Vacation Student Review

I really enjoyed my placement with Arup. It was the first time I had worked for a company of this size and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they treat their employees. A good work life balance is actively promoted and everyone I worked with was friendly and approachable.

As time went on and I had helped people on different projects I feel I became more and more valued by my colleagues as they became more aware of my skill set and what I could do. This was reflected by colleagues coming to me with work that I could complete for them.

My manager and supervisor were both very approachable. They were very happy to offer guidance with work they had set or other bits I happened to be working on. They would often ask what my workload was to try and remedy when I had a lot, or little to do.

This could be very variable from day to day. In ever felt like it was a rush to finish the work I needed to by the end of the day and there were only a few occasions where I was left with not enough work to do. As previously mentioned my manager was very happy to provide more work when asked.

All work that I was given was for live projects to be completed for real clients. So in this respect I feel like I was given a good amount of responsibility. As to be expected, all my work was thoroughly checked by colleagues which was common practise throughout the company.

Some of the most useful skills I feel I picked up were in report writing and the presenting of data, which will be useful in my degree and beyond. I used an array of new programs I hadn't previously come across, including Microstation and GIS. I feel it is likely that I will come across these again in my future career.

The office was light and open which promotes a good atmosphere. There were many different work spaces that people could do group work in. This added to the light and open atmosphere of the office.

When I first arrived, after an HR induction and other introductions, I was set up with a desk and computer and given work to do. I was also assigned to a supervisor type figure who unfortunately worked in other offices a lot of the time. My internship didn't have a specific structure I was just given bits of work as and when they came. This suited me and I feel it gave more of a real life insight into the way people work.

The company were happy to send me to different offices in the local region to meet with colleagues who were able to help me with specific problems .They did not provide much formal training however made up for this through being willing to informally answer any questions I had.

The future employment prospects within the company are very appealing. They offer a lot of programs allowing you to work in offices overseas which is particularly appealing to me. You do not have to work for the company for a relatively long period of time before these opportunities become available to you. As previously mentioned the company also seems to treat their employees very well promoting good work life balance and attractive benefits packages.

The team I worked in was relatively small and so only had one other placement student. The team on average probably had a social activity once every couple of weeks. These included going out for meals and to the pub. The wider office as a whole also organised other social activities. These included things like canoeing trips.

Having not lived in Bristol before I had to find private accommodation for my six week stay there. This was relatively easy but more expensive than I am used to - £100 a week. The cost of beer in Bristol also seems to be high - £4-5 for a pint.

The nightlife in Bristol is really good. The city has a number of different mini centres that you can go to for a night out. The city centre has the large famous clubs whilst places like Stokes Croft have more low key bars and clubs. All places that I would definitely recommend.

As previously mentioned there were a lot of social activities that you could get involved with. During lunch times there were often talks being given on different projects people were undertaking which were really interesting. There were also a number of different sports clubs, that had I been there for longer, I would have got involved with.