Detail

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) Alumnus Romi Shariff is very familiar with the learning journey. In his current role as Shift Team Leader, he applies this approach to life by taking every chance he gets to keep improving, not just for himself, but also for his team, and the company he works for.

First Steps

Romi Shariff’s grandfather had some sage advice for him: “You have to study hard to get good grades, then you get good pay.” Although not academically inclined, Romi took these words to heart and eventually entered SP to study Chemical Process Technology.

“This was the start of my learning journey. And also, the realization that I had a desire to explore, to discover more.”

Romi admits that he did not take his studies seriously during his first year at SP. Thinking back to those days, he is thankful for his seniors and the role they played during this formative period.

“I would have been lost without them. Those moments of social interactions laid the important foundation for me to manage a team later on in my career.”

It was only in his third year that Romi began to take things more seriously. He showed an interest towards the industrial aspects of the field, such as industrial processes, process control, process plant, etc, and decided to focus his attention on those areas.

Valuable Lessons at SP

It was at this juncture of Romi’s time at SP that he faced some real challenges. He remembers that besides the main hurdle of the exams, the other major one came in the form of group projects.

“We had to form teams, do our research, and get our hands on the resources and materials that we needed for our projects.”

In hindsight, Romi credits this experience as essential to prepare him for the path he eventually chose to take in his career.

“It’s very similar … issues like time management, people management and project management … whether it’s a school project or a manufacturing process, I needed to get everyone to work together towards a common goal.”

Romi also said that although what he studied at SP was not immediately applicable to his role at his first job, it would still eventually prove to be invaluable. After two years at a company working as a lab tech in plastic compounding, he eventually moved over to process, which was much closer to what he learned at SP.

Working Knowledge

Today, Romi is thriving in his role as Shift Team Leader at Croda Singapore. His key responsibilities are to monitor and manage the plant activities, as well as delegate tasks to the technicians.

In addition, he is required to attend production meetings, as well as collaborate with other departments, e.g. the mechanical or maintenance departments on equipment breakdown studies.

“It’s quite a wide role, but the main thing is to look after the manufacturing plant.”

Based on his experiences at SP, Romi knows that in order to foster teamwork and collaboration within his team, he has to be a team player himself first.

“I need to establish a certain level of trust with my peers, have healthy interactions, and clear two-way communication. Otherwise, I won’t be able to manage them well.”

Trust Above All

For Romi, the crucial element that makes things work is “trust”. He recalls the most outstanding moment of his career – when his superior appointed him to lead a team and provide training to them.

“I realised that I had managed to earn my superiors’ trust. With the confidence boost that came with this trust, I was able to pass on what I had learned to others, and it was very satisfactory to see how these people I trained became better at their jobs and their roles.”

Words of Wisdom

“Take any and all opportunities that come your way. Because it means someone has put their trust in your abilities, has chosen you, and knows you can do it.” This is the advice that Romi wants to offer new SP alumni, and adds a reminder not to procrastinate, and to grab the opportunities immediately.

Ultimately, this humble and unpretentious alumnus is highly appreciative of his years at SP. Romi is where he is today because of his experiences there, which isn’t surprising. After all, that’s where his true learning journey began.

Romi Shariff
Shift Team Leader, Croda Singapore Pte Ltd
Diploma in Chemical Process Technology, 1993