Placement Student Review

During a 12-week period of this summer, I was honoured to have had the chance to join and work for Arup as a vacation student, at their office in Sheffield – UK. Having an engineering background, I have had the chance to work with different teams within the office, hence, being able to participate in a range of real-life projects.

Participating in many team projects, I had the chance to work with and interact with many colleagues. They were always there to lend a hand in times of need and support. They had a very pleasant and friendly manner and were very good at explaining tasks, making sure that they inform you with full details.

I have participated in many different projects that were related to topics that I have never come across before. With the support of the principal, senior, and other engineers; they were able to guide me with my first steps of the project. This has been really beneficial for me as it got me going in the project within a short amount of time.

The work environment that I was in involved me working on different tasks at different times. All projects and tasks varied. During most periods of my placement, I had enough work to go through and keep me busy, at times it even got stressful. In some short rare cases, there was a short period where I had to look for some work.

Dependant on the tasks that I worked on, my responsibilities varied. When working with more senior engineers, there were many occasions where the work I produced was going to be handed directly to the client. This made me put in more effort into my work in order to produce high-standard deliverables for clients - maintaining Arup's high reputation.

The amount and variety of skills developed during my placement are invaluable. The different soft skills gained will definitely change my personality for the best and would prepare me even further for the rest of my degree as well as my future career. Furthermore, I was able to gain professional software and technical skills that I will benefit from for the remaining period of my time in education.

The nature of this office is very friendly and welcoming. Working at Arup has made me feel like part of a family, more than just colleagues. This was while maintaining a high work ethic. There are many social events that happen often in and out of office, which allows for socialising between colleagues.

I have worked in many different projects and have accomplished many tasks, all of which have been appropriately organised and assigned to me either by my line manager or a senior engineer. In all of the work that I participated in, the aim of the task was set clear from the start and I knew what the steps were to accomplish the work from start to finish.

I and another fellow placement student were given the chance to work together to give a presentation detailing the different tasks and projects that we were participating in. This was in a lunch event where lunch was served and we had the time to share our findings and contribution, as well as disseminating valuable information to them.

My placement was based in Sheffield. Sheffield is a very student friendly city, and very suitable for graduates too. The living costs, including rent, are very reasonable when compared to other cities. Considering the location of accommodations and rent prices, I find that Sheffield provides very competitive prices of bringing both a good location within a moderately sized city as well as price.