me to be happy and follow my dreams and passions and done whatever they can to help me achieve them. There are times in any periods of study or work that things can get tough, it’s always good if you have a network of people whether it be family, friends, co-workers or teachers around who you can talk to when you need to. These are also the people who can help you celebrate when things go well. I know when I graduated with my masters degree my family were all very proud and they have been a massive help for making me smile when my doctorate has got tough, and will cheer when I finally become Dr Hollie!

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Yes they did very much. Its interesting thinking back because I studied electronics and electronics was at that time a very new technology and the pace of change was huge. So it wasn’t long before my world and my parents’ world was very different as they had, like most people now and then, no understanding of what I was doing. That said they remained supportive and were always positive about what I was doing. Many years after I left school I did a masters degree which they were very proud of as nobody in the family had been to university. They even helped me with some of the expense of taking a year out of work to study so they were really good.

    • Photo: Sylwia Nikel

      Sylwia Nikel answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Yes, my dad specifically has encouraged me a lot to go out of my comfort zone and try new things. Not to conform to standards. He gave me confidence that I can do anything that I can think of, as long as I will really want it. He told me that “who asks will never get lost” and this has always paid off. I still ask questions and even though I’ma specialist in my field I understand and acknowledge there is a lot to learn, and I am not afraid to say “I don’t know”… however, I always add “but I will check it and let you know”.

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