Summer Student Review

I really enjoyed the time when I was working for Atkins. I have learned a lot from my colleagues. I appreciate the fact that I was given real projects and responsibilities, which helps with my studies when I am back to the university. I particularly like the idea of sharing knowledge among the company, I had a chance to attend various lunchtime presentations, which broadened my horizons.

I was given real responsibilities and projects. My colleagues were also very helpful when I had questions. They treated me as part of the team and always look after me. My line manager was really helpful and let me decide to do whatever I am interested in. I also like the socials among the team and with different colleagues.

All my colleagues were very helpful and supportive. Whenever I had questions, they tried their best to answer or solve the problem for me. My colleagues were also so friendly, even though some of them are very high-up, they shared their experience to me, and also helped me to get some industrial connections, which are very helpful for my individual research project.

It depends. Sometimes, there were moments when the clients from various projects got back to us, then it could be very busy. But normally, the workload was very reasonable. There were also moments that some senior staffs were looking for the right job for me to do, but there were plenty of training courses for me to do too!

I was given quite a lot of responsibilities. I was responsible for writing the whole report, perform analysis and derive design parameters. They were all highly important tasks in a project. But sometimes, for some highly specialised projects, I was only able to learn the theory behind and do some checkings.

The tasks I have worked on definately will help with my study. The projects that I am doing at the university are very similar to those in the industry. I have understood more of how the industry work, which made me think in a more practical way when I encounter other projects at the university or in the future. Also, the lunchtime presentations were good chances to learn more of the other sides in the field, which help me to think of my other potential paths in the future (e.g. research/ collaboration opportunities).

It was good, it was diverse and fun, yet it was a productive environment. My colleagues have very different backgrounds, so it was very fun to talk to them in the pantry. The atmosphere was very positive too, my colleagues always checked if I was ok with my tasks and look after me very well.

It was very well organised. My line manager contacted me 2 weeks before I started, to help doing the set up for me. So everything was ready when I first started. The HR also kept closely in touch with me, so set up my account in their internal system, and they were really helpful.

They have invested a lot, they paid me to do a professional exam. Also, they let me choose whatever I am interested to work on, they gave me a lot of flexibilities in terms of the type of projects or tasks that I worked on and also the type of training I wanted to get.

Very appealing, since I have been working with Atkins for 8 weeks, I could see a lot of future opportunities in the company. They offer a well-structured graduate scheme and provide a wide range of training, which allows me to try out different things until I can find something I really enjoy to do.

Yes, there was regular team lunch, it was a relaxed event for me to join, to allow me to know more of my colleagues. Also, there were other placement students who were working in the same office as well as other offices, and there was a joint presentation which allowed us to share the things we have learned.

It was alright. I worked in Surrey so it wasn't very cheap, but also not too expensive. My family lives in London, so the transport cost wasn't too high nor the commute wasn't too bad for me. Socials were generally good, there were some pubs around the office and there were also other places (e.g. bowling place) nearby too.

I am not too sure to be honest, I did not stay till late in the evening in the town that I worked at. I only had an evening social event after a site visit, and it went really well. I met some other colleagues who are working in other offices in the south. I really enjoyed that night.

Yes, there were social events, which bond colleagues as a great team. There were site visits or field trips which were interesting for us to join. There were also some charity activities happening in the company. Sometimes, we had lunch together (especially Friday), so it was a great chance to know each other more.