Engineering Summer Placement (Civils) Review

I had the the best ten weeks at my internship and was genuinely really sad to leave. I felt like I was leaving behind something that I had become really invested in. Each day I'd go in excited to tackle a new challenge with the people that had become my friends. Seeing the project develop day-to-day was really exciting. There was never a quiet moment being part of such a dynamic project and this allowed me develop some invaluable skills in just a few weeks.

Very soon after starting my internship, I really felt like my team valued me and they appreciated the work and effort I was inputting. The rapport I built up with colleagues could not have been better. The feeling of being valued so much really contributed to the reasons why enjoyed my time so much.

I always felt supported and able to ask questions to anyone in my immediate team or the wider contractor team. The breadth of experience I had around me to learn from was extraordinary. On reflection, I wish I'd taken more advantage of this; I got absorbed into the daily running of the project and didn't use the experience around me to really push my knowledge and education. However, certainly I did do this to some extent but the opportunity was definitely there for me to exploit it further.

This would fluctuate quite substantially, but generally I always had value-adding work to be getting on with. As with any job, I did have to do some mundane tasks. Some days were fairly stressful but this was valuable experience and provided me with insight into what a job after graduation will be like.

I cannot express how wrong my initial thoughts on responsibility were. I thought I'd be given menial tasks to do which added no real value but this was far from the truth. Almost immediately I was given significant responsibility. On reflection, I wish I'd asked to be given even more responsibility because I am sure my line manager would have been willing to give it to me.

The skills I gained will not only help me during the last year of my studies but really are skills that will be invaluable throughout my career, to ICE chartership and beyond. Above everything, the confidence I gained in just 10 weeks was extraordinary; the timid person I was at the start was almost completely transformed even after that short period of time. My communication skills were also significantly transformed, from being a quiet person who was unwilling to speak to anyone, I now feel confident communicating in variety of different ways with a variety of different people. Confidence and communication are just two of the many skills that I significantly developed over a terrific ten week period.

The office atmosphere was generally nice and friendly. Being within a contractor's office, the atmosphere could vary a lot day-to-day. The changing atmosphere was, again, an invaluable learning opportunity and allowed me to experience working under many different situations. The atmosphere in the Severn Trent offices also seemed nice but a bit more formal and slightly more overwhelming.

It was very well organised with a clear structure. The welcome event was very effective at the start, it meant that all of the internship students got to know each other. I also enjoyed presenting and sharing my experience to everyone at the end of the internship. I don't think the placement could have been organised any better to make sure myself and Severn Trent got the most out of the experience.

My line manager and wider team invested lots of time into developing my knowledge and skills, something that I was very appreciative of. They paid and allowed me the time to go and take my CSCS health and safety qualification which allowed me to have responsibility on site whilst working independently.

The job prospects are very appealing. I was told informally on a number of occasions that I would be offered a graduate role which is the most I could have asked for coming out of a summer internship. I would be delighted carry on the work I was doing over the summer on a permanent basis.

Due to the distance between all of us, this wasn't really possible. But it was nice meeting them at the beginning and end of my placement.

It was a small market town so accommodation was hard to come by and there was little to no social scene. I didn't mind this as I got very lucky with the couple I ended up staying with, staying with them really contributed to my enjoyment of the whole internship. They made me feel at home and this helped me feel more settled at work.

I don't think there was any nightlife and if there was I didn't know anyone in the town to go out with. I drove back home every weekend.

No, not really. I think there was at the main Coventry office but I was so far away from there it wasn't relevant to me.