Sheridan student wins Gold at 2022 Skills Canada Competition

A Sheridan student has won top honours at the 2022 Skills Canada National Competition, competing in the Cloud Computing category.

Akshit Vineet, who is studying Internet Communications Technology, has earned a spot on Team Canada following a Gold Medal win at the national competition in Vancouver. Vineet’s accomplishment is particularly significant, as this marks the first year the Cloud Computing category debuted at the Skills competitions.

Approximately 350 students competed in 45 Skill Areas at the event, which took place in Vancouver.

Vineet and his competitors were asked to use the AWS Cloud Computing environment in several real-world scenarios, with judges evaluating their competence in design, implementation, and management of information technology infrastructure via a public cloud environment. Competitors were tested in areas such as server and storage administration, infrastructure creation and management and cloud security.

“Akshit has showcased admirable focus, determination and skill. I’m truly proud to have him represent Sheridan, and Canada, on an international stage,” says Mark Orlando, Associate Dean of Sheridan’s School for Applied Computing. “These competitions are a testament to the talent of our students. I am also deeply appreciative of the hard work of our faculty members, who work tirelessly to mentor and train Sheridan’s competitors at every stage of the process.”

Skills Canada is one of a series of skills-based competitions that traditionally take place every two years as part of the WorldSkills competition. Participants must take a grueling route to reach the final event, succeeding at regional, territorial and national competitions before earning the right to represent their country on the world stage. The WorldSkills competition features over 1,600 competitors competing in categories that run the gamut from manufacturing and engineering technology to architectural stonemasonry and landscape gardening.

Sheridan instructors Harsh Thakkar, Sasipriya Arun, El Sayed Mahmoud and Irina Geiman were instrumental in bringing the Cloud Computing competition to Skills Ontario. Arun and Mahmoud volunteered as Tech co-chair and Tech Chair. They, along with Geiman, worked on the scope of the competition, gathered a team of judges and coordinated the challenge question and MCQ exam for the provincial competition.

Instructor Felix Carapaica trained Sheridan’s students, including Vineet, on the cloud computing skills needed to prepare for the contest.

Although WorldSkills International recently announced that this year’s competition will be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vineet will continue his training, and Skills Canada will be working with WorldSkills to organize alternate international training and competition experiences whenever possible.

More details regarding the rescheduled WorldSkills Competition are expected to be released towards the end of June.