Five teachers of higher education (HE)-level courses working in the further education (FE) sector recalled critical moments which helped to form their self-concepts. The researchers used life history method to encourage the teachers to be open about their lives and how they formed their personal and professional selves. Three common themes were discovered: a strong work ethic, resilience and "being caring". The paper describes and examines the critical moments in the teachers' lives which helped to form the self-concepts which have seen them achieve in their professional lives, and examines whether the common themes might be indicative of the types of characteristics needed to be a teacher of HE in FE.