Grounded Ambition: Sergio's Journey Through Engineering, Co-op and a PhD

In this episode of Flashback Files, I sit down with Sergio, a newly-minted PhD in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, to unpack what really happens between starting university and “figuring out” your career. Sergio walks us through his journey from an environmentally-driven high school student, into first-year engineering at McMaster, co-op experiences, and eventually a seven-year PhD at the University of Toronto. Along the way, he talks honestly about uncertainty, comparison, money trade-offs, and why networking and friendships are essential to surviving heavy course loads and long research days.If you’re in your late teens or early twenties, wondering whether you need a clear plan—or if grad school is even realistic—this conversation will help you see that careers are rarely linear and that it’s okay to only be at a “6 out of 10” on certainty.