For young people trying to break into technology, energy, or entrepreneurship, the first step may be simpler than landing the perfect job.
Start something.
That was one of the clearest messages from a panel at Energy Disruptors: UNITE 2026 held recently in Calgary examining how young people can build careers along less conventional paths.
The session, “The Road Less Traveled: The Young Entrepreneurs Building What Matters,” brought together Carbon Upcycling President and Founder Apoorv Sinha and Serenity Power Co-Founder and CEO Aleisha Reese Cerny, alongside SAIT Associate Vice President Janet Segato and Calgary Economic Development Talent Manager Sashie Steenstra. Strategist Kristina Hagström Ilievska moderated the discussion.
For Sinha, the advice to young people entering a difficult job market is straightforward.
He speaks from more than a decade of experience building Carbon Upcycling. The Calgary-based cleantech company raised $26.6 million last year to scale its technology for turning captured CO₂ and industrial byproducts into lower-carbon cement materials. Earlier this year, it secured up to another US$10 million to advance its first commercial-scale project at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga.
“Just start,” Sinha told the audience. “If some of you are entering the job market and it’s tough, just start while you’re looking for a job. Just start something that you think will be cool.”
At minimum, Sinha said, the experience gives someone something meaningful to add to a résumé. At best, it can create an entirely new career path.
Follow Curiosity, Not a Perfect Plan
Cerny’s own career was anything but carefully mapped out.
Although she is earlier in her entrepreneurial journey, she has already built considerable momentum. Toronto’s Serenity Power, which has established a strategic presence in Calgary, raised $1.2 million this year to advance its fuel-flexible solid oxide fuel cell technology, bringing its total capital raised to $2 million. The startup has also collected several major awards, including a $100,000 Women in Tech Investment Prize at Toronto’s Elevate Festival.
Cern had originally selected materials engineering for her schooling because of an interest in recycling, then became disillusioned with the degree before an exchange in Australia and later an internship at a solar institute in Germany changed her direction.
An unexpected assignment involving fuel cells eventually led her toward hydrogen and clean energy – and a new city.
Her advice: “Say yes to things. You never know the twists and turns.”
Cerny’s story reflected a broader theme from the panel: careers rarely unfold in a straight line, and young people should pay attention to the problems and subjects that consistently hold their interest.
Sinha added that flexibility matters just as much.
He encouraged young people to periodically ask whether the facts around an industry or technology have changed — and to be willing to pivot when they have.
“Being agile to a certain degree, I think, is a huge thing that all of us should probably learn,” he said.
Get Out From Behind the Screen
The panel also challenged the idea that careers are built primarily through online applications.
They urged students and new graduates to talk to people, attend events, volunteer, and create opportunities to develop real-world experience.
Cerny offered a personal example.
She recalled reaching out to hundreds of potential customers on LinkedIn while building her company. One of those messages went to a vice president at Volvo — who actually replied and connected her with the company’s chief sustainability officer.
“Just put yourself out there because you never know who’s going to help you or who wants to help,” Cerny said.
That willingness to be uncomfortable, she suggested, is part of building a career.
The Road Less Travelled Is Still Hard
Neither founder romanticized their careers.
Cerny described hers as lonely, exhausting, and filled with extreme highs and lows. She moved from Toronto to Calgary to follow opportunities and said the responsibility of building a company can mean long days, sleepless nights, and considerable sacrifice.
“If a student in this room really wants to go this route, I really implore them to think about why they’re doing it,” she said.
Sinha agreed.
“You should really only do it because you really believe in what you’re trying to do,” he said.
For students and young professionals, that may be the most useful lesson from the session.
The unconventional career path is not necessarily easier. But waiting until every qualification, opportunity, and career step is perfectly lined up could be the bigger risk.
So, start something. Talk to people. Follow the problems that interest you. And be prepared to change direction when the opportunity does.