Civil Engineering Trainee Review

I really enjoyed working at Arup this year and was given a good amount of responsibility within the work I was doing. It is a great company to work for and very much people focused, with plenty of social and sporting events as well as charity fundraisers. Everyone I worked with was very professional but also open and friendly which made me feel very welcome within the team.

During the times where I had my own work that I could take ownership of I felt very valued and as though I was doing good work that was contributing positively to the team, however on occasion when I was given odd jobs from various people I felt like I was doing the boring bits that other people didn't want to do. Although this only happened on occasion throughout my ten months and at the end of the day the jobs need doing!

I was largely trusted to sort myself out if needed but had allocated colleagues I could chat to if need be. When I wanted to change what was doing or try something they were very receptive to helping me, having seen I was taking the initiative. I felt comfortable enough to ask for help when needed and so I wasn't been over-guided as they knew I would ask if need be.

This varied on the projects that the team was working on, there was a period where the whole team was low on work and as that filtered down I was left with very little to do for about three weeks. On the other hand, when I was immersed in a project I would be very busy and potentially working overtime. Overall this balanced out well over the course of the length of my placement.

For an undergraduate student on placement I was given a very large amount of responsibility within my work. This grew during the length of my placement as I completed tasks they gave me more and more responsibility. For the final three months of my placement, along with a graduate who joined the same time as I did, I was responsible for a whole package of work with just my manager ensuring things were running smoothly and I was keeping on track.

The time management and goal setting skills I have learnt will be really valuable for my final two years at university. Additionally team management and project skills, especially report writing, will be fully utilised in the next two years of study to complete my masters degree. I have also gained a much greater understanding of how the theory applies to the civil engineering industry and this has given me more focus to complete my remaining modules.

It was a very pleasant atmosphere to work in and everyone was very friendly.

It was organised through a partnership with the University of Bristol and so setting it up was done by the Engineering Design staff at the university. Once arrived at Arup it was less well organised with it taking a bit of time to get my computer logins sorted and to get settled with where I was sitting. There was work ready for me to start on when I arrived however which helped me crack on once I was at my desk.

I have been offered a job upon graduating in 2018 which I have accepted, I am additionally going back for a summer placement between my final two years.

"Pub of the month" on first friday of the month was a good way to round off the week.

Bristol is an expensive place to rent a place to live.