Vacation Student Review

The placement was enjoyable, varied and very interesting. I got to undertake a range of different sorts of tasks to get an impression of the various types of work that are done in this area. I also worked with many different colleagues and had the chance to visit several other offices around the country. Whilst at some points I was slightly lacking in work and could have been busier, overall I enjoyed my internship with Arup.

The team was very supportive and welcoming. On the first day of my placement we all went across the road to a café together to have a tea/coffee to welcome me. Many of my colleagues gave me help and advice, telling me about different processes and areas of the job and providing me with resources to use. We also had lunch together regularly and had a team building trip to bowling and to dinner together. Even after leaving I was invited to join the team on group activities later in the year.

I was always given support when I needed it and advice and guidance. Various different members of the team provided support in different areas. When looking for work to do I needed to be quite proactive in contacting other colleagues and teams, but my supervisor often invited me to join meetings and site visits in different parts of the country.

On quite a few days I found that I needed more work to do, and often found that I could do the work faster than was expected of me. However this varied throughout the placement and probably depends on how busy the company is during your placement.

I felt I had an appropriate amount of responsibility - I was responsible for a few tasks, e.g. writing up a technical report, that were then checked by a supervisor. Other tasks allowed me to be more independent, e.g. making a spreadsheet model, for which I periodically checked in with the supervisor but mostly was in control of what I wanted to do with the model.

It was very useful to do some practical coding using MatLab and making a model using a spreadsheet. Writing technical reports is also a u skill that I may well use in the future. Other things that I did will be useful for a career in acoustics - reading lots of booklets and guidance, attending site visits, researching and doing projects etc.

The atmosphere in the office was very pleasant. The desks were well organised into bays to give a sense of privacy in a big open plan office. The desks were spacious and there was plenty of storage space. Tea bays were set up to give a nice place to take a 5 minute break and chat with colleagues. Also, weekly cake afternoons were held at the tea bay, where internal networking would take place. The office was quiet, so you could concentrate, but was not intense or oppressive.

It was fairly well organised, but I sometimes felt that there was not enough work for me to do. I would recommend the company to allow/encourage interns to have some spent in different departments. This could help interns to understand better how the different departments work together and communicate, and what sorts of other work is done.

I did some training. Initially I did health and safety training, ethics and privacy training and site safety training. I also had the opportunity to attend several graduate training talks that took place during lunchtime. Once a fortnight lunchtime talks took place which I also attended. These talks could be attended in person or via a skype conference call.

I was invited back to work with the company again on a temporary basis, and got the impression that there would be a good chance of future employment after graduation. Some information was provided on the application process and the graduate induction programme. The organisation offers many perks of employment when employed full time instead of as an intern. Overall I was left with a positive view of the organisation.

I did my placement during the spring which was unusual, as most interns work there during the summer. As a result of this, there weren't many other interns around, and so there wasn't a great social scene m. However I did get the impression that this changed when there are a lot of new grads around. E.g. grads there seemed to know each other and I heard that various graduate events take place, such as a ski trip.

Living costs in this area are generally quite high

Don't know

Yes. I heard of many other activities going on outside of work. for example brainstorming ideas to pitch to the new mayor of the west midlands area or the role as the office sustainability hero. In addition to these things, there were many social and sports groups. I heard of a cycling challenge that many employees at the company were planning to do together, as well as a yoga class during lunchtime, a knitting and crafts group and swing dancing opportunities.