Identifier | EERC/EL/EL6/4 |
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Interviewer | Mulhern, Mark |
Dates | interview: 2019-12-06 coverage: 20th century |
Extent | 1 digital audio file(s), 1 digital photograph(s) |
Subject | Working life, Apprenticeship Programs, Technology, Community Life, Transport, Dalkeith, Haddington, Edinburgh |
Interview summary | In this interview, John Hamilton (b. 1965) begins by explaining that he has lived all his life in Haddington but was born in Edinburgh because the local hospital was closed for renovations for several weeks around the time of his birth. This interview concentrates on John’s working life. He joined Ferranti as an electronic technician apprentice in 1980, aged 15. He talks about this time, his travelling into Edinburgh to work and his various placements in different parts of Ferranti which, at one time, extended over a number of sites in Edinburgh, Dalkeith and North Berwick. At the end of his apprenticeship, John joined the repair and overhaul department, which worked on aircraft navigation (the last part of his apprenticeship was served here), and became an expert in Jaguar navigation systems. John describes in detail how the technology changed over time and how computers came to dominate the workplace. He recalled his boss returning from a meeting (around 1985) to say that the discussion had been about the possibility that one day everyone would have a computer on their desk. This idea seemed outrageous at that time but, as John reflects, change thereafter was swift and continuous. John moved into IT, where he continues to work. The interview ends due to time constraints and with the intention of doing a follow-up interview at a later date. |
Access | Open |
Usage Statement | We give permission for the re-use of our collections material for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International Licence. |
Audio links and images | |
Transcript |