An attractive pathway towards a purposeful career in engineering

‘The Singapore Engineer’ speaks to Dr Victor Sim, on his career progression and the benefits he has derived from becoming a Chartered Engineer in Singapore.

Dr Sim holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Chemistry) degree with 1st Class Honours, from National University of Singapore, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, from Nanyang Technological University.

Dr Victor Sim

Dr Victor Sim (VS): It has been a gainful journey for me, applying domain skill sets to real-life projects and excelling in areas to generate new intellectual property. For example, I was Surbana Jurong’s (SJ) Principal Investigator for the SGD 3.2 million R&D project on big data analytics, artificial intelligence and digitalisation, in the water sector, for both stormwater (flood) management and plant process control. Both projects have resulted in minimal viable products (MVPs) with commercial applications. It was not easy commercialising R&D on the fly, but correct expectations were important to the overall success. Strategically, the scope covered more of the development portion and utilised an engineering mindset with an end in mind, and broke down various parts to smaller pieces, whilst also maintaining strict adherence to timelines. This engineering mindset was similar to the approach I took when overseeing the IES Repositioning Exercise Consultant Study which was carried out during Phase 2 in 2020. On paper, I had created and delivered new revenue streams with these MVPs and have lifted SJ’s capabilities and placed them, at least, on par with those of global consultants in the areas I have worked on. Within the SJ Group, I have been consulted on matters where my competencies in the area of water could be applied. For example, during the circuit breaker, last year, Changi Exhibition Centre (CEC) was chosen to be one of the multiple recovery centres for quarantining foreign workers. The CEC was not built for extended periods of occupation, as it was used for exhibitions, each lasting a few days, such as the Singapore Airshow which is held every two years. As a recovery centre for quarantined workers, the amount of wastewater generated would be an issue, as it had to be disposed of, every day. A water treatment facility had to be built onsite, in just a few months. With the shortage of available workers, a quickly deployable, plug-and-play solution was envisioned. Drawing on my experience overseas, I found that this decentralised solution presents a good economic opportunity in the ‘new normal’. Earlier, I had the great opportunity to work under Professor Ng Wun Jern, the previous Executive Director of NEWRI (Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute), who is a well-respected engineer. This was my first experience in a ‘pseudo management’ role. In a short span of time, I built up MECIA capabilities, after inheriting a non-engineering team, and honed my skills in supervision, project management and coordination, that I had picked up earlier in my postgraduate studies. I also picked up a lot of soft skills when I was at NEWRI Community Development (NEWRIComm). Besides being exposed to the various technical factors governing wasteto-biogas generation, fresh water treatment, wastewater treatment and sanitation works, across ASEAN, Sri Lanka and India, and becoming aware of the need to acquire pure domain knowledge to do this job well, it was also about exhibiting diplomacy at its best. How does one gain respect, when there is an observable difference in knowledge, culture and societal development, and one has to balance monetary and skill set transfers with financial sustainability, whilst keeping in mind, at the same time, the specific ethical, legal and regulatory requirements of overseas projects? In the functional role of Deputy Director, I assisted NEWRIComm to win multiple accolades, including the NTU Humanitarian Award 2018, and both the IES

Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award and the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award, in 2017, for an innovative community development project in Sri Lanka. Subsequently, as the leader of a team that put forward a project to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals through engineering, I was conferred the WFEO Young Engineer Award. All these achievements would not have been possible if I had not acquired a sound foundation in engineering design. For this, I am grateful to PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, and to an international engineering firm which had employed me in its Singapore office. I was trained to address the design considerations and process options for producing drinking water at Choa Chu Kang Waterworks and Woodleigh Waterworks. I also supported the construction of Singapore’s third seawater desalination plant and the Kranji NEWater Factory Expansion. Specifically, I specialised in process option trade-offs with disinfection criteria and formation of by-products, equipment life cycle analysis and chemical systems. These are all very valuable skill sets and project track records that enabled me to obtain my engineering accreditations.

