Summer Intern Review

I enjoyed my 10 week placement with Morgan Sindall very much. I felt that I learnt a lot and all my colleagues were very helpful. I went out on track, I went to a number of different meetings and I went to a number of different offices around the country.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. Most of he time they would have work for me and even when they didn't then they were more than happy to answer my questions, give me advice or help. It was especially helpful as i know that they were taking time out of their own work to help me.

In an answer similar to the question above, all my colleagues including my manager and supervisors were highly helpful and gave me plenty of guidance and support. They were also easily contactable by phone or email to answer my queries. If I was unclear on a talk I had to do then they were excellent in assisting me.

Some days I had plenty to do and had a good balance. There were also quite a few days however where I had quite little to do, even after I had asked if I could help with anything. One or two days I had nothing to do at all and had to do my own independent work or study to keep myself busy.

I was given a reasonable amount of responsibility in some scenarios such as on the track walkout out I was helping the surveyors use a piece of equipment which was worth a six figure sum. Due to the nature of my placement however a lot of the time I was shadowing somebody so just watching/assisting/learning from them rather than having considerable responsibility.

The nature of my placement was Overhead line design and construction for railway lines so a lot of it was electrical and mechanical engineer. As a civil engineering student some of this was less relevant for my degree. On the other hand I did do plenty of civil engineering related activities that benefitted my degree such as looking at the structure of the masts. Also a lot of the skills such as European standards work is applicable across all engineering disciplines.

I worked in a number of different offices throughout my placement and they all had different atmospheres. My main office had quite a relaxed atmosphere and people were more than happy to turn round and give me advice or go and assist a colleague. Another office had an even more relaxed atmosphere where the employees would arrive very early in the day and leave very late but the lunch break was long and they sometimes listened to their own music or took a few breaks. One or two other offices had a more traditional working atmosphere.

I received very little information about my placement before I started so all I knew when I started was where to be and what day. Even these were only confirmed a week or two beforehand even though both I and the company had known that I was on the placement for a number of months. Also when I shadowed different people they sometimes only were told that I was coming one or two days prior so had little chance to prepare work. I enjoyed the schedule and plan that was set up for me however and I thought that it was very beneficial to my development.

I had one training day. It was for an environmental site induction. It trained me in the ecological issues I might face on site such as effects of work on local water sources and wildlife. It also inducted me on the legal consequences of any actions that may negatively affect the environment.i had no other training however.

I have had no discussions with the company about further employment or further placements but they seemed to enjoy having me on board and said that everyone I worked with thought that I was very good. They also said to keep in contact so I am sure that it is a possibilty.

I did not meet any other placement students. With regards to the social scene with my colleagues, we went for pizzas twice and one time we went to the pub after work for a while.

I did not know anyone in the area that I was renting accomodation so I did not spend much money on socialising. The cost for the accommodation was high but I chose to pay a bit more for a slightly nicer place. The cost for travel into London was cheap however and food costs were as they are all round the country.

I did not go on any nights out as I knew nobody in the area.

No.