Another friend,fresh out of school,joined the multinational oil company Shell,which paid his university fees.After that he spent nearly his entire working life in the human relations (HR) department of the company.On top of a pension from Shell,he now owns a small HR business.A third friend,now in his fifties,spent 10 years in a university where he researched applied physics,completed his doctorate and then moved to California to become an aeronautical engineer.