Summer Student Review

I have enjoyed my placement with Atkins. As I will detail in the following questions, over my time here I have been able to get directly involved in current projects and had been given very varied bits of work to take on. I feel like I have learnt a lot that I wouldn't necessary have learnt through my degree course alone.

I would say that I felt valued by my colleagues. Since my arrival, I have found everyone to be very friendly and welcoming. I have been given a lot of challenging work that I don't think my colleagues would have entrusted me with if they did not believe me capable.

I was offered help when I needed it and often whoever was providing me with the work would check my progress and make sure I understand what I'm doing. When giving me work, it has always been explained clearly to me and I have not felt intimidated by the prospect of asking for guidance when necessary.

I have found that most days I had work to do all day, and whilst there were some times when there wasn't much to do, this was quite rare. I also had enough time at the start of my placement to complete all the necessary admin activities without too much hassle.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility over my placement, and it was probably more than I expected to be given. I think that I was given enough responsibility for me to feel that the work I have done here has been valued, but I was also confident that my work was being regularly checked.

I learnt to use many new pieces of software which will hopefully be beneficial to my degree but will definitely help in my future career. I have learnt a vast amount about the industry and life as a civil engineer in my 8 weeks with Atkins, and about the importance of teamwork and communication.

Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. As I was hot-desking, I noticed that the level of noise and chat varied throughout the office and so was quite dependent on where I happened to be sitting that day. All of my colleagues seemed happy and willing to give me help if I needed it, even if I wasn't doing the work for them.

The placement has been relatively well organised. Whilst work was not specifically set out for me beyond the first week or so, I didn't find it too much of a struggle to find someone with something for me to do. Towards the end of my sixth week I gave a presentation summarising my work so far, which will be very beneficial for future reference.

Besides learning to use new pieces of software, I haven't really done any personal training and development. This is probably partly due to the fact that I am only on a 2 month summer placement, so it may have been a different scenario had I been working here for more time.

Whilst I would be very happy and eager to return to work with Atkins, there is nothing lined up at the moment as my placement was only for this summer. I will definitely reapply to do a summer placement next year and eventually apply to a job as a graduate.

There are a few other students here so we have occasionally had lunches together, or gone to the pub after work. Usually a relatively large group of people from the office will go out for lunch every Friday, and also tend to go to the pub at the end of the week.

As I live and study in central London, living and socialising in Epsom seems to be considerably cheaper, but I would imagine it is still quite expensive compared to other parts of the country. Also travelling in from home everyday was quite costly, so that made living expenses higher for me.

I don't really have any idea as I haven't been living in Epsom, so there may be more than I know about. There are a few pubs in the area that are popular after work destinations, but I haven't seen much in the way of nightlife, in part because it is not really a student town.

There were a few opportunities. I believe there are quite a few sports clubs, but I haven't been involved in anything like that. Also, we have been invited to other work related activities outside of the office, such as a site visit to Crossrail and a lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers.