Vacation Student Review

Very much enjoyed. Everyone I spoke to in the Cardiff office (where I was based) were all very helpful and polite. The work itself was very interesting and enabled me to use the theory learned at university to an extent and it was very interesting to see how the water industry worked from an engineering point of view.

For the first week or so, I didn't really accomplish much in terms of actual work, it was mainly just reading over information to get an idea of what to expect when I was called upon to do some work. From then on, every week I was given a new task to complete, adding to the list of jobs I could be deemed as competent on. At this point I felt the work I was doing was valuable to my immediate colleagues and regularly received thanks for the work I had done.

As stated earlier, everyone I spoke to was either really helpful or could point me in the right direction to someone who could help. My immediate 'supervisor' was a current graduate engineer who gave me work based on what was listed as needed by a senior engineer. Every piece of work I completed was checked by both of these and feedback given immediately.

Some days were more hectic than others. However, if you found that you were light on workload, you could easily send out an email or talk to engineers within your own discipline and others for work, which usually they obliged. If these is literally no work to complete, there are many things that can be read over to either get a better insight to the company, or to improve particular skills. For example, all training courses attended by engineers from the Mechanical group were available to everyone, so you could easily learn about all areas of the water industry if you wanted to.

To start off with, none, which is to be expected given that I had never worked in an engineering environment before. But as I started to undertake new tasks more and more, responsibility was gained. This has led to arranging visits for potential suppliers, writing specifications for projects and attending site visits. No matter how high level engineer you are, your work is always checked by others anyway, which is reassuring at times and gives valuable feedback.

I am starting a new job as a graduate mechanical engineer after my placement and everything I learned in my placement will help. From writing reports, learning how engineers think and the things they look for, to meeting with 3rd party partners, clients and engineers from other disciplines will assist me in the future. Also, I have had to use knowledge gained from uni which reinforces practical and theoretical approaches that will be needed in the future.

The atmosphere was very friendly, full of conversation relating to work and non-work matters. Sometimes when people were particularly busy, headphones could be seen and the office took more of a serene atmosphere. Very comfortable setting and location of office is easy to get to. There are a lot of activities which everyone participates in, if its a night out or a day away kayaking. Lots of opportunities to make friends.

Initially there was a lot of waiting around for things to do apart from reading information and reports. But as soon as the work was flowing, it all seemed very well organised. You get out what you are willing to put in I think, so if you're happy just to sit down and read things then you might not get the best of the placement. But if you are willing to show that you are keen to learn and help out, people will happily give you interesting work to do and approach you if there is anything they would like you to look at.

I didnt receive much official training, just things like the usual health and safety briefings and a site safety briefing. However, the graduate who helped me and the senior engineers who we worked for would happily spend hours going through anything that you are not sure of or anything that you needed to know do complete a particular job. In terms of development, the graduate who I worked with spoke about the ability to head towards Chartership, and what he was doing to get there. Obviously this would not be available to someone on an 11 week placement, but long term positions could easily get hold of available development.

The organisation seems to be growing all the time so I would assume that future prospects are excellent. Again, if you are willing to show that you want to work effectively and you are willing to increase your knowledge of the industry then you will make people notice you and then your prospects for immediate employment after the placement will be good. If I didnt have a graduate position lined for after my placement here, then I certainly would've asked about staying on as a graduate engineer if the position was available.

Not really, but this is through no fault of the company.

I live in my own house locally, so not really applicable. Train is relatively cheap to get back and forth though.

N/A

Yes plenty.