Summer Placement Student Review

by Atkins

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

3.6/5
  • The Role
    4.0
  • The Company
    4.0
  • The Culture
    2.5

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I really enjoyed it, I was able to get a great ammount of experience in just 10 weeks, from working on state of the art projects such as the ABWR in Wylfaa Anglesey and also working in client offices. I hope that I will get annother opportunity to be able to work here again!

    4/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • I felt welcomed from the very first day. I felt the work that I was being given had a real importance, and was able to confirm this when the models that I had created for technical refferences were used in a clients final report. They also arranged a leaving social so that I was able to meet the new grads that were starting this year who had carried out the same placement last summer.

    4/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • I was supported everystep of the way. Not only with thecnical work, but with other things like finding employees who had completed a similar course to mine at university and being able to question them about some of the projects they have been working on. I was also helped with finding a institute that I could start working towards my chartership with.

    5/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • There was always work avaliable, It was good to be assigned to a single project as I was able to see it develop from the start and get to a first draft ready for reviewing. Once I had shown I was capable of producing detailed 3D models, many others in the team were interested in my producing refferences for them also.

    4/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • I felt that my resposibilties were relitvily high in that to ensure that the information was provided on time and in a professional manner for the client. I also had contact with several other companies when researching certain designs and felt the importance of representing Atkins in a profesional manner.

    4/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • The main skills which I will take back to university with me for my final year will be that of time management. Having to work on projects for a client within certain timeframes allowed me to learn to plan my time efficently to get the work done well and on time. I was also able to further my understading of a new type of nuclear reactor technology that will most certainly be beneficial.

    4/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • The atmosphere in the office was lively and enthusiastic, even more so when working on site at client offices. If there was something that I didint understand or know where certain resources were located, everyone was willing to help. Dress down Fridays were also good in that you didnt have to wear standard office attire and fresh somosas were delivered and all purchases were donated to charity.

    4/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • It was clear that there was a well defined structure layed out for the very start. The time that I would be spending with the team, the project itself did not get as far as we would have liked, however, this was due to additional work load on the clients side and not out own.

    5/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • I was able to take various online coureses to improve my understanding on various subjects such as radiation protection and general project management. Certain work required additional software such as SketchUp and Visio which were all ordered for me to be able to complete the work. However, I believe that if I were to have been on a longer placement, more training would be avaliable.

    4/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • Flexi Time

    Sports and Social Club

    Subsidised/Company Gym

    Company Parties/Events

    Above 25 days holiday

    4/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • Future employement prospects seem great, the client was impressed with the work which I completed for them which led to the team I was working with offereing me a job next year after I finish my degree! I was so pleased as it would allow me to not worry about what I would be doing after I finish my course and allow me to focus solely on completing my disertation.

    4/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • There is a great grad community who organise various trips and weekends away. There was always something going on every weekend. I was also able to attend a team social which was a really good way to say goodby to everyone who I had worked with over the past 10 week and to also meet the new grads that were going to be starting the following week.

    3/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • During my placement, I lived at home which was arround an hours drive from the office. I decided to do this as i calculated that the cost of fuel would be cheaper than renting a room for 10 weeks. This also meant that I didnt really experience living in the city, however I was able to save a lot more money!

    3/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • As stated above, I did not live in the area so was not able to go out in the city too much. I worked in Bristol and during the weekends I would go back to my university accomodation in Birmingham. The train links between the two cities are great with the training only taking 1hr10min which is quicker than driving!

    3/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • As stated earlier, there is an active grad community who organise various events such as weekends away in wales. There was also a summer party which was free!

    3/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

Accounting, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering

South West

September 2016


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