Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my placement with BuroHappold. I have been involved in lots of project work and given a lot of responsibility with my tasks. Everyone has been incredibly accommodating and helpful, and genuinely curious on what I am doing and how I am finding my time here. The company organises a lot of lunchtime and evening talks, and there have been big social events at least every couple of weeks.

I felt hugely valued by my colleagues. They gave me work that was both manageable but also challenging, and motivated me to do well. Everyone was interested in what I was working on and how I was finding the experience, and made it clear that if there was something I didn’t enjoy doing I didn’t have to do it.

I didn’t have a supervisor but my line manager was incredibly supportive. They helped me with any problems I had, tried to find me the most interesting work, and checked over what I was doing where necessary. We didn’t have regular meetings but the team is very small and I was usually sat next to/in front of my line manager so it was easy to let them know how I was getting on.

In the past 7 weeks I have always had work to do. It really has been the perfect balance as I have always been busy, but also managed to work normal hours. It was well planned because work is assigned prior to the resourcing meeting every Monday, and so I usually have a rough idea of what I will be doing that week.

During my placement I was only given project work, which meant that every task had some level of responsibility. Some of the work I did had considerably more relying on it, and this was very exciting without being too much pressure, as I always had someone to contact with any queries or to check over what I’d done when I was finished with it.

I have developed some rather specific skills in terms of new ability to use software, which will be really useful if this is the field I end up going into. As this is my third internship, I feel like I’ve undergone more character developments during past placements than in this one. However, I have much more confidence in my ability to produce good work, due to the direct and positive feedback I have received.

Generally, it was a very friendly and chatty environment. Everyone seems to get on very well and tried to include me in the team.

The placement was relatively well organised, although it would have been a bit better if there had been more intern focused events or introductory talks. I always had work to do, and there were a few sessions for interns to introduce them to new modelling software. There doesn’t seem to be any requirement for a presentation at the end of the placement, which would have been quite beneficial, in my experience.

I had a couple of training sessions in Revit modelling and the use of Grasshopper, which were really interesting but not skills I had a chance to develop on during my placement. I learnt a bit about how to use new pieces of software, but I didn’t have any official training, I rather just asked my line manager or colleagues when I had any issues.

After the past few weeks here, I know that I would really enjoy working for BuroHappold, but I’m not sure what the job prospects are like, as there is no obvious procedure to go through. So the prospects are definitely very appealing, I just can’t tell at this stage how realistic they are.

There wasn’t much of a social scene amongst placement students as most seemed to stick to their own departments. There is definitely a lot of socialising within the company, though. There’s always some kind of social event going on every week or so, and within the team everyone makes an effort to socialise too.

One of the drawbacks from being in located in central London is the cost. Socialising and living can be incredibly expensive; food doesn’t have to be if you’re careful. The office organises a lot of social events with free food and drinks, and gives extra pay to adjust to the cost of living in London.

A bit expensive, but the office is in the middle of London (right next to Oxford Street), a stone’s throw away from Soho, so the evening possibilities are endless. There are usually people in the pub every Friday, but the area is great for meeting with friends after work. Regents Park is easy to get to as well, and there was a picnic organised there early on in my placement.

It really did seem as though there are endless opportunities. There are a huge amount of sports clubs, as well as company events like regular barbecues in the summer, and invites to external conferences and socials. Employees are encouraged and in some cases required to regularly attend lunchtime talks. The Young Engineers Forum is incredibly active, and holds activities every week and often organises weekend breaks.