Undergraduate Engineer Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the placement, it gave me a real feel of what the industry is like. Although my course at university (MEng civil engineering) addresses a lot of important aspects of construction, being on site gives you a lot of experience which cannot be taught in a lecture room.

My co-workers welcomed me very kindly to the office, I got on very well with my colleagues and I was treated like a normal colleague rather than like THE 'intern'. I was invited to a Stoke City game one evening and we went for a pint or two a few times after work.

I was given an adequate amount of guidance. In order to learn, I think it is important to try and get stuff done on your own. If I faced a problem, I could always ask for help and my supervisors took their time to explain it thoroughly and make sure that I completely understood.

Due to people being on summer holiday from time to time, some weeks I was a lot busier than others. There was a more or less equal amount of work to be done every day, however some days that same amount of work was shared between two or three site staff, and other days it was shared between 5.

Personally, I was given the right amount of responsibility. After a couple of weeks I started being in charge of a few little jobs which had to be done on a daily or weekly basis. Towards the end of the placement, I was doing nearly the same jobs as some of the junior engineers on site.

Personally, I believe that most things I learnt on this placement are not very applicable to my studies as my course mostly focuses on the theory of construction, such as structural and chemical aspects, however I think that nothing can prepare you for working in the construction industry other than actually working on site, therefore this placement has taught me a lot for the future when I hope to work as a site engineer.

The placement was very well organised. I found out the dates and location of it over two months in advance, which gave me plenty of time to arrange accommodation. In the weeks leading up to placement, the company organised everything I needed, such as a CSCS test. On my first day I knew exactly where I needed to go and what I had to bring.

I didn't expect the company to invest in any training for me as I was on a 12 week placement only. However, I had a fire marshal course a few weeks into placement, where I learnt about the causes of different types of fires and how to tackle them. In addition I had a RAMS (Risk Assessment and Method Statement) training session as well as a manual handling session.

The company has a great graduate scheme called Excelerate, which I am hoping to apply for when I finish university. By the end of the 4 year program, one will have spent some time on lots of different sites in different parts of the British Isles and will have learnt a great set of skills.

As the site was located in Manchester, I rented a room about a 10 minute bus ride from the city centre. Manchester has all sorts of venues, whether you're looking for rock gigs, dj sets, or just a standard club night, which are usually fairly cheap. For the quiter nights, there is also a great range of pubs.