Born in Glasgow, during a time when an engineering apprenticeship was looked upon as an excellent grounding for a promising career in a solid, reliable and expanding industry, yes, it was a good while ago.
I served a traditional 5 year indentured apprenticeship on the drawing board as an electrical design draughtsman, working my way through the various shop floor departments before ending up in the drawing office, and attended technical college (right next to the old North British steam/diesel locomotive works!!) one day per week, to obtain the necessary electrical engineering qualifications.
 
The majority of my working life has been on a traditional drawing board as a contract  electrical design draughtsman (I do miss real drawing) before returning to college, this time night school, to study for and obtain, qualifications in 2D and 3D computer aided design, cad software customisation and management, a national certificate in computer studies and a full FENTO teachers certificate.

I am also an associate of the Institution of Engineering Designers.

The current day job consists of AutoCAD 2006 for 2D and Inventor 10 Professional for 3D.
I sometimes teach the range of City & Guilds CAD courses part-time evenings for a local technical college, which is a nice break from the pressures of a production engineering environment, and it also helps to pay for the upkeep of this web site.
 
The web site has sort of taken over as my main "hobby" at the moment, but I also try to find time to enjoy some family life, railway modelling (Gauge O), membership of the MG car club (MGF) and a bit of DIY.