How did you come to choose a coatings career?

He told me he did a practical training at a coatings company when he was 15. The company was located just opposite his parents’ house, so he looked at the building every day. When he had completed his internship, he knew: “it must be paints and coatings”!

I found that very fascinating, as my way into coatings publications was not predetermined at all. When I was little I wanted to be a nurse, later I decided to become a newspaper journalist, and after my studies and journalistic training I first covered plastics in a technical paper, before I moved to the European Coatings Journal.

Most other coatings experts I had talked to before did not have such a crucial experience either. Some of them simply went the way their fathers and grandfathers had gone before them. Or they were told at university that a career in this industry would be most promising. Or they decided to continue running their parents’ company. Or, or, or…

Now I would like to know from you: how did you come to choose a coatings career? Did you have something of a “key experience”, did it happen by chance, or what else led you to take up a position as coatings expert? Please share your experiences with us!