Vacation Student Review

My placement at Arup has been by far the best placement I have ever done. The people and the culture were fantastic, and immediately made me feel like a part of the team. The projects I worked on were also very interesting and challenging, making the work enjoyable. I was never made to feel like I was 'just an intern' only good for basic, repetitive work.

I have felt very valued in my time at Arup, in particular by the colleagues who were working on the same project as me. All the work that I completed was received with gratitude and any errors I had made were just explained to me without judgement. I felt that the time and effort that I put into the quality of my work was definitely appreciated.

Most of the time I had an acceptable amount of work to do but I did on occasion run out of work and my colleagues would be too busy to brief me on something else I could do (and this can get a little boring). On the whole, however, I was kept busy and working hard without ever being made to feel overwhelmed.

As I was working here over the summer the office did seem a little empty at times with lots of people away on holiday. Despite the general quietness, however, the atmosphere was always friendly. Everyone was always very welcoming and eager to have a chat and get to know me.

The project I was initially set to work on when I arrived was missing one of their key people as they were on holiday. This meant that it was difficult to get much work done and hence I got moved onto a different project. As the placement progressed I never went back to the first project as the one I was now fully briefed on was more critical. Whilst I fully enjoyed working on that project, I feel it would have been good to gain exposure to at least a couple of other projects. In terms of my work on that one project however, the work that was expected of me was always well explained and the team efforts felt very organised.

I was only at Arup for 2 months and hence during that time I did not undertake any official training courses. I was, however, taught how to use some of Arup's structural analysis software such as Oasys GSA and AdSec which I now feel competent in. Seeing as all my colleagues were always willing to answer any of my questions I also felt I learnt a lot of general structural engineering knowledge.

I have absolutely loved my time at Arup and really feel like it is an organisation and culture in which I would immediately fit in. The projects that I took part in, as well as those which I heard about from my colleagues around me, were always very interesting, to the point where I was wishing I could stay on for longer just to get involved in and learn about a few more of them. I was very happy when discussions about a graduate position started with my boss.

I got along very well with the other summer placement student although our placements only overlapped for 3 weeks. The social scene with colleagues in general is good, sometimes getting lunch together and sometimes going to the local pub after work to be joined by what seems like the whole Arup office! I would also have loved to take part in some of the sports (touch rugby or football) but didn't feel I had the time as I was only in London for 2 months and wanted to get to know the city.

The cost of living in London is honestly a lot higher than anything I've ever come across before. In order to save some money I took to walking to and from work (approximately 50mins), allowing me to save up that much extra for socialising. Overall, however, I was never unable to take part in any activity I wanted due to money shortage.

There were quite a few opportunities to get involved with outside of work. These included taking part in one of the many sport teams set up in the London office, going out for social drinks at the local pub after work, as well as bigger, more organised socials to encourage team bonding. It was great to get invited to these socials even though they would be occurring once my placement was over.