Boing Boing interviews Bjarne P. Tveskov, a Lego designer who created many of the classic Space sets from the 80s. I still have all my space legos, and my kids and I regularly play with them.
My LEGO career started when I was 17 years old; I saw an ad in the Sunday newspaper, they were looking for designers for the Space product line. No formal qualifications were required so just for fun I applied. They sent me a big box of LEGO bricks and asked me to create a Space model from imagination. Still got the model I made back then. (image coming later). At the interview I realized that the job was a full-time position in Billund, initially I thought that maybe it could be a freelance gig, but no. So when suddenly I was offered the job I had to ask my parents if it was OK if I quit high-school to become a Spaceship designer. They said it was fine, thinking I could always return to school later when I was done with the toy adventure. (But it never happened)
Awesome. I have many fond memories of putting Lego spaceships together using some very-well worn sets of instructions, all numbered, color-coded, and without words. They're a great example for teaching solid instruction writing.
"I could always return to school later when I was done with the toy adventure. (But it never happened)"
I am reminded that when Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, Tom Hamilton (the bass player) said, "Mom, my promise still holds. When I finally get this out of my system, I'll go to college."
Then there's the guy from Queen who went back to get his doctorate 30 years later.
http://www.newser.com/article/1Y1-109714465.html