Industrial Trainee Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year. I loved the chance to make contacts in the industry, to learn how the industry works, to develop new skills and the projects I was involved with were very interesting.

By the end of my placement year I felt like one of the team. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful and by the end I felt like I was making a valuable contribution to the project team I was involved with.

The support and guidance I received throughout the year was stellar. I had a lot of supervision initially until I had learned the way the industry and Arup worked. After this I was gradually given more responsibility but there was still support available when I wanted it.

For the majority of the placement I was very busy. There were the odd days where the workload was a bit light, and there were some days where I worked long hours to get the information out on time and to meet deadlines, but if anything I relished this challenge and it was indicative of what I should expect in the future.

Initial tasks were frequent with more support and supervision. As the year progressed my tasks became larger and I was given a greater degree of independence. By the end of the year I was producing building control calculation packages by myself to submit to my project manager prior to submission to building control. I was also given the responsibility of being the Arup contact on a project whilst the project manager was on annual leave, meaning I had to co-ordinate with the architect and contractor via email and phone calls.

It is hard to describe the life skills that I have developed through this placement but I can safely say that they will be useful to me for the rest of my life. The new way that I approach a problem and work through and present a solution will be invaluable for the remainder of my degree and after. I am confident dealing with new situations and communicating technical information via email and over the phone.

The office atmosphere was perfect. There was enough background activity that it felt busy but it wasn't so loud that it became distracting whilst working. Everyone was approachable and seemed content in their work. I have not been to any other company where the work atmosphere was so great!

After finding the placement the communication from Arup was very clear and the initial induction was very straightforward. At the end of the placement the handover was also very easy to do. On the part of the university, the meetings were organised easily via email and I was able to contact representatives should I have needed to.

Arup offered numerous courses and training opportunities throughout the year. There were numerous lunchtime talks and technical seminars held in the office, I participated in a variety of online courses run by the company, and I attended a couple of out of office courses which were paid for by Arup.

I am returning to complete a summer placement next year and I have been offered a position with Arup when I graduate which I fully intend on taking up.

Arup typify the work hard, play hard ethos. Once work had finished there were plenty of social activities ranging from sport to parties and evening do's in town. I joined the badminton club, played lunchtime 5 a side with my department, attended numerous evening drinks and parties as well as partaking in the annual charity bike ride of over 100 miles. I even had the chance to go white water rafting as part of a team building exercise.

The living costs in Cardiff are relatively cheap compared to many other cities I have been to and the cost of socialising was more than acceptable.

Cardiff is a fantastic night out and there are places to go that suit every type of person. Cannot recommend it enough!

I got involved in numerous sports clubs with colleagues from work. Whist in Cardiff I played badminton with the university club and participated in numerous airsoft events with the university society. There are opportunities to take up a wide variety of activities in Cardiff, either with the university or with other clubs.