Andrew Solman, 28, team leader, project management and software, Dstl

“I work in a team that develops software to create chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) models. For security reasons, I can’t discuss my work in detail – I signed the Official Secrets Act when I came to work here. This doesn’t bother me; it just means that I have to be careful about who I discuss work matters with and that I have to keep my work and my personal life separate.

“Basically, however, I am working to create a synthetic environment that emulates the real world so that we can test what would happen if a CBR agent was released in, say, a city or in a rural area. We link this up to gaming models so that we can see what would happen on an operation if a CBR agent was used. We can then model the impact of things that might have a mitigating effect – respirators or other equipment. These things are very important to know but obviously cannot be tested in the real world.

“I studied computing at university and always thought that I would end up in banking doing run-of-the-mill software, but then I spent my sandwich year at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, the government body that later split into Dstl, a government agency, and QinetiQ, a commercial company. After university I spent a year at Qinetiq before moving to Dstl.

“Working in the defence sector means that I can support our Armed Forces and that my work could make a real difference to people – I hope that I am developing software that will help to save lives. Working with the military means using cutting-edge technology, which is very professionally rewarding. We’re also encouraged to bring our own research into projects and we’re supported in professional development such as further study.

“I manage five project managers and eight software contractors and spend about half of my time on leadership and management tasks. The rest is spent on technical contributions.”

Times Recommends

• Inspirational leadership
• How to get a new job
• The reluctant CEO