The 20 Minute Career

Engineering is one of those careers that sounds straight forward from the outside. You build things. You solve problems. You apply what you learned at university and get on with it.Mark Sproule started where a lot of engineers start curious, hands-on, and drawn to figuring out how things work. As a kid it was old boats. At university it was biomedical engineering. At ResMed it was prototyping with 3D printers, and the thrill of seeing a design come to life. But after four years inside one of Australia's most recognised medical device companies, Mark realised something - he was a very small cog in a very large machine. And he wanted to know what it felt like to build the machine himself.So he left and joined a University friend and co-founded Reach Robotics a company building underwater robotic arms for underwater drones. Robots sent to disarm underwater mines so humans don't have to. Arms attached to unmanned underwater vehicles monitoring offshore oil rigs for corrosion. Niche, complex, and genuinely important work.What followed was the founder journey in full and Mark doesn't sugarcoat any of it. The pressure doesn't arrive once and stay constant. It arrives in waves. First it's whether you can actually build the product. Then whether anyone will buy it. Then whether you can make it reliably enough that customers don't call you at midnight saying it's failed in the field. And underneath all of it, every single month, can we make payroll?He also talks about the ethics decision - their biggest ever purchase order, a foreign buyer, and an Australian Defence Force disclosure requirement that forced a choice between revenue and integrity. They chose integrity. And he gets honest about the cost. When you're a founder, you never really clock off. The business lives in your head at dinner, at bedtime, and at 2am. That kind of mental load compounds. But Mark also reframes it, if you deeply care about what you're building, is that really a cost?What surprised him most was what the whole experience gave back. Not just professionally but personally. Building something from nothing, selling a product people were willing to pay for, developing systems he was proud of. If you're thinking about engineering, curious about what it actually takes to start something, or just want to hear an honest account of the founder life this one is worth 20 minutes of your time.In this episode:How fixing old boats as a kid led Mark to a career in engineeringWhat it felt like to leave a stable job at ResMed to co-found a startup from scratchWhat Reach Robotics actually built — and why it matteredThe wave of pressures every founder faces — and why they never really stopThe ethics decision when running a businessWhy working with people is harder than any engineering problemWhat building something from nothing did for his confidenceWhat Mark would tell his 20-year-old selfSubscribe for more honest career conversations, new episodes every Wednesday.🔗 Everything in one place: https://linktr.ee/the20minutecareer📲 Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @the20minutecareer🎙️ The 20 Minute Career — Real People, Real Jobs, Honest Conversations.

Law is one of the most popular career choices young people nominate year after year, cohort after cohort. And it’s not hard to see why. For generations, students have grown up watching legal dramas - LA Law, Suits, The Good Wife and wanted that life. The sharp suits. The courtroom wins. The confidence of Harvey Specter walking into a room and owning it. It looks like the perfect career. High stakes, high reward, and never boring.The reality is more complicated than that.Arj Puveendran is a partner at top tier commercial law firm Thomsons leading a team, running his own book of clients, and doing the legal equivalent of building a business within a business. He’s worked across small and large firms to get there. And what he’ll tell you is that the gap between the TV version and the reality is significant. Cases don’t resolve in a week. You don’t walk into court the day after taking a brief. The work is methodical, precise, and unforgiving and the stakes are real. A missing signature or a misplaced clause can unravel months of negotiation and cost a client everything.He also talks about what AI is starting to mean for the profession and it’s significant. Platforms like Legora and Harvey are already in the market, automating the research, the drafting, and the routine work that junior lawyers have always used to learn the craft. The process work that once built foundational skills is being absorbed fast. But AI is not infallible and in a profession where the consequences of an error can be catastrophic, lawyers still need to know enough to interrogate the output, not just accept it. For graduates entering the field right now, the impact of all of this on how they learn, how they work, and what will be expected of them is only just beginning to play out.And he gets honest about the cost. The long hours. The stress that internalises quietly and shows up in your body in ways you don’t always notice until much later. But it’s not all hard. The intellectual engagement that keeps your brain working at its best every single day. The financial trajectory. The ability to do meaningful pro bono work. And a professional credibility that opens doors well beyond the law.If you’ve ever considered law this one is worth 20 minutes of your time.In this episode:Why Arj chose law over a medicine scholarship and why he’s never questioned itWhat lawyers actually do all day and where the Harvey Specter version falls apartHow AI is reshaping the profession and what that means for graduates entering the field right nowWhy in law, getting it wrong is never a small thingThe long hours, the stress, and the cost of building a career in a high stakes professionWhat the career gives back financially, intellectually, and beyondWhat Arj would tell his 20-year-old selfSubscribe for more honest career conversations, new episodes every Wednesday.🔗 Everything in one place: https://linktr.ee/the20minutecareer📲 Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @the20minutecareer🎙️ The 20 Minute Career — Real People, Real Jobs, Honest Conversations.

