Industrial Placement Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my 12 month placement with Atkins. The office environment was brilliant and the culture was very welcoming. I was fortunate enough to be able to work on a variety of projects, doing different tasks allowing me to gain and develop different skills, ranging from producing calculations to auditing projects.

Colleagues recognised hard work, especially where I stayed over hours to help on tight deadlines, and were very thankful and appreciative. Despite being a placement student, I was treated with respect and as if I was a graduate. Midyear reviews also gave opportunities to receive feedback and hearing what your project manager or project engineer have to say about you shows they really do value the work you’ve done.

I had little guidance from my line manager regarding work compared to some other placements which I found challenging at first, however it also gave me the opportunity to be self-sufficient and find productive work for myself. Support-wise, I think the management was very good. My line manager was always willing to help me whenever I approached with a problem, likewise with the discipline leads.

As a consultancy, the flow of work isn’t steady, which isn’t a fault of the company at all. However during the beginning of my placement, there was very little work, and I found having to occupy myself with self-learning. However the situation did improve and there were times where I was very busy, even working overtime.

I believe the general culture within Atkins is to be self-sufficient and proactive; you get what you put in. Therefore if you show you can take on responsibility and are willing to try, then responsibility will be given to you. I wasn’t given responsibility straight away, which was understandable because I was still new and had a lot to learn. However as the placement progressed, people were very eager to give me more responsibility which was very helpful in further progressing my experience.

A lot of the technical work I did was related to my second year modules, allowing me to develop my knowledge further but also gain a better appreciation of my university modules to engineering. I feel a lot more confident in my abilities, both technically but also within my soft skills. Having taken a few team meetings, and speaking in front of much more senior people, I am much more confident in speaking and sharing my ideas, especially in situations where you have to pitch your ideas to a panel.

The atmosphere was brilliant. There were times when it was very busy, but also times when it was quiet, however the attitudes of people were still the same – friendly, helpful, enthusiastic etc. Even when people are very busy, they are still very keen to help you if you have any questions or problems. The office culture is amazing; they regard the wellbeing and safety of staff very highly and dedicate a lot of resources to keep the quality of life high.

The company has taken on placements for many years so are very experienced with dealing with them. I feel like there could have been more structure to the placement, especially during the beginning where I was still unsure of what my roles were. However this freedom also gave me more opportunities to find my own work.

Despite being a placement student, the company still invested time and money into giving my training courses and going away to seminars. I went on at least 2 training courses, one of which was over the span of 2 days and was held in a hotel. They were also very supportive of me attending outside training opportunities during the day if I wasn’t particularly busy during the week.

Many interns get offered another placement during the next summer or even a graduate job. Being such a large company, Atkins has the capacity to take on many graduates and so I think the future employment prospects are very good. The company does yearly reviews of promotions which shows they actively reward those who deserve it and ensures good work prospects.

Being a very graduate heavy office, there was a great graduate community. There were even committee roles dedicated to providing socials. Even before my placement started, I was invited to a facebook group just for placements which allowed me to make friends even before I started my placement. There are also team and discipline socials organised throughout the year.

My office is in a big city however it not close to the centre, so was quite a pain travelling to train and transport costs do add up, however the company provides a bus pass on which you can use on a specific company bus. The cost of living was reasonable and socialising was fine too.

The office isn’t close to the centre of town, however the majority of people lived between the office and the town centre so reaching either of the places wasn’t challenging. It is quite a medium sized city so the nightlife is very good and definitely has many things to keep you entertained.

The company has a range of active social clubs and actively promotes them so there were always opportunities to try new activities and many opportunities to get involved outside of the work place. There are also many social events arranged giving you the opportunity to meet others from different departments making it easy to network.