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!

Success is about happiness and security, rather than hitting any particular sort of job or rung on the career ladder.

The amazing thing about working in social media and technology is that you can get to know the sharpest thinkers from around the world without having to spend hours on planes!

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.

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!

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!

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!