Continuing our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2024, we profile Ishaan Haque, a Senior Hardware Technician at Leonardo.
Achievements
Ishaan’s manager nominated him for the award – already at work he has been promoted from Apprentice to Senior Hardware Technician – and he has been noted for his exceptional customer service, we learned.
A range of achievements were outlined, whether writing customer reports, board programming or organising storage solutions…
For example, he achieved a distinction in Maths, Further Maths and Electronic Principles during his BTEC with an overall grade of Distinction. He then enrolled onto an Electronics degree course at the University of Hertfordshire where he achieved a number of ‘firsts’. These included four first class grades in the first year of the degree, as the first apprentice of his year group to have passed the End Point Assessment
He was also appointed Lab Steward, with the responsibility of maintaining health and safety and organising the lab for multiple projects with different teams. He completed IOSH standard Training for Risk Assessments and became an IOSH Certified Risk Assessor having achieved full marks in the Risk Assessment section of the test.
Mention was also made of his ability to balance college work with his placement workload throughout the Level 3 Apprenticeship process.
At Leonardo, where Ishaan has been involved with a number of legacy projects, he has been responsible for maintaining in-house and customer rigs. And he has been surveying, testing, diagnosing and repairing a variety of assets for customers. We learned, for example, that he has been dealing effectively with a range of technical queries from customers and suppliers.
His work has also involved domestic and international travel to customer and supplier sites, whether to carry out work, audits or training.
In terms of writing customer reports, Ishaan has been busy contributing to regular update meetings with customers and suppliers. He has analysed historical repair trends and forecasted repairs, the results of which were presented to customer and VPs. And he has also prepared statements of work, planning timelines and costings.
Finally, Ishaan has been organising storage solutions with external suppliers, as well as other logistical work, we learned. And his work on declassifying assets has involved presenting data and reviews to senior colleagues, including company VPs and Programme Managers.
His work sees him travel to countries around the globe, his nominator told us, taking ownership of his customers’ challenges as if they were his own leading to relationships of trust. This led to his award nomination since he has excelled in developing strong relationships with customers while helping them to overcome technical challenges. Dual strengths of technical and interpersonal abilities are difficult to develop in tandem, but exceptionally valuable once mastered.
Electronics Industry ViewpointCaroline Hayes, editor of Electronics Weekly, also shared her viewpoint on Ishaan’s entry.
“Ishaan achieved an impressive collection of firsts while progressing from a graduate apprentice to senior hardware technician. His commitment to balancing education with work responsibilities while contributing to some significant projects at Leonardo is commendable.”
Caroline also highlighted Ishaan’s commitment to STEM which, “coupled with charity work is a testament to his contribution to the wider community and next generation of electronics engineers”.
Community
Ishaan has also been widely involved with STEM and community outreach work – we learned that he has helped to host many STEM events. For example, Engineering Day for Year 9s, Careers Fair for Year 10s, Interview Workshop with Year 11s, and such like.
As well as completing his own IMECHE Challenge, he has also been a mentor for other teams involved with Institution of Mechanical Engineers challenges. For example, he was a point of contact for technical queries for schools involved in the Rampaging Chariots company challenge.
In a little more detail, Rampaging Chariots are remote control cars made up of two drill motors, two controller circuits and a MDF chassis which is reinforced with aluminium angle to reinforce it. The PICs are provided to the students preprogramed. The event is run across the UK by the Rampaging Chariots Guild with support from local Leonardo sites.
Also at Leonardo, he has been helping to mentor and train new team starters, whether graduates, apprentices, or industrial placement students, we heard.
In other, non-STEM charity activity, he was a semi-finalist at the Charity Lincoln Football Tournament, in the runners up team at the Charity EY X Foodbank Football Tournament, and he has helped wash cars at a Charity Car Wash and has regularly taken part in Quiz Nights.
Congratulations to Ishaan Haque!
See also: Elektra Awards 2024 – The Winners
