My final year project during my degree in natural sciences involved a model neuron. I was hooked – to learn more about solving problems with code, I went into industry. As a data consultant, I learned Python and software engineering best practices, and was exposed to a range of problems and very different teams. A core part of my role was to consider what a dataset could offer in answering a particular question and developing tools to transform or enrich it to make it more useful. I realised I would rather be doing this in the context of my original academic interests, biology and disease, so took a sabbatical year to pursue a master’s in Bioinformatics. At the Institute of Genetics and Cancer in Edinburgh, I used single-cell RNA-seq data to explore the transition between inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. This confirmed I wanted to apply my skills omics-related research. I have now started my PhD in the Saez-Rodriguez group, and plan to be an active participant in the group’s culture of collaboration and methods development.