Student Placement - Building Services Review

There were some aspects of the internship that I enjoyed, and others that were less enjoyable. The working atmosphere was good, and I enjoyed working alongside others within my team. I also found the work-life balance to be good (definitely better than at university). However, I found that it was hard to set objectives seeking to aid my development. I was often given very basic tasks to do, such as labelling/checking drawings. Whilst these are jobs undertaken by even the most senior of colleagues in the sector I was in, it would have been good to have been given more tasks with a view to aiding my personal development.

I did feel valued and like a useful part of the team. When asking for feedback at the end of my placement, I received positive comments from colleagues along the lines of 'would work with again'. There was however a slight pervading attitude that I was there as effectively 'free labour'.

I found that when I was seeking to try and set objectives, I received little support from my line manager. In addition, the impetus to meet up regularly with my line manager was firmly on my shoulders – if I didn’t ask to meet with them, then they didn’t make any efforts to meet with me. However, I found that when I needed help with things from a technical standpoint, my colleagues and supervisors were more than happy to help me. I also feel that if I had had any major issues during my time on placement, I could have talked to colleagues about them.

The nature of the sector that I was working in is such that work naturally comes in peaks and troughs. There were some days where I had very little to do, and others where we had an issue deadline coming up, and as such I had large amounts of work to complete. On an average day, the work load was fair – I was given as much or as little work as I felt I’d be able to complete.

The team I was working in was quite stretched for resources, and so I was expected to function as a full member of the team. When we had issue deadlines, I would be producing work that would be going to clients, and I was relied upon on a daily basis to get work done as necessary to advance the team’s projects.

I found that the work I was doing did not have that much in common technically with what I was studying in my degree, albeit I knew that this would be the case before hand, as my degree, whilst equipping me to enter the sector I worked in, is not directly linked to it. However, I hope that the skills that I learned in terms of professionalism, and working consistently are transferrable to my university studies.

The general atmosphere of the office was good. There was very much a professional attitude in the office, however, people were friendly and willing to chat about matters other than work. The office itself had about 400 people working in it, but despite this it was possible to have a conversation with pretty much anyone that I bumped into.

In my experience, the placement scheme did not seem to be that comprehensive. I found there was little structure to it, however the scheme seemed aimed at integrating placement students as fully fledged members of the teams they were placed in, rather than wrapping them in cotton-wool on a polished placement scheme. This could be considered either good or bad depending on your perspective, but I found it was good just being treated as another member of the team.

I found this to be very mixed. In some aspects the company was good at providing me with training, in particular in using certain pieces of software and getting me off the ground and running within the first couple of months. However, after this initial period, I felt that I was left to fend for myself much more, being expected to learn ‘on the job’. As mentioned previously, I found it hard to try and set objectives with my line manager, and as such it felt that my development was not as high a priority in the balance of things as I would have liked it to have been.

I would be happy to consider working at the company again – the atmosphere in the office was good, and they are involved in several interesting projects. I do not feel that I would like to work in the particular sector I undertook my placement in again, but this is more due to my personal interests, rather than anything particularly to do with the company itself.

I did not find that there was a huge social scene. Because the placement students were placed in various different teams across the company, there was limited interaction between us. We did have occasional team socials, however there were only a handful in my time with the company. However, it would have been possible to have engaged more in the social scene than I did by getting involved with some of the clubs that were run during lunch breaks and by getting more involved in the Young Engineers’ Forum.

I undertook my placement in Bath. I found that rent was not cheap, but was not ‘London expensive’ either – I was sharing with 2 others, and paying £400pcm in rent. The cost of living was relatively high, but not unacceptably so. If you go to a local pub for a drink, expect to pay about £3.50 - £4.00 for a pint.

The local nightlife in Bath is fairly good. There are several good pubs and restaurants, and although I don’t personally go clubbing, I am reliably informed that there are several decent clubs. In addition, Bristol is only 15 minutes away on the train, giving you access to a large range of entertainment, but the last train back is 23:20, so you’ll need to make friends with someone who’s sofa you’d be able to crash on afterwards.

Yes there were opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work. Various social activities occur throughout the year. There are also opportunities to get involved with various competitions, both internally and within the wider engineering sphere. The Young Engineer’s Forum run lots of events throughout the year to help younger employees to get to know one another, and to help them in their development.