Question: Why didn't you become a car mechanic instead?

James Geary answered on 28 Feb 2018:

I worked for many summers in a car garage and I really enjoyed it, in the end when it came time to make a decision I opted to go to University and study engineering.

I guess in the end the main reason I decided to take this path was that it would offer me more options in the future. I could still enjoy working on cars as a hobby but professionally being qualified as an engineer afforded me the choice of many alternative paths.