Vacation Student Review

Working at Arup over the summer as a Vacation student has given me a great opportunity to experience what it is like to work for one of the best engineering companies in the world.

During my time at Arup, I worked on a wide range of projects. I did not expect to be given the level of responsibility that I was given but it was fantastic. The internship exceeded my expectations and it was extremely satisfying to see my contributions being incorporated in real-life pieces of work. I also didn’t expect to be involved on such a wide array of different projects; it was an invaluable insight into what is involved, being an engineer.

Different members of the team assigned tasks and projects for me to work on. I got the opportunity to work with each member on many different occasions. The tasks were well-explained, challenging but achievable. I am most grateful to each member of the team who spent their time to go through the projects with me. They also took time to show me how different systems work and showed me what they thought would be beneficial to my learning experience. Everyone was more than willing to answer my questions, from technical queries to questions about career options and the company itself.

Not only did I learn a vast amount about the industry, but I also learnt skills that I can take forward with me in my studies and further into my career. I predominately learnt about the day-to-day running of an engineering company. Prior to my experience at Arup, I had only one week of experience at an engineering firm. At Arup, it was great to get some more office experience. This allowed me to develop my teamwork skills, communication skills and understand more about office etiquette.

What I also took from my experience at Arup is the high level of job satisfaction. I strived of working hard to meet deadlines and completing tasks to the best of my ability. In addition to tasks within the office, I was fortunate to be able to attend and participate in a Continual Professional Development (CPD) talk, two lunchtime discussions and a ‘technology fair’ (based in the office). These addition opportunities I took part in where extremely well organised and gave me a great understanding of the other tasks engineers are involved in other than office based.

The office environment was one I really enjoyed but I also took the opportunity to go to Dundee to shadow at a presentation my colleague was giving. I really enjoyed seeing the interaction that is required between Arup and its client and contractors. I now understand that communication is vital when informing different stakeholders of the design and works, to help ensure that the finished project is of the highest quality.

Overall, my experience at Arup was excellent. I am extremely grateful to have managed to work at Arup for four weeks; indeed, I wish it had been for much longer to explore and go into projects with more depth.

I enjoyed all the tasks and projects I worked on as I found them interesting and engaging. I was extremely pleased when the work I completed was contributing to the projects and was being treated seriously by colleagues. I also felt that the work that I was doing would be similar to that of working for the company full-time and this is something I would love to do once I have graduated.

My time at Arup showed me that the company and the staff all inspire to learn and try new things to achieve the bet possible result. Also, how the term 'Total Architecture' is carried through day-to-day actives in the office.

The impact my month-long internship at Arup has convinced me to switch degree at university.

Pay was reasonable for the level of responsibility I had.

I always felt included and part of the team. A member of my team knew I played football at university so invited me to play five-a-side with the Arup staff at a school local to the office. It was great to meet people, outside of the office context, who worked in different disciplines. Also, the additional opportunities provide engineers with the chance to continually add to their knowledge about the industry. These talks and discussions also gave me an understanding that my colleagues were always learning about new research and how the research might be translated into practice.

As I was only there for four weeks, I did not get the opportunity to socialise apart from playing five-a-side once.

See comment above.

I am extremely grateful to each member of my team for making me feel included and spending time to explain things to me and for this reason I would highly recommend Arup to anyone who was looking for a vacation placement in the future.