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Tales from the 'life is like this' collection

Which Job?
As a graduate electronics engineer I had risen through the ranks, in a small scientific instrument company while it gradually shrank. I ended up having a perfect job in a business that was going nowhere.

We designed and manufactured spectrum analysers for nuclear physics mainly. Since most of its sales were to government funded organisations, there was not much prospect in earning a large salary either.

I then was invited to join my ex colleagues in a much more lucrative venture, whose sales of data communications equipment were to the big banks. I thought long and hard. The money and the future prospects for the business were good, but I felt I would be starting on the ground floor again, rather than capitalising on my experience.

I procrastinated and the weeks went by. I had been married for a couple of years by then, and we had our first child. We were on the first rungs of the property ladder, investing a lot of time and effort in house, home and family.

Then fate took a hand and the decline of my company accelerated, with the result that I was offered a transfer to the sister company in the USA, where all research and development work was to be centralised. I knew immediately that was what I really wanted.

I had a wonderful experience working on advanced technology, until after several years it was time to return to the UK.

When we returned I was able approach my ex colleagues again but with a much stronger hand. While I had been away they had endured difficult times.

I was able to join them and make a key contribution to their rapidly gained future success in a way that would not have been possible without the USA experience.

I often wonder whether it was fate or my gut instinct that made me take the path I did.

They say you make your own luck, but you have to be ready to recognise a good opportunity and grab it with great determination. Also your best chance of success comes in doing something you really believe in.