And mine:
Degree in physics, Masters that 'morphed' into a PhD in Aero Eng (might sound impressive, but for those in the know, a PhD is not that special!).
Job with a major defence contractor (again, not that difficult to get).
Listened, learnt, listened some more, learnt more, made mistakes, learnt from them (etc, etc).
Overall, for me, it more or less 'happened' - of course I had to put the work in, but you have to for most things :-)
Octo