Needless to say, I applied myself diligently, there was no room for error (failure) and completed all three courses (N4, N5 and N6) successfully. Not only did I receive my Diploma in 1985, but I had the distinction of winning the College Floating Trophy (Shield) having been nominated as Student of The Year 1984 at the LC Johnson Technical College. It was the first time for anyone in South Africa to attempt, and be given the opportunity to do all three courses in one calendar year. To gain acceptance into the Government Certificate of Mechanical Engineers program, the requirements were:

1. Either a Degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Three-Year Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (N4, N5 and N6) or a Three-Year Technicians Diploma (T1, T2 and T3).
2. Post the Tertiary Education studies, there must be proof of having served/worked in a heavy-duty engineering environment such as an oil refinery, a sugar mill or a chemical plant where heavy-duty machinery was in evidence.

I settled into this new role of being a lecturer and thoroughly enjoyed it. Over the next couple of years, several things took place. At that point in time I had categorised them as good and bad but now looking back with a clearer understanding of “The Evidence of Providence” I see it all from God’s Perspective. God declares, all things, yes all things, good and bad, work together, and operate in unity, FOR GOOD, in our lives to accomplish His Plans and Purpose. Not to labour the point, short version is in bullet format:

• I received a merit increase at the end of 1985, my first year of lecturing. I thanked Principal Ground. He shook my hand, said I deserved it and that there was something more that he had planned for me, that I would receive it soon.
• He, Principal Ground, was retiring at the end of that year.
• Being on staff, even though I had my Engineering Diploma, it was required of me to gain my Technical Teachers’ Diploma to fully qualify. That very year, I applied, and was accepted to attend this course at the Peninsula Technicon in Cape Town.
• As his final act as Principal of the college, Mr. G. introduced us to his replacement, the new principal who would take up office in January 1996. From our first meeting I immediately felt the tension and knew that we would never be able to get along. Time proved me right. 
• Studying in Cape Town wasn’t easy. Being away from home and family was a challenge on its own. 1986 was the mid-point in the years of the Revolution against the Apartheid Regime and the Tertiary Education Institute were the hot beds for fostering this culture. Enduring all the study disruptions constantly taking place, I can only say, by the Grace of God and having His Blessings upon my life, I passed all sixteen subjects, some with distinctions.
• During the Technicon mid-year break period, which somehow coincided with the LC Johnson holiday period, I needed some information from my College Staff Personal File, the Vice Principal was on day duty, a requirement for continuity. I explained what I needed as the files were kept under lock and key in the principal’s office. Coming back to the reception office, he handed me my file, requesting that I must please copy what I needed. The file he handed me was the main one as the “normal” file was listed as having been taken by someone from the department. I did promise and planned to keep my promise. Something happened that blew me away. As I opened the file to get to the section that I was interested in, it opened on a letter addressed to me, from the Department of Coloured Affairs, one I had never seen. My Name was in bold capital letters at the top and it was marked confidentially. I could not help but scrutinise it, I had been nominated at the beginning of the year (January 1986) for the position of Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Division.  It was required of me to send/return the letter as signed that I accept. The new principal had kept it away from me. There were two copies, one marked for him and the one addressed to me. No malaise, no hatred, I just chuckled to myself now realising what Mr. G. had hinted at, something more than the merit increase.
• I never ever let on about what I found out. I went back to Cape Town, completed my studies and got capped the following year (1987). 
• I continued lecturing and had the privilege of lecturing former colleagues during evening classes. I must add here, that one of them was my apprentice as a boilermaker, now also completing his Mechanical Engineering Diploma. In his study year, he was also awarded the shield as Student of the Year. Today, he is a successful engineer of a massive project in the Southern African Region. I salute you Mr. L. K. 
• An incident took place at the college where I tried to be the voice of reason and the peacekeeper between the principal and a staff member. God is my witness, despite what he did to me, I held no grudges. Two weeks later, the head of tertiary education, coloured Affairs came to the college and requested I have a private meeting with him in the college library, normally off limits to students during lectures. This was the Chief Inspector of Education who had given me glowing reports on three occasions, now informing me that I had disappointed him. I suspected it was because of the incident where I had intervened and actually stopped one of our colleagues from assaulting him. I requested the chief of inspection to hear my side of the story. He retorted that he was not interested and that he would ensure I never amount to anything within the South African education system. Now angry, I told him to go to hell and stormed out. We never ever met or spoke again and in the meantime, I discovered that he and the principal were big buddies. At this stage, some might view it as a setback. No, it was not. I loved teaching and enjoyed the interaction with my students. Many still meet me today in passing and thank me for having taught them.
• Now I had to get back on track to becoming an engineer. Lecturing had merely been a detour, a rest stop, now the real deal.
• I immediately put it out in industry that I was available for an engineering post.

That very week, which was the end of the first study term, as the students were busy with their examinations, I resigned from my post at the college. Proverbially speaking, the shoe is now on the other foot. They had staff that could now fill in for Strength of Materials, but for Electrotechnics N6, still no one. I was informed that I needed to give one term (three months) notice. If I insisted on immediate termination, I would lose my government pension plus never ever be allowed to lecture again. It was a case of goodbye and no looking back. Four years later, one of the colleges contacted me and offered me a senior lecturer position in their mechanical division. So much for you will never be allowed back. I did not accept, I was not prepared to go back. 

