Fifteen years as a professional genealogist - crikey!

It's been fifteen years this week since I took a voluntary redundancy from BBC Scotland after a 12 year career in TV production, in order to try my hand at something far more exciting and challenging - a career as a genealogist!

In that time I have had all sorts of extraordinary experiences, including a range of fascinating client research jobs. I have researched the ancestry of many wonderful folk across the world, including a local lottery winner, politicians, celebs, some TV research work (including work for two forthcoming editions of the Australian WDYTYA? series), and so much more. I've had nineteen books and guides published (including 5 second editions) in the UK and Australia (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/books.html), as well as many articles in various magazines, and have lectured at many places around the world, on cruise boats and on shore from Vancouver Island in British Columbia to Auckland in New Zealand - I even got to Pitlochry once!

Having studied for a Postgraduate Diploma in Genealogical Studies at the University of Strathclyde, I briefly spent a year tutoring on the certificate part of the course, but am now in my tenth year of tutoring short courses for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, with my new Irish course due to kick off in April (https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=260). Whilst I have written and spoken extensively on Irish topics, my main love remains the weird and wonderful world of Scottish genealogy. I am truly fortunate as someone from 'Norn Iron' to have a foot in both camps - I'm still trying to determine if I now live on an island just off the coast of Ireland, or if I come from a wee island off the coast of Scotland!

The job keeps changing, the tools keep changing (hello Zoom!), and the demand keeps changing, but the one thing that remains the same is our collective desire to remember those from whom we came (cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d' thàinig thu). It's been a fun fifteen years so far, but I still don't officially retire for another 18 years, so there's work still to be done. 

This blog started off in late 2007, and has had a few evolutions in that time, but it has been great to be able to pass on what I can learn in terms of useful developments for family history research. I'll keep on cracking on, but thanks to all who have helped to make it so much fun so far! 

The following are some pics from the last fifteen years, from the journey so far - so many people to thank along the way, but special shouts out to Bob and Liz Blatchford, Alan Phillips and the Unlock the Past team, the Pen and Sword folk, all the magazine eds and sub-eds, all the events and FHSs that have had me out to speak, the Scottish Genealogy Network, the Pharos folk, the Strathclyde university team, and plenty, plenty more!

 

Thanks folks - and keep up the craic...!

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.