EW BrightSparks 2023 profile: Shriyansh Sapkota, BT

Now in its sixth year of awards, EW BrightSparks sees Electronics Weekly highlight and celebrate some of the brightest and most talented young engineers in the UK today.

Here, in our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2023, we profile Shriyansh Sapkota, a Digital and Technology Solutions Degree Apprentice at BT.

Achievements

Shriyansh is “a go getter always ready to take on a challenge and to lead by example” one of his testimonials said. And he highlighted a range of his activities and achievements since his time at BT.

For the Champions League Final 2022, for example, Shriyansh was working as a project manager on providing footage from Stade De France back to BT Tower so it could be distributed to an estimated 700 million viewers across the world, as well as providing additional data on BT Sports for Liverpool supporters, as requested by the club.

He also lead a six-month project involving the capture and visualisation of data, using software called Kibana, for use by Microsoft Teams data. This work has subsequently been rolled out to be used for external clients. Additionally, he developed Python application to support the translation of binary data for engineers.

In terms of sustainability at BT Group, he helped launch a number of initiatives to reduce carbon footprint by developing a platform to monitor energy consumption.

Helping aspiring school leavers find out more about apprenticeships and find the best opportunities, he also worked with GetMyFirstJob.

“In this role,” he told us, “I have been able to share my journey, mentor students looking to find out more about apprenticeships and plan events that aid younger students in finding out the best path for them.”

In terms of recognition for his work, Shriyansh’s other achievements included winning a Tech Skills National Apprenticeship Award 2023 in the Special Recognition category, and also the Multi-Cultural Apprenticeship Awards 2023 Judge’s Choice Highly Commended Apprentice.

Outside of his apprenticeship, he is setting up an online web development business, creating bespoke websites based on clients needs (an example website can be seen here).

“I plan on helping other business owners bring their idea to life and attract new customers through their website,” he shared. “In the long term I want to be able to scale this business and make the website consulting process much easier for clients than it currently is.”

Community

In terms of wider community and STEM work, Shriyansh spends time volunteering at careers fairs and schools. For example, he visited multiple high schools – Kingsbury, Ruislip, Central Foundation and others – to encourage students to take up apprenticeships in engineering (and wider).

He was also chosen to represent BT at a careers fair held at the House of Commons to discuss the benefits of apprenticeships and careers in engineering and BT. These slots, he highlighted, are only given to passionate brand ambassadors that go above and beyond the call of duty in their role. At the House of Commons, he was speaking to Labour MPs Emma Hardy and Toby Perkins on the changes that need to be made to make apprenticeships more widely available.

Shriyansh also helped overseeing the 2023 BT x Aleto Leadership course – helping with setting up calls and meetings, relaying information, aiding engagement from the whole team, and mentoring the delegates so they can take the most out of the program.

He has also supported BT’s own internal podcast series, “Switched On”, where he talks about his experiences, as well as facilitates discussions on a variety of topics.

Staying on podcasts, he has co-founded and created An Apprenticeship Podcast, which aims to bring guests to talk about different skills that would benefit apprentices, as well as acting as a form of comms to ensure everyone gets equal opportunities, regardless of where they are based. It will, he told us, aim to fill the gap in experience caused by the recent pandemic for the affected apprentices. The 5-episode podcast achieved over 10,000 streams.

In terms of mental health awareness, in the height of the lockdown, he created a game to help with the fatigue that over 50 employees were feeling working from home. The game involved activities that each employee could do to aid in their mental health, such as “go for a 15-minute walk between meetings”. The feedback on the activities was overwhelmingly positive with many stating it had lifted their mood.

He also organised, planned and executed week-long work experience for potential apprentices at BT- providing students with insights into what life as an apprentice and BT Group while supporting them with experience in presentations, public speaking and problem solving.

Python was mentioned previously, and Shriyansh has lead workshops in the language for 30 year 8 students from Manchester Academy, helping teach them the fundamentals of the programming language.

“I received great feedback from the students which further encouraged me to pursue giving back to the community, he told us. “I love working with young individuals and want to be a positive influence to shape the next generation of leaders.”

Outside of work, as a volunteer, he has also supported with the execution of TEDxLondon events including TEDxLondonWomen 2023.

Shriyansh has also supported NJIRC 2023 (National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships) – organising and attending volunteering day, and helping set the agenda and roles for 40 BT employees in supporting the organisation.

Finally, for a Buddhist sangha (community), Shriyansh volunteers to help young people by tutoring them in subjects they are struggling in, as well as with their faith and meditation. Helping others on this journey brings fulfilment into my life, he told us.