Summer Placement Engineer Review

The placement was really enjoyable. I worked with a great team who were supportive and good fun. Outside of work there were office and placement social events which were great to network and meet new people. I was given responsibility straight away which I enjoyed as it challenged me and made me think on a regular basis.

I felt valued by the other engineers as they gave me my own responsibility and they trusted me to carry out tasks on my own. They spared a lot of their time to teach me, offer advice and make my placement beneficial to me. Even though I worked on my own often, I was always in phone communication with the more experienced engineers.

My manager was very supportive taking time to give one to one lessons on areas which were of interest to me. I met with my manager weekly to discuss my progress and identify areas where I wished to gain more experience. The placement is well organised with a series of competencies which you have to complete to ensure you get exposure to a wide range of activities.

I was given a lot of responsibility early on based onsite performing a site engineering role. This meant as the work evolved onsite the operatives required more details to be set out and problems to solve. This meant that I was onsite most of the day and only got breaks when the operatives got breaks. It was therefore difficult to get the required reports written during work hours and I ended up working 12 hour days some days as opposed to my set 11 hours.

I was given a lot of responsibility from the start as it was my second placement. After a few weeks I was doing a site engineers job. The more experienced engineers were only a phone call away but the role often needed you to use your brain in order to solve problems for yourself. It was important to know where your limit on decision making was.

The placement was greatly beneficial to my degree studies both from a technical aspect and from understanding the industry as a whole. I learnt how structures are built, why materials were chosen and how to read the design drawings. . The experience helps even with the theoretical side of a civil engineering degree because you can picture what your lecturers are talking about.

The general atmosphere in my office was friendly but busy. If you needed help, people would be only too happy to help. However you will rarely share the same break time as other people and everyone tends to eat lunch at their desk whilst working. When working I found that other engineers and operatives were friendly and willing to chat. There was a good balance of women and age.

The overall placement was organised very well. There were induction events at the start and end where you could learn about the company and network with employees and other interns. There were competencies to complete to ensure you got a wide range of experiences. You also had to complete a presentation about a company theme with a team of interns spread across the country. This challenged you to look at the company in a different light.

The firm invested in teaching by organising a lecture by one of the employees of the company. They were always interesting and of educational value. Social networking events were organised and paid for such as visiting the crossrail museum in London and a ping pong bar. The wage is good and you get a subsistence allowance so you don't have to worry about affording to live away from home.

Future employment prospects are appealing. I come from Manchester and there are plenty of projects around that area that the company have contracts for such as Manchester Airport. The company also support you to becoming chartered and there is a clear progression route through the company. Out of all the companies in the industry Laing O'Rourke is best placed to deal with Brexit due to the fact it is privately owned because it does not have to please shareholders.

Not really as most students are spread across the country. The other engineers have long commutes so are not keen to hang around after work. There was a bbq, a pub trip and a sports event during my eight weeks at the office. The long working days also mean it is difficult to do any socialising in the week due to fatigue and lack of time.

Cambridge is expensive but there wasn't much time for socialising in the week.

Night life in Cambridge is not great especially out of term time.

No.