I had a great childhood; I was lucky enough to be a child in the 1980s when children would play outside in groups. Media was less invasive back then, we only had 4 TV channels, and they would switch off the broadcast at night. TV news happened at 5 pm and 9 pm, whereas kids shows were from 3:30 to 5 pm and we all watched Dallas or the A-team as a family after dinner.
Living in England means long summer days and long winter nights. My memories mainly focus on those long hot summer days, when the grass turns yellow in July, and we'd spend all our money on the ice cream van.
I think people were less fearful of the world back then, without the constant bombardment of information we see today. All my friends would live in walking distance; Mum used to go outside an yell at the top of her voice from the door-step to call us in for dinner, and we would dart in for food between playing football or some group games like "tracker".
I was very boisterous as a child, and I think I had something to prove. I would get inspired watching BMX bandits on the telly and have to replicate their stunts - Which inevitably meant a visit to the Accident and Emergency department at Southampton General Hospital. Looking back, I am quite amazed that I made it to adulthood.

Being a Sales ExecuI think redundancy was the biggest challenge I faced. After leaving Kyocera, I worked at Micross for a year or so. Things were going well, and I was getting more projects and increasing sales. An American group of investment bankers bought Micross and decided that our office was surplus to requirements, ultimately that meant that I was made redundant with a one-month pay severance package. I guess you deal with it with the grind of sending out your CV and trying your best to find work.tive, what do you think is the most critical aspect of sales?

I love to create and work with tools; engineering has always been my passion. I play with Arduino, Rasberry Pi and other single board computers. I like to write code. I built my own house in Malaysia and designed it using Sketchup and AutoCAD. I think anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I'll drive them mad talking about engineering. This passion helps me in my work, as I am genuinely interested in the articles and theses I review. I love to help with peoples projects and get involved and make a difference. The best description I could give about myself is an "Extroverted Geek".

I got an English comprehensive education and was thought, by my teachers then, to be a significant underachiever. I guess that means lazy, yet talented enough to produce some great pieces of work on occasion. I did get a set of A-levels in Applied Maths, Physics and Computing and then went the University of Sussex to do a Bachelors Degree in Mechatronics. The primary reason to choose the University of Sussex was because of the nightlife. Living in Brighton was more to do with hedonism than it ever was to do with studying; the abuse that I gave my body means that I have many hazy memories of that period of my life. The sausage machine of the educational establishment gave me some useful tools and formed me into the personable fellow that I am today, but it was the School of Hard Knocks and the University of Life that rounded my character. I deeply regret not applying myself throughout my education, and I feel life could have been a darn site easier if I had.

I would say that the most inspiring person I have met is Professor Laithwaite. He is the father of the MagLev train and yet unfortunately made some incorrect assertions about Gyroscopes, which discredited him. Laithwaite's passion was genuinely inspiring; he could talk to an audience at any level of competence to explain in simple terms many complicated concepts. As a side note - I do feel that his work could hold the key to a low-cost electric space launch vehicle.

In microelectronics, I'd say that my mentor was Bill Brown at Mitel in Swindon, he was process engineering manager, and he would explain some excellent detailed points about microelectronics assembly, Bill had forgotten more about microelectronics than most would learn in a lifetime. I do hope that he is enjoying his retirement.

Being a Sales ExecuI think redundancy was the biggest challenge I faced. After leaving Kyocera, I worked at Micross for a year or so. Things were going well, and I was getting more projects and increasing sales. An American group of investment bankers bought Micross and decided that our office was surplus to requirements, ultimately that meant that I was made redundant with a one-month pay severance package. I guess you deal with it with the grind of sending out your CV and trying your best to find work.tive, what do you think is the most critical aspect of sales?