Mechanical Technologist, graduated Duram College (Oshawa) in 2001.
Six years as a CAD Designer, the last four of which were spent working as a "Design Engineer" internal to GM (I was working at GM but paid by the supplier I worked for, an Integrated Supplier). This was followed by two years as a "Production Engineer" at an automotive glass plant, a year on unemployment and a move to Ottawa, a year with Transport Canada, and now climbing the ladder at the Department of National Defence... climbing the ladder to back where I was, financially, five years ago working in automotive that is. ("Engineer" is in quotes as it is merely the position title I held, but I am not an Engineer.)
The four years I spent working inside GM was an absolutely mindblowing experience. Before I started there I wondered how any car company could justify selling a car for so much money. After a year I wondered how it could be possible to make a profit selling cars. You're average citizen, even those who know about cars, have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what it takes to mass produce vehicles. The scale of these operations is staggering. The company I worked for supplied parts to most large car companies, but the unit I was part of focused mainly on GM programs.
Transport Canada was the coolest job I've ever had. I was the Fleet Manager for a Group called "EcoTechnology for Vehicles", or ETV. Here's their site:
ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles - Transport Canada
They have an ever-expanding fleet of cool stuff to evaluate, so that the Canadian public has a source of independent tests to evaluate different emerging "green" technologies relating to cars and heavy trucks.
The highlight of their fleet while I was there is a Tesla Roadster. I was fortunate enough to drive the car on several occations, including all of the "dynamic testing" done for one of the film/photo shoots at the test track. My personal hotrod is an '02 Corvette Z06, and I bet that roadster would beat me to 60 MPH 9 times out of 10... it is BRUTALLY quick off the line, a total rush. Everyone needs to experience an EV powertrain at least once; the throttle response is almost telepathic, especially in a car like the Tesla.
I also got to have a Japanese spec Mitsubishi iMiEV for a week as a personal vehicle (to add break-in mileage before testing began). For those who don't know, this is a little jelly bean four door EV that is now on sale in the US, now that they have the steering wheel on the left. For a daily driver/commuter car in decent weather, driving/charging an EV on a simple 120v/15A circuit is totally viable with today's battery technology. That little car would safely go between 100-120 km (~60-75 miles) on a charge, and could recharge completely on 120v using about 13A in about 9.5-10 hours.
Anyway, enough rambling. I have a SOLID geek-based interest in just about everything automotive. My current driver is a 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco which I'm really liking so far, and is a completely different kind of "high performance" vehicel to my '02 Corvette. I love power, I value efficiency, and my inner geek thinks constantly about ways to get the most of both.