This paper describes the journey of a former female electrician turned technical and further education teacher turned professional development officer who is now completing her PhD. It also describes the challenges she overcame to make the transition from tradesperson to researcher. It is a personal account of discovery. It describes the most important relationship between role changes and professional growth. Most importantly, this paper develops the argument that without sustained access to purposeful conversations that promote higher order thinking skills, teachers are unlikely to become able to see their work as problematic and identify their practices as research. (YLB)