Blog21 July 2026
What is your biggest goal right now?
November 2025
I don’t know if I’d say that I have a specific goal, but I want to become proficient at the things I do. I want to be able to code well and I want to be able to answer math questions faster than I can now.
June 2026
I think I’m much better at computer science than I was before but I think with maths, I need to do a lot of questions, which I’m not doing in my free time. I do homework and I do revision, but I don’t do as many questions as I should. So, I said I want to be fast. If I want to be fast, I have to do questions.
Is there anything you’re nervous about?
November 2025
There’s a lot of homework for the maths. So, I have to make time for that and I can’t do the things that I’d always want to do because I’ve got so much homework.
June 2026
See, I was nervous about the homework, but now I just do the homework. I’ve probably fallen into the pattern of it because I’ve done it for so long with regards to making time. I think because I’ve made plans, there’s just like so much extra time that I’ve realized I have that I might not have known before.
I’ve got mocks next week. So, I guess I’m nervous about that.
What’s your dream job?
November 2025
I’d want to maybe be a data analyst. And if I couldn’t do that, then I’d want to do software development because data analyst is like you’re always kind of at the top of the field because you’re always checking what other people are doing, making sure that the data is moving in the places it should be. I like that. And software development, being able to just create things that have never existed before, that’s just cool.
June 2026
I said software development and data analyst. Now I know there’s so much more stuff out there to do and I feel like those are the tip of the iceberg and I’d rather get into a company and find out more things that you can do. Like I didn’t even know about a solutions engineer until apprentices from Microsoft came and talked to us. So even that sounds interesting.
What do you think future you would say to you?
November 2025
He’s going to say I’m notdoing what I should be doing. That’s what he’s going to say. That’s what I say about the past me already. So the me from the future’s going to be like he could have been doing more. But that’s fine. I don’t mind if he says that because I’m going to be him.
June 2026
The past me is right. But what I would say, is that I’m thinking this now and I know I’ll think this in the future as well, I need to step it up because I’m still doing the same thing. So, I haven’t changed. That’s not good.
What would you say to your past self?
November 2025
I’d say that he could have done more, but if I actually had to speak to my past self, I wouldn’t tell him anything because I’d want him to go on the same route to become who I am right now.
I wouldn’t want to change him too much because he’s me.
June 2026
That’s ridiculous. What I want my past self to know is that if you do more work consistently, the work will become easier to do for next year.
What’s your next step looking ahead at the start of Year 13?
…
June 2026
I need to start doing projects now because they told us in your individual progression plan that there’s a certain number of things you should do to make yourself seem good for companies. So, I’ve started doing projects. Those projects need to get finished and I need to reflect and make more projects because if I just stop now it’ll be all for nothing.
Watch Junayd’s full interview on our social media platforms below and check out our Pioneer Pathway here.