Electrical Placement Engineer Review

I really enjoyed my placement. It gave me great insight into the role of MEP consultants in the building industry - something I didn't know much about previous to working at Hoare Lea. The only real downside was the location of the Bristol office- in a slightly depressing business park- but this was only an issue during my lunch hour where it would have been nice to be a bit more central in the city.

Everyone was very friendly. I worked with a number of people during my time here and nobody treated me like I was just a placement student, I felt like a normal member of staff. The general atmosphere of the office is great - people are working hard and are productive but they also chat to eat other and enjoy themselves.

I was given more guidance at first, as I didn't know how to use any of the programs which are used on a daily basis by people here. As my placement went on and I got the hang of things I wasn't given as much guidance, but this was a good thing as it felt like I was working independently and once I had the hang of the software it was very intuitive. When starting work on a new project I would be given a brief of what the project entailed and what design stage it was at. I would also be told what my main responsibilities would be in the project, and I was then left to get on with it. I still felt like I could ask people for help if I was stuck though.

On most days I had a good balance of being busy enough to enjoy myself but no so busy as I was overwhelmed. Occasionally I was a little bored and had to stretch work out to make it fill a longer time than it would normally take; this was usually because my supervisor would be called away to a meeting.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I thought I would be given. At first it was a little daunting knowing that the work I was doing was going to be used on real projects and that a mistake could set building projects back and cause problems. However everything that people do is reviewed before being issued out, so I ended up finding the responsibility very enjoyable.

The training I received on using various programs won't be useful for my degree as I won't be using any of them, but they will be extremely useful for my future career. I was using programs such as AutoCAD and Revit which are used across the whole building services industry, so the skills I learnt will be transferable to many other companies should I want to work for them.

One of the best parts about working at Hoare Lea was the atmosphere in the office. People were friendly and chatting a lot, but still managing to work hard. I was made to feel welcome and would say that if you're friendly and sociable you'll find it easy to get on here.

I was sent all paperwork which I had to complete well in advance and I was talked through arrangements on my first day and where to park etc via email before I started. I already had an email account set up for me. The only downside was having to 'hot desk', however this won't be a problem for future placement students as the company is moving to a larger building in 2016 which will have sufficient desk space.

I had access to all the information on the company intra-net. I was also given a license to use all of the same programmes used by the long term employees which was great experience. I was able to use the company made training manual for Revit - a programme used to perform 3D modelling of services within buildings.

Hoare Lea is definitely somewhere I'll be applying to for a graduate position after I've finished my degree. There seems to be a good structure in the company to allow progression from graduate engineer to engineer, senior engineer and executive engineer in relatively short time periods. There are also more perks when you're a full time employee; these include working from home, company cars for the more senior members of staff and national travel.

Yes- a lot of the employees are young and I was invited on several socials events with colleagues. I also attended two company organised social events which were both free and great fun - a rounders tournament followed by hog roast with the whole Bristol office, and a boat trip followed by meal with just the team I was working in. Both events were open bar

I was living at home so can't comment on the cost of living in Bristol, however other placement students seem to have found reasonable accommodation which isn't very far from the Bristol Hoare Lea office.

Bristol is known for having a great nightlife. There is a great range of bars and clubs, ranging from cheap places to get drunk and dance to the slightly edgier parts of the city such as Stokes Croft. The best part of nightlife in Bristol is the music scene, which is vibrant and there are always music events which are cheap to attend.

I've always lived in Bristol so I didn't feel the need to explore the city while I was working at Hoare Lea. However other placement students I met who had come from other parts of the country said that they found plenty to do in the evening and on the weekend. Over the summer there is both the harbour festival and the balloon fiesta, both of which are very enjoyable. The city is also not far from other places to visit such as Bath and Cardiff.