Syed Shafee Hashmi, a mechanical engineer turned mentor in Hyderabad
It comes from his own time as a student, he says, when he had no shortage of resources, including material available online, but little idea how to use them or where to begin. What helped him, he said, was guidance from seniors and professors. I do not want that to happen to budding engineers, so I mentor whoever is in need,” he told TOI .
Hashmi has been training students for three years, starting with his own college juniors and, more recently, students from other colleges as well. The guidance is mostly project-based – helping with a design, resolving a technical problem, checking calculations or figuring out how to take an idea forward. Most interactions happen online, with in-person meetings when a project needs closer, hands-on attention. “When I was a student, I was clueless about what needed to be done. There were plenty of resources available, but we didn’t know how to utilise them. Much of Hashmi’s mentoring was initially through student teams tied to Aakruti, a national-level student design and engineering competition, though his involvement doesn’t stop there. He has also guided students through a fire-extinguishing bot and a planetary-cycloidal gearbox, helping with their mechanical design, calculations and development.