Civil Engineer - Industrial Placement Review

I truly enjoyed my placement with Arup, my team helped me gain the confidence, knowledge and experience in my choice of degree that I lacked at the beginning of my placement year. I would highly recommend a placement within Arup to any Civil engineering student and I have come away more positive and assured that I have chosen a degree in a career that I know I love and now have the motivation to do well in my remaining years at university thanks to Arup.

Throughout my entire placement I felt at ease with my team and the entire office, everyone was so welcoming and i never felt like I wasn't smart enough when I had to ask questions for not knowing something. This was something as a placement is very reassuring and I really appreciated everyone's willingness to help me.

From the beginning I was welcomed into my team and introduced to my supervisor and allocated a mentor for my year. I was always encouraged by my team to ask questions and I felt like I could turn to anyone for help even when the team was busy with projects this was never an issue for me or my supervisor.

From day one in my placement year I was always kept busy, beginning my year with small tasks to introduce me to the projects we had going on and eventually taking on larger responsibilities within the team. The team always has work planned for me to do and I was always encouraged to ask for work whenever I felt like i was light on work.

As a placement student, beginning my year I was slowly introduced to small tasks and responsibilities which they knew wouldn't overwhelm me. As the year went on and I got more confident and gradually got more responsibility to a level I could cope with. My team would always check on me what my work load was and if I ever felt stressed about this which i really appreciated.

I feel very positive about going back into my fourth year of university and I feel more excited than ever about starting a career in my chosen degree from my placement year. I feel i got a well rounded experience as a placement student, getting both in-office experience and on-site experience. I got training in all aspects of my course through working with different team disciplines within the office. I know the skills and confidence i gained from my year will benefit my greatly throughout not only the rest of my university degree but my future career.

The overall general office atmosphere always had a positive and happy energy. Everyone felt part of a team and comfortable to approach anyone in the office with questions or queries. Although people had different job roles there was never an obvious hierarchy in how people acted or treated each other. Everyone when doing their work always acted professional but there was always the balance of out of work activities and nights out planned for people to relax from the office working atmosphere.

I found from my application, to my interview and eventually to getting the job and starting my placement year everything was clearly stated and laid out. The application process was easy to understand. I also found that my introduction week was brilliant in welcoming new placement students and in helping understand what was expected for year ahead.

Arup always encouraged us to go to any training that was on offer held internally or externally that was related to our degree, time off was never a problem. Courses in which we found to be interesting and wanted to attend were also encouraged and we were allowed to make the time up to go to them.

Finishing my placement year I got positive feedback and offered a zero-hours contract for my future university years as a student. This contract allows me to work part time when it suits me and my team to gain further experience in a civil engineering office which will ultimately help me in achieving my degree.

A work and social life balance was always encouraged for all colleges of the office including all staff even new placement students. We began our year with a welcome party and we never felt excluded from work social gatherings, allowing us to feel like a welcomed member of the office.

Our office was based in the city centre of Belfast, this was close to where my rented accommodation was as a university student so i was used to expense of living around where the office was based. Transport to and from the office was cheap and food was averagely priced.

The area I worked in had great nightlife with multiple bars, restaurants and clubs all within easy access. Every night there was always something on if you wanted to go out or even see a show or movie.

Our office had many sports and other outside of work activities to sign up too such as football, rugby, a reading club and many more. There was something for everyone and we were all welcomed and encouraged to join and it was a great way to meet colleagues from the work place.