Now Shan works in another Government Department managing a team of 10 working on the IT infrastructure for a small but growing department in a specialised field in which IT security is central.

University

Shan graduated from Loughborough University with a BEng degree in electronic and electrical engineering, an IEE accredited course. From a young age he had always had a keen interest in technology and aviation and so was delighted to be offered a sponsorship by the Civil Aviation Authority throughout his degree course. The sponsorship also included a one year sandwich year placement as part of a structured training programme accredited by the IEE (now the Institution of Engineering and Technology).

Sandwich Year

During his sandwich year, Shan participated in training which would form part of the experience required for gaining the Chartered Engineer professional qualification, including exposure to the technical, business, management and financial demands of the job.  IEE accreditation was very important to Shan as he wanted to be sure that he could start preparing for the profession’s ‘gold standard’ CEng as early as possible. At that time, with closer ties to the European Union imminent, there was a drive towards establishing a common professional standard for engineers across Europe – some European engineering degrees are much longer than the UK for example - and Shan wanted to be sure that he was gaining a well respected professional qualification which would be recognised around the world, allowing him to work wherever he wanted.

Having worked in various parts of the CAA’s operations during his year in industry, Shan developed an interest in communications engineering, giving him a clear focus for his final year university project.

On leaving university, Shan was offered a job by the CAA working in ground communications systems – the geographic networks linking together air traffic control centres, airports, radio and radar sites across the UK. “This was an exciting project to work on, particularly because it was one of the CAA’s largest projects at the time,” Shan explains. “The ground communications system has high availability requirements which rapidly introduced me to resilient design techniques and the process of engineering robust systems.  The impact of failure is very high, in the worst case causing air traffic control to be severely affected, so it was very rewarding to be involved in such a specialised field. That said, the technology and methods that were being used were industry standard, providing transferable skills which I have since applied in electronic commerce and IT security, for instance.”

National Air Traffic Services

Once the new network had been installed, Shan spent several years working within the operational management area for National Air Traffic Services, specialising in network and system management.  At the same time he became responsible for managing a team of engineers, part of the gradually increasing responsibility required for his CEng application. 

Having worked for over 6 years in the aviation industry, Shan decided he wanted to increase the breadth of his skills and broaden his exposure to different industries. Joining the IT Infrastructure Practice at PA Consulting Group allowed him to do just that. The projects he worked on during this time were quite varied - from holding responsibility for a multi-million pound budget to deliver IT infrastructure for a Head Office refurbishment project for a major energy company to defining specifications for a global IT system for the finance sector, and working on a number of flagship Government projects. 

“I am really proud of the time I spent with one particular Government Department working within the Requirements Team for a huge eGovernment programme.  This programme was essential to delivery of one of the Government’s key policies and was very high profile.  The team was in the early days of the project and was struggling to meet its targets.  There were motivation problems and concerns arose that the project would soon end up in severe difficulty.  I had to call on all my experience to work with this team of 40 highly skilled people who were coming to terms with the immense complexity of what they were being asked to do.  I was really flattered that, by taking time to pay attention to the relationships I was trying to establish, pretty soon the improvement in team morale became evident, and within 3 months we were ahead of schedule.  It was also a real privilege to be working with some of the biggest names in the industry, and even now when I read about the Department in the Press, I feel a small sense of satisfaction of having played a part in it.”

CEng Status

In late 2003, having had further wide experience courtesy of his projects with PA Consulting Group, Shan applied for and was granted CEng status. “I felt the broad range of experience I referred to in my application was a bonus, both technical and more general, and it really confirmed to me that engineering today is very wide ranging in its remit - the skills we need to acquire cover so many areas, and sometimes the purely technical skills are among the easiest to call on!”

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Shan joined the IEE because he wanted the long standing support that an Institution would provide across his career. He was also keen to support the work that the Institution does raising the professional status of engineering in the UK. It was important that the Institution he joined should have a wide range of interests and the IEE and now the Institution of Engineering and Technology fitted the bill. Shan has found the career guidance and the mentoring very useful, not just while he was working towards CEng, but more generally during his career. He currently attends lectures and is involved with the Professional Networks which cover the areas in which he works.

“I like exchanging ideas with other members as it gives me an alternative perspective on my discipline.  The journals in particular are compelling reading, covering not just the real cutting-edge stuff, but also advances which are directly relevant to my daily work.  And that’s not to forget the huge range of resources available courtesy of the online member services- it’s just a question of making time to make the most of them!

“My field is changing rapidly and without the Institution of Engineering and Technology, as an individual I’d find it impossible to keep up with the huge range of developments. I’d like to over time become involved with the work that the Institution does in areas of policy and lobbying Government, and looking to enhance the position of engineering in society in general.”

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