Nobody grows up wanting to be a salesperson. Dan Ridd didn't. He dropped out of university, fell into a business development job at a telecoms company, and made £10,000 in his first month at 21 years old.That was the beginning of a 15 year career at the very top of enterprise sales working with organisations like Atlassian, Canva and HSBC across Australia and the UK, closing deals worth millions.And here's what's interesting none of it required a degree. What got Dan to the top wasn't a qualification. It was a very specific set of skills all based around his ability to form strong honest relationships. Knowing everything about an organisation before you walk in the door. Getting past the gatekeeper. Building the kind of trust that makes a Chief People Officer take your call. Understanding a problem so well that you've already started solving it before the meeting begins.In enterprise sales, these skills are literally worth millions. And in this episode Dan gets specific about what they are, how he developed them, and why in a world where AI is rapidly taking over the research, the admin and the outreach, they've become the only thing that truly separates the good from the exceptional.He also gets honest about what the job costs you the 70 to 90 hour weeks, the targets that never switch off, and why he was away from his husband 80% of the time at the peak of his career. And what it gave him in return.If you've ever written off sales as a career, this one is worth 20 minutes of your time.In this episode:- What enterprise sales actually is and how it differs from other sales roles- How Dan went from university dropout to million-dollar targets- Why finding a mentor early can define the entire trajectory of your career- The skills that matter in sales and why none of them require a degree- The pressures, the sacrifices, and the honest financial reality- Why relationships are the one thing AI will never replace in sales- What Dan would tell his 20-year-old selfSubscribe for more honest career conversations, new episodes every Wednesday.🔗 Everything in one place: https://linktr.ee/the20minutecareer📲 Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @the20minutecareer🎙️ The 20 Minute Career — Real People, Real Jobs, Honest Conversations.

Most people hear the word philanthropy and think it's someone else's world. The world of billionaires and big cheques. Tori Grimes is here to tell you it's not.Philanthropy and fundraising sit at the intersection of purpose, people and pressure. It's a career where you spend your days building relationships with people who care deeply about changing something in the world and then asking them to put their money behind it.Tori's path here was anything but direct. A gap year in Africa at 18 changed everything. Witnessing real poverty on the ground gave her a clarity about her career that no careers counsellor or job description ever could. She came back knowing she wanted to spend her professional life making a difference.In this episode Tori breaks down what philanthropy actually looks like from the inside. The relationship building, the targets, the pressure of asking someone for money, and why she believes more people could do this job than think they could. She also gets honest about the hard parts the emotional weight of working on problems that can never be fully solved, and the personal cost of a role that follows you outside of working hours.And her advice on the skill she wishes more young people would develop? It might surprise you.Twenty minutes. One person. One real career. No filter.

Every big project inside an organisation needs someone to run it. Not just manage the timeline but own it, drive it, and get it over the line. That person is a project implementation manager.Krystal didn't take the linear path to get here. A science degree, finance job, and no real clear idea of where she was actually heading. She'll be the first to tell you that's more normal than you think.What changed everything was doing her own research and finding a role that looked like everything she was looking for the people, element, the problem solving, the variety. She tracked down someone inside her own organisation who had that exact job and sent a cold email asking for 15 minutes. That conversation confirmed she was on the right track. From that point on, every single move she made was deliberate each one a stepping stone to exactly where she wanted to be.Now she runs projects at Canva. And in less than 20 minutes she'll tell you exactly what that looks like, what it really takes, and why the most important skills in her job have nothing to do with technology.If you're good with people, love solving problems, and want a career that keeps you on your toes this one could be for you.

Customer Success is one of the most important roles in tech. Get it right and you retain customers, drive growth, and add millions to the bottom line. Get it wrong and the cost to an organisation can be just as significant.And yet chances are you've never heard of it. Let alone considered it as a career.Jana Zafirovska has built an entire career in Customer Success and in this episode she breaks down what the role actually looks like from the inside. The variety, the pressure, the global reach, and how AI is already changing the way the best in the field operate. She also gets honest about the hard parts. And why, despite them, this is a career she wouldn't trade.If Customer Success isn't on your radar maybe it should be.Twenty minutes. One person. One real career. No filter.

Most people think change management is just processes, meetings, and rolling out new systems. In this episode, Amii Hansen explains why the role is really about people.Amii shares how she found her way into change management, what the job actually looks like day-to-day, and the pressure that comes with helping people navigate uncertainty and resistance during workplace change.We also explore how AI tools like Gemini are changing the way she works while also reinforcing why human skills like trust, empathy, and communication are becoming even more valuable.Through stories and practical examples, Amii gives a real insight into the realities of the role, the skills that matter most, and what it actually takes to help people move through change successfully in today’s fast-moving world.

Most people only think about cybersecurity when something goes wrong. A hacked account. A data breach. A compromised credit card. Alex Hogue thinks about it every single day because that's the job.Working at the sharp end of one of the most in demand fields in tech, Alex protects the data that millions of people trust with their lives. And here's what most people don't realise it's not just about stopping hackers. It's about understanding every vulnerability, every weakness, every angle of attack before anyone else does. The perfect breach is the one nobody notices. That's what keeps people like Alex busy.After completing their degree, Alex built a career that most people their age had never even considered. In this episode they break down what the job actually looks like from the inside. The pressure. The pace. The parts nobody tells you about before you start.If you've ever wondered whether a career in tech is right for you this is the episode to listen to first.Twenty minutes. One person. One real career. No filter.

Nobody told you what the job was really like. Not the pressure. Not the politics. Not the moment you realise the role you've been working towards looks nothing like the reality.The 20 Minute Career is the conversation that fixes that.Every week, one real person in one real career sits down and tells you exactly what the job is like from the inside — the path they took, the pressure they didn't see coming, the price they paid, and whether the payoff was actually worth it.Because the world of work is changing faster than anyone is telling you. AI is reshaping roles in real time. The career you're heading towards today may look completely different by the time you get there.You need real information. From real people. In real careers.Twenty minutes. One person. One career. The conversation nobody was having — until now.Follow along and never miss an episode.