I joined Ecology by Design just over a year ago as a seasonal ecologist and I am now working as a full-time assistant ecologist. Recently, I was asked to write a blog post to explain my route into the world of ecology as it is somewhat different to the norm.
I’ve always been fascinated with nature since a young age, particularly animals and especially reptiles and fish. However, towards the end of secondary school when I began thinking about what I wanted to do as a career, I didn’t do enough research and thought that the only way you could work with animals was to be a zookeeper and I didn’t really want to do that. Instead, I followed my Dad and Grandad’s advice which was “if you don’t know what to do with yourself, get a trade as you’ll always have a job”.
So that is exactly what I did – I left School and became a plumber. I finished my apprenticeship but eventually decided that it wasn’t the right job for me. It is a fantastic profession employing many of my friends and family but at that moment in time I was adamant I wanted a change.
Next, I became a teacher. The first hurdle was that as I left school to be a plumber, I had no A-levels so I couldn’t get on a degree course. Following a quick two-year detour to attend a college course and get a BTEC, I began my degree in teaching at Canterbury Christ Church University. Three years later I was ready to start my new career as a primary school teacher.
I was a primary school teacher for four years and it is a brilliant job. It is a highly rewarding profession but the problem I personally had was that all of the best elements of the job occurred between 9 – 3. The other roles and responsibilities outside of school hours were less fulfilling and after four years I decided that this role was not for me. Once again, I decided I needed a change, although I still hold many fond memories of my time teaching.
While I said I needed a change, in all honesty, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. So I went back to working as a plumber.
After two years I was no clearer about what I wanted to do. But as I mentioned I have always been fascinated with animals and wildlife and decided this time that I really wanted to explore careers associated with this. After weeks of scrolling through job websites in the evenings and frankly not finding many roles that I was qualified for, an advert for a seasonal ecologist appeared on my phone screen.
The job description said experience desirable but not essential for the right candidate. Unfortunately, after I answered a few screening questions on the job advert’s website, I was informed that my application would not be considered at this time. Not deterred, I felt that this could be a really interesting career.
That evening a friend of my fiancées was visiting and I knew she worked as an ecologist so I asked for her help and for further information on the role of an ecologist. After a few days of CV writing and trying to link skills learnt from plumbing/ teaching to the role of a seasonal ecologist I was ready to apply for a position.
In a rather excellent turn of events, this friend worked at Ecology by Design and encouraged me to send in my CV. To my surprise, they got in touch and after many stressful evenings of interview prep and studying the difference between a weasel and a pine marten (not massively useful information for a seasonal ecologist in hindsight) I had the interview and was offered a position of seasonal ecologist. I was absolutely delighted considering my unusual work history in relation to the world of ecology.
I have since found out that they had always wanted to set up an apprenticeship scheme to help those without a relevant degree to get into the sector and thought I’d be the right person to see whether it would work in principle. I’m so happy they took a chance on me!
Ecology by Design is a great place to work, largely down to the brilliant colleagues who I work with every day. As you may have realised when I started my role here with EBD, my knowledge and identification skills were perhaps not the best. However,[LG1] what I may have lacked in skills I’ve been told I made up for with enthusiasm. Plus the team have always gone out of their way to support me on my journey, for which I am hugely grateful and long may it continue.
This is by no means the usual route into a role in ecology, but strangely enough, there are many skills that a plumber/teacher/plumber again has, that are useful as an assistant ecologist. One example is both ecologists and teachers spend a vast amount of time each week worrying about planning – lesson planning in one case and planning permissions in the other. And ecologists and plumbers also spend a considerable amount of time in loft voids either fixing broken pipes/ tanks or looking for evidence of roosting bats!
If you are still here, thanks for reading my journey.
Ross