Industrial Placement Site Engineer Review

For the whole year I was given challenging and demanding tasks that were hard but very enjoyable and satisfying to undertake. My colleagues were also very welcoming which made my time there fun and was also nice to see and meet a lot of new faces and start networking.

At the peak, there were four other people in the same job role as me, so at times the more experienced workers would get given the bigger jobs. However, a lot of the time I would still go out and learn from them and that meant I would be trusted in the future.

My line manager has had a lot of trainees previously so knew exactly how to train up a new engineer. I was also supervised by another engineer who was also very competent. It was great to be taught by two people as I could get an overview on the industry.

The first half of my placement was very busy as the project had only just started and the main responsibilities of an engineer are all to do with the foundation works. More recently the work load has died down, but I am still occupied for large periods of the day.

For the majority of the placement I was learning from another engineer, however there were periods where he was on annual leave and I had to run our section alone. I felt like I coped well and have since been trusted to run things if other sites are busy and needed engineers.

I feel like I've learned as much or maybe more from my placement compared to university. University covers a lot more specifics then a placement, but the practical application of what I learned at university to working was good to see how everything works. I can also take what i've learned here to university.

Towards the end as the project hand over loomed, a few people on site started becoming stressed and not as talkative. However, at the start and some people at the end stayed relatively positive. We would have one member cook lunch most fridays or have fish and chips and we also had a few work nights out too.

I was ofered a couple of places very far away from home, so I essentially organised my own placement to be closer to home. Also, the placement tasks and meetings were very slow to organise and there was one case where invites only come out a week before the event, so I couldn't go.

The firm itself - not much. I had a couple of compulsory training courses, which were quite interesting and I now have extra qualifications. However, the placement student meet up events were't well organised and it was more my colleagues on site who invested their time and effort on me.

I have been sponsored by Kier group as part of my degree, so depending on my final results I'll have a job secured with them. Where it will be I'm not sure, but my line manager has spoken to the relevant people higher up about getting me back again after graduation.

There was only two formal meetings with other plaement students - one in October and one in June. The October one was just an introduction and the June one was late in being organised that a lot of students couldn't make it due to travel plans. So I only met with other students once as there were none on my division in Kier.

I live and work near Cambridge, which is an expensive area, so there were not too many social events organised. However, I lived at home, so there was little to no cost of living during my years placement.

Cambridge night life is good for both the younger and older generations as there are some loud and late bars/clubs and also a lot of traditional pubs. However, it is quite expensive.

There were Christmas and Summer events organised as well as quiz nights every quarter.