VS: Getting the Chartered Engineer (CEng) accreditation in Singapore! When I won the St Gallen Wings of Excellence Award 2013, for my essay ‘Courage - Ingrained by nature or nurtured’, thereby qualifying as one of the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ for the St Gallen Symposium, I recall I had just completed my postgraduate studies and was looking around for a job that matched my domain knowledge. Selfishly, I stated that I was highly educated and had difficulty finding a job. It was like I was over-qualified and my credentials did not seem to match what the industry required. I was reprimanded by an adviser of the local St Gallen committee, who told me “nobody owes you a living”. That shook me, as I had kind of ‘lost my way’ in my attempts to secure a better life for my family. I enjoy the pursuit of science and knowledge, but I had difficulty understanding what the industry wanted or recognised. There needs to be a commonly recognised standard to gauge one’s skill. While I excelled, and people knew it, I was lost as I did not have a common reference point that others could also access, until I came across the CEng accreditation scheme. As it turned out, my entire career path took off after I got the CEng accreditation, as people now know I had fulfilled a certain engineering competency and CEng also allowed me via IES MRA to obtain other internationally recognised engineering accreditations that would not have been possible otherwise, since engineering is a protected profession overseas. The CEng accreditation is a skill set accreditation framework that allowed my competencies to be clearly distinguished from those of my peers. With the CEng, it was easier for me to progress professionally and career-wise.

VS: As highlighted earlier, it is the ability to get my competency recognised not just locally but regionally and internationally, while continuously progressing towards a better standard of life for my family.

VS: It has become easier for me to progress, professionally and career-wise. Also, there is now greater impetus towards recognising the similarity between the Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Professional Engineer (PE) competencies with, for example, the public sector procurement process requiring either a PE or a CEng to be part of the key manpower deployment. This is a good step in pushing the value of the CEng. As the critical mass of engineers with the CEng accreditation, increases, graduates in the many engineering disciplines, that are not considered for the Singapore PE accreditation, will have a proper career development pathway, through the CEng recognition. I view CEng as an IES-initiated career pathway for engineers, with IES emphasising its role as the true voice of the engineering community. Right now, with the entire framework being enlarged to include technicians and technologists as accredited engineers, multiple, ‘illuminated’ pathways are opening up for a better future for engineers. Better late than never! As part of the repositioning exercise, ‘chartership’ has been identified as one of the four key pillars that IES will be working on, over the next three to five years. The CEng accreditation will not only strengthen locally, with increasing numbers of accredited engineers, it will also grow in terms of regional and international recognition. This will definitely help in the future, as long as one stays in this line, and I am very glad to be one of the early movers of this IES-initiated scheme.

The DDI fan is recommended for any facility that needs VS: Do not start to prepare only when you are ready to significant air movement in large spaces. apply. Learn from my mistake, as I wasted the first few years ‘appearing lost’.

Find out more about the CEng accreditation, study the application form, and start to oversee the type of activities that can get you the accreditation. Plan early and work towards it. Be in-charge of your development. This is the best advice I can give. Also, engineering is not just about hardcore skills. Soft skills are also very important to becoming a successful engineer. The CEng accreditation covers them in a couple of important sections. CEng accreditation is certainly a tried-and-tested pathway towards purposeful careers in engineering-related domains.

VS: The pandemic has shocked me personally, as I saw how the areas I thought were innovative became outdated within the last two to three years. Just like how engineers must continuously upgrade and pursue professional development, it is necessary to recalibrate after ‘the crisis of our generation’. While I have been looking forward to addressing the challenge of climate change, in the area of water as the ‘new blue life sustaining oil’, especially the effects of both scarcity and overabundance, I have decided to pursue immediately the subject of ‘trust’ and ‘cybersecurity’, as this is an urgent need, with the world slowly emerging from the pandemic and entering the ‘post-COVID normal’ phase. At the same time, I am very happy to continue contributing to the engineering community in volunteer positions including as an IES CEng assessor, a member of the ESG Start-Up Tech Evaluation Panel, and a member of the ISO/Singapore Standards Water Re-use in Urban Areas Mirror Committee.

The Chartered Engineer accreditation scheme was launched by IES in September 2013.

The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) launched the Chartered Engineer programme, during the Official Opening of the inaugural World Engineers Summit, held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, in September 2013. The programme provides professional recognition to qualified engineers across all sectors. Aimed at engineers who are in fields that do not require them to be registered as Professional Engineers, the Chartered Engineer title will be an external validation of their experience, expertise and practising competence, and a quality mark to differentiate their professional standing in their respective engineering disciplines. To qualify for the Chartered Engineer programme, engineers must possess a recognised engineering degree and a minimum of four years of practical experience, maintain continuing professional development and comply with the Chartered Engineers’ Code of Conduct. Through the Chartered Engineer programme, IES, as the accreditation body, aims to raise engineering standards in Singapore.