Vacation Student - Water Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my summer placement with Arup as part of the water team. During my placement I was given the opportunity to work on a range of current project and was included (and encouraged to participate in) a few meetings with senior engineers. This experience helped me to gain an insight into the variety of schemes completed by Arup, and allowed me to develop my interest in this growing sector.

Although the Bristol office has over 200 employees I still felt like any other employee. Being part of a small team helped me feel welcomed and allowed me to develop a strong professional relationship with my colleagues. I felt that the work I was completing helped relieve some of the pressure on my team, and it seemed that they appreciated the work I was doing.

During my placement I was part of a small team so there was always support if I had any queries. The extensive knowledge of the engineers in this team allowed me to develop a deep understanding of the tasks I was completing, and meant I never felt too out of my depth. I especially appreciated the help provided by my manager, who was always happy to point me in the right direction if he was unable to help.

The amount of work varied but I never felt too swamped with work. On some occasions I would’ve appreciated being assigned another task, but I used this time to work on an in-house project that was given to me.

Although I was working on small aspects of large-scale projects, I still felt that the work I was completing was important. After a briefing, I was given the freedom to come up with my own solution which allowed me to develop a greater understanding of the problem, and ways to address it. This responsibility meant that the work I completed was as a result of my own hard work, which made me feel a sense of achievement on completion.

This placement has provided me with a significant insight into the type of work involved in this sector, and ways of approaching similar problems. Through using Microdrainage for drainage design, I now feel confident with this software, and may use this program in my final year design project. This experience has made me appreciate the importance of teamwork, as I believe this is a vital way of developing skills, and sharing knowledge from experience engineers.

It was a very friendly atmosphere where it didn’t feel like conversation was forbidden. The environment was reasonably informal and people were very approachable if I had a question. There was also regular charity bake sales and birthdays which added to the friendly atmosphere of the office.

The placement felt well organised and it was rare that work felt forced for my benefit. My manager had set up a few projects for me to work on and some were organised whilst I was there.

Since I was a placement student there wasn’t much personal training available. However, from speaking with other employees it is clear that Arup provide further training as part of the graduate scheme.

Future employment with Arup seems very appealing. From my placement and speaking with other graduates it is apparent that this is a supportive and friendly environment where employees work together to develop innovative sustainable solutions. It is clear that Arup provide a well-structured graduate programme which helps you to progress through to Chartership level.

The graduates were very friendly and we all went out for lunch together daily. There are regular socials with are organised by the graduates and they’re very inclusive. However, I wasn’t there a long period of time so was only able to attend a few of these arrangements.

I am a student at the University of Bristol so am used to the cost of the city. It is moderately expensive but going out at night isn’t too costly.

Bristol nightlife has a lot of variety and there is something for every taste. There is a lot going on so it is useful using the ‘What’s On Bristol’ website to check for events. The Arup office is very close to the centre of Bristol so is near to a lot of the bars and pubs.

There is a lot of opportunity to get involved with societies and sports at Arup which I would be interested in doing if I was part of the company longer. There are also annual weekends away for team building which sounds like a lot of fun.