Recognising high achievers is always important and this is especially true for aspiring young professionals such as AE Smith's national engineering manager, Leigh Graham.
The winner of the 2013 Queensland Young Professional Engineer of the Year Award was recognised for his commitment to professional development as well as his passion for customer collaboration.
Presenting the award on behalf of Engineers Australia earlier this month, chair of the judging panel, Stuart Lister, said Graham had an edge over a strong group of candidates.
Graham said the award means a lot because it covers all engineering disciplines including civil, mechanical electrical and structural.
"Over the last couple of years the infrastructure boom in Queensland has meant there are more engineers here than ever before with lots of experience; so to win with all that talent in the market is very humbling," he said.
"Collaboration is the way forward for the construction industry. Customers want to see return on investment (ROI). To deliver that, we all need to work together to get the best result.”
Graham said knowledge sharing is also important to develop talent, especially as the engineering skills shortage worsens.
"There is an older generation of very experienced engineers, but they’ll retire in the next 10-15 years. It’s important that we hand their knowledge down and cultivate the talent coming through," he said.
"It’s essential to the business and to the industry, because that’s what we deliver to customers – expertise.”
Graham will represent Queensland in the National Young Professional Engineer category at the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards in November.
