hmm, left school at 17 to start an apprentiship with Marconi as a radar/electronic technician. i moved a few hundred miles, paid for a flat and the week before i was to start they went belly up!!!! so i was stuck with no money nor job. spend the next few years in hotels/anything just to earn money. at 23 i met a french girl and then we moved to gai paris. i spoke no french so got a job in a english speaking bar for 4 years.
got very lucky when a best mate managed to get me into the software localisation dept for Business Objects- that was it, back into the 'real world' as far as i was concerned, the company was growing so fast then i seemed to be promoted every 6 months. did that for 4 years, then went self employed in the UK and France as pc tech/system admin.
today i am sitting on my fat bum preparing for a big IT sales interview in Amsterdam.
i get the feeling that i can never sit still!