Civil Engineer Review

My role is a placement Civil Engineer. This involves working on a wide variety of projects, including rail, buildings, and highways. On a day-to-day basis, my job involves: developing drainage strategies, drafting drawings in MicroStation, performing hydraulic modelling in MicroDrainage, carrying out VehicleTracking, designing utilities routing, designing pavement build ups, and general interdisciplinary coordination.

The main area I have developed is my use of CAD software. I have learnt to use AutoCAD, MicroStation v8i, MicroStation Connect, MicroDrainage, and VehicleTracking. I have also learnt concepts around drainage design which I had not previously covered on my university course. This will be useful upon my return to university. My time management and responsibility has also developed, as working on projects means working to deadlines and taking ownership of my work.

Yes. I was surprised at how quickly I was trusted to work on projects and deliverables. I was being assigned tasks to complete on projects in my first week. As time has gone on, I have been responsible for more challenging tasks.

I have felt very supported on my placement. My line manager is always available to talk to if I need to. The team as a whole are all very happy to go out of their way to help out if I have any questions or am feeling like I've got too much on.

The company culture is very positive. There are lots of subsidised clubs and sports that you are able to get involved with. All office meetings occur every few months, which usually involves a trip to the pub after work. Team socials are planned every 2 to 3 months which are a great way to feel more comfortable around colleagues.

I have enjoyed my placement and hope to return at some point in the future.

Yes

I would advise people to research into projects the team they're applying for might have worked on, ensure they fully understand what the role they're applying for will entail, and to just be genuine during the interview process.