Student Engineer Review

I enjoyed my work placement with Laing O'Rourke. The work was varied and developed a broad range of skills. Sometimes hours make it less enjoyable, having to do site hours of 7:30-18:00. The staff were very friendly and helpful throughout the placement which made it a more enjoyable overall experience.

I felt valued by my colleagues throughout the placement. I was welcomed into the office and felt very settled within my first two weeks. My colleagues were supportive and would always offer help and answer any questions I had during the placement. I also felt valued as my managers seemed to really appreciated tasks I had carried out.

The support network in place is amazing. All of the staff in the office and workers on site were always on hand to offer advice and answer any questions I had during my placement. It felt like quite a cohesive working environment where anyone could ask another staff member a query or if they had any problems.

It varied tremendously. Some days there was not much going on in the office or out on site and you could sit around doing nothing (if you wanted to). Other days were hectic with various teams on site and in the office needing your assistance which meant that you sometimes worked beyond 18:00 or started earlier than 7:30.

Towards the beginning of the placement, my responsibilities were kept to a minimum and I was often on site shadowing Site and Section engineers. This is my first placement so that is understandable. As the placement carried on, I found myself given more tasks with more responsibility as I gained a greater understanding of the project.

This placement developed a wide range of skills and provided a great practical application for theory studied at University over the previous year. The placement developed my Surveying skills, including Total Station and GPS use, and my Construction knowledge due to the exposure to a variety of areas in Construction including highways and earthworks.

The office felt quite cohesive during work hours. The site hours worked for Engineers were 7:30-18:00. This meant most of your day would be spent with colleagues. Generally, people were talkative and friendly and were always happy to have a chat about any issues or problems that I had encountered on placement.

Prior to the placement I had been emailed explaining where I would be based for the project and what objectives I should aim to complete. This seemed very organised. On my first day however, I thought that it seemed as though only one person was expecting me to turn up and I was a 'surprise' to the people I would be working with. This was made clear when the Site Engineer said 'we didn't know you were coming'. Perhaps this area could have been better organised. Generally beyond this the placement flowed smoothly and I had regular meetings with my manager to discuss progress.

The company and staff invested a lot of time into training me. They talked me through a large number of processes and training that I would receive as a Graduate (week long courses etc) and seem to offer training all of the way through the ranks. My manager had to attend a week long course whilst I was on placement. Laing O'Rourke seem to really value their staff and invest a lot of time to ensure they are well equipped for work.

I would happily go and work for Laing O'Rourke again and I would like to experience different areas of work in which they offer. They offer various career paths and seem to value loyalty to the company, as a large number of the senior staff on my project have been with them since Graduating.

Yes, everyone in the office was very sociable and always happy for a chat.

Reasonable, however in the centre of the city it can be expensive.

I didn't go out aside from to the pub a couple of times. Early start and late finishes often prevented going out in evening.

There was 5 a side football once a week. Ideally could have been more given I was living away, however many people went to various parts of the country (home) on a Friday afternoon for the weekend which perhaps prevents social events. Would often celebrate birthdays with cake in the office.