While he was at school Rob Sharpe thought he was like any other “normal, boisterous teenager” – but his teachers thought otherwise. Despite having an interest in science, Rob, now 42, was considered disruptive by the school and he was persuaded not to return to the sixth form. As a result, he decided to move from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, to the bright lights of the capital.
After taking up a job as a motorcycle courier for a merchant bank, however, Rob decided that London life wasn’t for him and returned home. A series of “dead-end” jobs followed, but he kept having a nagging feeling about returning to education and decided to take up the OU’s Science foundation course (S102). “I saw things about the OU and thought ‘that would fit – I can keep paying the bills and get the education’,” said Rob. “I can remember being very nervous, thinking that only clever people passed degrees. But it was really a case that I had to do it or I would end up doing dead-end jobs.”
At that point, Rob was struggling financially, which meant that he was entitled to support for paying his fees. “I can’t see where I would have got the money from to pay for the courses if it wasn’t for those support grants,” he recalled. “Once I had got over the initial shock of actually being able to do the course, I found the first year extremely interesting and I started heading towards environmental science.”
Part way through his degree, Rob saw an advert for a job as a chemist at a hazardous waste company and thought a company working in the environmental industry would offer the opportunity of applying what he was learning. “I didn’t have a degree, but I thought I would chance my arm and say ‘if you have anything else available, I would love to work in the industry’. They invited me along to an interview and offered me the chemist’s post. They saw someone who was working towards a chemistry degree and had demonstrated practical experience in previous roles. “I was surprised when I got the job and wondered what I had let myself in for. But once I started applying what I’d learnt, it was all right. “From then on I did the Diploma in Pollution Control which I was very interested in.”
Rob’s career in hazardous waste took off, moving from chemist to senior chemist to process manager, and later into sales. Having studied an OU creative writing
course, he later wrote and marketed his novel called Sleeping Dog and wrote a book entitled Selling Hazardous Waste Services.
Rob currently works as Regional Business Manager for a recycling-focused Spanish waste company and is working towards an MBA with the OU but is currently taking a break whilst he moves jobs and house.
“The flexibility offered by the OU means that I've still got a qualification from it and can resume my studies once things have settled down for me. Even now though, I read back through my course books for inspiration to overcome problems I encounter at work.”
