Life was a bit upside down for a while but what a wonderful place to be stuck!

Find out more from Finlay on where he was stuck and how he ended up at Goal7

How did I end up working at Goal7?

After graduating from University of Strathclyde with a master's degree in Chemical and Process Engineering, I worked as an engineer within heavy industry. This provided excellent hands-on experience and learning, allowing me to apply the theory I learned in university to practical situations.

A few years later, I decided to take a career break for 4 months, alongside my partner, to cycle from France to Romania, visiting 10 countries along the way. After successfully completing this adventure, we headed to South America (minus the bikes, our legs couldn't take much more) for another 4 months. We eventually made our way to New Zealand when suddenly, the world was flipped upside down when some unknown thing called “coronavirus” emerged! This led to an extended stay of living and working in New Zealand for 18months – no complaints from me, what a wonderful place to be “stuck”.

Eventually, after the world started to flip back onto its axis, I returned to Scotland. A little while later I stumbled upon a job vacancy I liked the look of, for a company I had never heard of Goal7. Fast forward another 18 months, and here I am, having absorbed a wealth of knowledge, with the support of a great team and plenty of fun along the way.

What do I actually do at Goal7?

Goal7 is an advisory consulting business providing clear advice and support to accelerate the development of whole value chain energy transition solutions. In terms of what I do? Every day and every project is unique. My primary focus is on technical workstreams around CCUS and hydrogen but that is changing as we adapt and diversify into other sectors. There could be a focus on a certain piece of work, such as developing a cost estimate, moving onto modelling logistics chains for CCS, and then looping around to researching the latest developments in the electrolysis market. The constantly varied and developing pieces of work certainly keep myself and the wider team on our toes.

In addition to client facing work, as a close-knit team, everyone chips in to complete internal projects and tasks which mature and grow the business. An example of such one of the roles I am involved with is tracking and reporting of company emissions to minimise Goal7’s carbon impact. We monitor emissions from transportation, office space, and working from home amongst other factors.

How do I find hybrid working?

When it comes to hybrid working, I'm in a slightly unusual situation compared to most of my colleagues at Goal7. I'm am based in the central belt of Scotland, though plans are currently progressing to have an office space here. At present, I work primarily from home but make a monthly trip to the office in Inverurie for a few days to catch up with everyone in person, undertake focussed company work, and usually do some sort of social activity – some recent excursions jumping to mind include surfing, cross-country skiing, climbing and bowling.

What do I do when not working?

During my free time, I can usually be found doing something related to sport. Shinty is my main sport, training a few times a week and travelling to remote Scottish villages to play at the weekend. When not playing shinty, other hobbies such as scuba diving or hiking take its place.