Sheffield engineering talent discovered at Siemens hackathon

A Sheffield student has been offered a career opportunity with Siemens after showcasing his engineering talent at a 48-hour engineering hackathon.

Waleed Hamad, 22, was part of a team who came runners-up in the Sir William Siemens Challenge, which has been designed to identify the emerging engineering talent from across the UK and give young people a taste of what it is to work for a leading technology company.

He is studying a MEng Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield and was one of 70 students from 27 UK universities who came together to build and programme a unique mechanical/electrical device which brought to life data from Mindsphere, Siemens’ industrial cloud-based operating system.

Waleed was part of Team Vectron which created a miniature version of the competition space with model ‘people’ that lit up to represent increased footfall and carbon dioxide levels, an LED array which changed depending on carbon monoxide levels, and a rotating display to show the time of day.

As runners-up the team have been offered access to internship or graduate opportunities with Siemens’ Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, and Mobility businesses.

Waleed said: “It was a pleasure working with like-minded individuals. I was able to absorb different kinds of skills from the facilities provided by the University of Birmingham and enrich our solution with my own skills to obtain a great solution.

“If there is one attribute that you will improve upon after this event, it must be working under pressure.”

Amelia Donaldson, senior talent acquisition specialist for Siemens, said: “Now in its fifth year the Sir William Siemens Challenge has become an extraordinary annual showcase of the engineering and digital talent emerging from UK universities.

“Having moved the competition online during the pandemic, we were delighted to return to an in-person event again.

“We are excited to be able to offer so many young people the opportunity to start their rewarding career with Siemens.”

Commenting on behalf of the judges, Colin Morris, Siemens mobility’s lead development engineering manager, said: “The judges were blown away by the standard of the competition and the range of innovation on display throughout the weekend.

“There was a clear demonstration of adaptability, collaboration and problem-solving skills from across the teams.”