Bangalore Engineer Named 'Technician of the Year' at IET Awards

Bengaluru: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has announced the winner of its annual Technician of the Year Award, which recognises individuals who have made exceptional engineering achievements in their profession or operational area.

Neeraj Kumar Sharma, a Geotechnical Engineer from Bangalore, India office of Atkins as a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, won the award for his extensive experience and strong technical skills in geotechnical design of transportation infrastructure such as bridges, sign gantries, retaining walls, slopes, etc. working on engineering projects across the globe.

A strong advocate of embracing emerging digital technologies, Neeraj has consistently challenged the traditional ways of working in a design environment, and actively sought opportunities to streamline and automate design processes resulting in higher efficiency, lower costs and minimising errors.

Besides excelling in challenging projects, Neeraj is now actively contributing to a number of other initiatives: the most prominent ones being the Digital Engineering Capability Initiative (DECI) ground engineering team champion and being enthusiastic in volunteering for CSR and ICE Regional Chapter activities.

On winning the award, Neeraj Kumar Sharma said, “It is indeed a great privilege to be recognised as the ‘Winner’ in this category among a pool of such inspirational finalists. This award is a fantastic way to promote engineering among my colleagues and friends and put the spotlight on the younger engineers working in our industry and beyond. Special thanks to the judging panel for shortlisting individuals that represent the broad spectrum of the talent that we possess in the engineering and tech community.” 

Neeraj received a prize consisting of a trophy, certificate, 1,000 and two years’ of membership to the IET – one of the world’s largest professional societies for engineers.

The Apprentice and Technician Awards are part of the IET’s Achievement Awards and Scholarships programme, which this year provided over 1million in awards, prizes and scholarships to celebrate excellence and research in the sector and encourage the next generation of engineers and technicians. These awards aim to recognise individuals who stand out from their peers and have made noteworthy achievements in their area of expertise.

IET President Mike Carr, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and Neeraj should be very proud to win this award against strong competition in his category.” 

“The standard of this year’s entries made the judging extremely difficult. All the IET Technician of the Year Award finalists demonstrated skills and knowledge through their work that went far beyond their roles. They have taken on challenging tasks and through innovation and determination to succeed have brought real benefits to those they work for and with.” 

Congratulating the winner, Shekhar Sanyal, Director and Country Head, The IET India, said, “The IET has been a thought-leader in the engineering space and has always been on the lookout for young minds who are passionate about promoting engineering to the world. Through these awards we aim to recognize such individuals and honour their achievements. We are proud of Neeraj and look forward to recognizing more such achievers in the coming years.”