• Post the start of my career as an Engineer, I got a Quality Assurance Engineer’s Position at the completion of the Mossgas Oil Rig Main Support frame Section. With a team allocated to me, we completed all the documentation, inclusive of a library consisting of three forty-foot containers kitted out for that purpose. We were given twelve months to carry out the task. As a team, we worked well together and eight and a half months later, the final document was signed and the job was completed successfully.
• A couple of days later, I was contacted and offered a Quality Assurance/Welding Engineer’s position on a piping project at one of the Durban oil refineries. Not only was the project a success, but as a team, we earned the distinct super result of a welding failure rate of 0,7 %, which we were told is a remarkable achievement. 
• Not long after that job was completed and handed over, I took on the job of Welding Inspector at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal Extension project. Here I was eventually again promoted to Quality Assurance Engineer to complete and hand over final documentation of the project. I further received a letter from the Coal Terminal to review, audit and approve the project Data Books, if my memory serves me correctly, it was in excess of some four thousand Data Books (originals and copies printed).
• I then joined a company, Arc Force, as their in-house Quality and Technical Engineer. They were responsible for the design, fabrication and installation of a number of pressure vessels.  It was around about this time that a friend of mine, Danny, a Professional Engineer, would check my designs and approve them for manufacture. This was a government requirement that only a PE (Professional Engineer) could do design approvals. He encouraged me and assisted me to join the South African Mechanical Engineering Institute, which I did. I received my Membership Certificate on the 6th. March 2006. My designated membership number (SAIMechE  600034), I believe, is another God-given achievement
• Post a number of various other engineering positions (including Managing Director) I was given a lucrative offer to work in the Angola Off-shore Industry for an American Company. It will always be one of the top two working experiences I have had. I was employed as a Senior Project Engineer, well received and well-treated by my American Colleagues.  Whilst in their employ, their design team, operating out of their headquarters in the U.S.A., had a serious problem in the design of an offshore installation, a landing dock that was to be fabricated and installed to a number of deepwater platforms. It was an urgent “safety” necessity. Week in and week out for about six weeks it was discussed on the phone-in and linked in meetings between the parties involved, of which I was a part. The nodes of the support legs (six legs with four nodes on each kept failing under computer design inputs. The original design for these support legs were to be fabricated from 18-inch diameter schedule 80 low-temperature carbon steel piping. Various changes were computed (i.e. changes in diameter, changes in pipe schedules (wall thickness) of the pipe but with the same end result of buckling under loading (failure). In the end, I proposed they use doubler plates (compensation plates) at these nodes to strengthen the supports at the nodes. Oil rig construction is performed under the Structural Steel Branch of Engineering and what I proposed was used commonly in pressure vessels/boiler construction to strengthen the openings on the vessel/boiler shells where openings were made for the installation of nozzles. Not knowing how it works, I drew sketches and explained the concept with a very important comment that the edges of these doubler plates must be scalloped (i.e. wavy edged to avoid creating a shear plane at the doubler plates’ support leg piping interface.   The following week, as we commenced the telephone meeting, the head of the design department wanted to know where I had gained that marvellous bit of knowledge, stating it wasn’t found in their research, in any university or textbooks worldwide, as they had searched exhaustively for a solution. The idea worked perfectly and as I sit here typing this portion of my story, the platforms were fabricated and installed and are still operational today. I strongly believe that it was God-given knowledge to find that solution.  
• At the end of the contract, I was back in Sunny South Africa, where I secured a job as the Senior Scheduler on the Laphalale Power Station. Due to many unfortunate reasons, with people resigning, I ended up in charge of four departments, Senior Project Planner, Welding Engineer (as he resigned), Drawing Office Manager (review and sign off detailed drawings for fabrication) and the Document Control Department. The Project Director had a heart attack, which ended his life, resulting in the Fabrication Works Manager being appointed as the Project Manager. We had been employed the same day, It was a joint venture project, and he had been employed by the Johannesburg-based company, whereas I had been employed by the Durban-based company. On his promotion, now privy to all site information, he discovered that my salary was far superior to his. This angered him greatly and he started a hate campaign against me despite the consortium raising his salary to a higher one than mine. It was an unhealthy situation which resulted in me resigning. The overall project Managing Director tried, unsuccessfully, I might add, to convince me to rethink my decision and stay on board the project. 
• That very week I received an invitation to attend an interview for a Senior Engineer’s position at a Johannesburg-based company, Redis Construction. The interview was to take place at their Durban-based branch office. At the interview, I met the company Managing Director, whom I had worked with previously and the Human Resources Director. The HR director posted all the introductions and started to question me, to evaluate my abilities, experiences and qualifications for the position. In mid-sentence of his first question, the MD. stopped him and said, “I know him very well, his work ethic as well as his capabilities.” Turning to me, “Sam, this is my Salary offer, I accept no arguments, and you are hired immediately and will report for duty on Monday, at our head office in Johannesburg.” I was in Redis Construction, employed for six years. In my second year, I was promoted to Quality Assurance and Technical Manager (Head Office). In my fourth year, I was promoted to Quality Assurance and Technical Executive plus a seat on the company Executive Management Team. When the company’s owners, planning their early retirement, brought in a new team as the top management structure, I felt it was time for me to resign and branch out to start my own company. Sadly, this did not take off as expected. Not long after that, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Disease. The symptoms were already there and I wasn’t aware of why I had these headaches, feeling like I had vertigo constantly and a number of other little issues, all signs of this debilitating disease.