As Director of Innovation, I help make sense of all the emerging elements that help us achieve an effect. Roads are a classic complex system, with multi-factored, multi-tiered relationships between all those factors. Those relationships change as a feature of time and event and circumstance, so I look at the data that can help the decision-making process. In short, I spend a lot of time trying to work out how to answer complex systems questions.

My path to this role wasn’t straightforward: I reacted to things as they presented themselves. I left school with O levels and went to a local engineering company as an apprentice. I went to college on day release, then did an HND. I topped that up to a degree and then I went off to a university to do a master's degree, followed by a PhD.

Having done the PhD in manufacturing engineering, I was snapped up by the defence research agency to do ontology and data structure research. I had no background in that whatsoever: it was an opportunity that presented itself to me.

After 10 years doing defence research, I took another leap into the IT services sector. I was a chief technical officer for one of the government agencies, but I have no idea how I got there. You start thinking this doesn't happen for an engineer from Gloucestershire who left school with a handful of O levels. But nonetheless, here you are.

The key thing I do is to be human. Just be yourself and be inquisitive, because that's what people are. I was talking to students recently and some were saying that they didn’t know how to enter the industry, because they had no experience, compared to others. My response was that they should look to their strengths. You might not have 30 years of experience, but that doesn't mean you don't have your own strengths, such as being a native to some of the technologies that some of us are trying to learn. You've only ever grown up in that world, so that’s a strength for you, because it's second nature. You’re keen to learn and you haven’t yet become cynical and biased. That's really important, so go with it.

You also have an opinion that is equally valid. There's nothing that says that after 30 years of experience, your opinion becomes valid and prior to that stage it's less valid. It just doesn't work that way. Be inquisitive: you've always got an opinion. Everybody's got a voice. Listen to everybody, be respectful.

It costs nothing to be polite, but I would suggest don't look on the negatives. I know that there are better technologists than me. I know there are better researchers than me. I know there are people who have a better commercial understanding, but I'm not trying to compete. It's not a race. There are things that I find interesting and that's my strength, so I work to my strengths.

It's all down to personal attitude. If your attitude is that sticking your neck out is a bad thing, then what you do will be a feature of your own set of beliefs, attitude and approach. What I did won't work for everybody, so do your thing: what is right for you is very personal to you and your circumstance.

Dr Matt Peck was in conversation with Craig Thomas.

Dr Matt Peck is speaking at CIHT’s Emerging Professionals Conference on April 26. Join him and other well-known and influential names within the industry as they tackle issues including decarbonisation, professionalism and future mobility.

Words by Dr Matt Peck, Director of Innovation at Atkins

Dr Matt Peck is speaking at CIHT’s Emerging Professionals Conference on April 26. Join him and other well-known and influential names within the industry as they tackle issues including decarbonisation, professionalism and future mobility.