Summer Placement Review

Overall the work was interesting. I have always wanted to work on the crossrail project so it was great to do so. I also did many different task on the project so it was good to get the varied experience. From time to time however I did have to do admin jobs which I found less interesting.

When ever I asked colleagues questions they always responded friendly and were very welcoming. However I would say from my experience so for in my 8 week long internship that the emphasis is on the most part on individual to go out and and integrate themselves in the team.

Obviously as I have only just started working properly and with me only just finishing my first year of university. There is a step up that I needed to gain, this was usually gained by the experience of the other members in the team. Therefore they were very willing in giving up there valuable time to help enable me to get a full understanding.

I was usually fairly busy with different streams of work on the go at the same time. However with no tight deadlines to meet and no knowledge of what work will come next the pace at which work was completed was slow as I did not want to run out of work. This left me feeling that I was never really to busy however in reflection I was probably busier than I thought.

I was given little responsibility during my placement. This is because I was doing tasks for my colleges helping them with there work. I understand why little responsibility is given to a placement student just finished there 1st year of university. However obviously it would have been nice to have greater level of responsibility.

Seeing the approach taken in the office will certainly help me when undergoing team work projects at university. The placement has enabled me to have a better knowledge of CAD especially 3D CAD which will be very useful in my projects at university. I also believe having close connection with the industry through your degree is vitally important as it will help me in my studies

I think the placement was well organised. When arriving the office manager had all the equipment ready for me. My Login was all set up and ready to go. My induction was organised for the next day and I received my office pass soon after. The only negatives were I had a lot of stuff to set up on all the different company sites.

When joining university I was presented the university scholarship scheme. I was interested in it and decided to apply, receiving interviews from a number of companies and after these interviews I was matched up with Atkins. The scholarship requires good academic performance so I need to achieve at least a 2:1 every year. If I do so I will be likely to receive a job at the end of it.

Being in the capital London, which is renowned around the world for its nightlife, I got to experience what it has to offer. London has a vast amount of bars and clubs. Although they are certainly more expensive than other places I think they offer much more and are usually worth it.

I think there were some activities in the office however I did not know too much about them. I never went to attend any of the activities that were sports orientated. However I did attend the after work drinks and some of the social events that was mainly attend but grads.