Undergraduate Engineer Review

I enjoyed my summer placement with John Sisk & Son Ltd very much. I worked in a great team of people who helped me out whenever I had any questions. I have learnt a lot about the industry over the past few months and think that this experience will help me a lot in the future.

Although I was "the intern" I never felt like it at all. I was never given the jobs no one wanted to do but rather did the normal jobs like everyone else. My team consisted of fun young people in their 20s and we did a lot of socialising, such as going for a pint after work on Fridays or playing football at the local 5-a-side pitches.

I was given a lot of support and guidance when needed. I personally learn more by working out a problem by myself, however when I was struggling I was always able to ask for guidance on the topic. As our team of engineers was fairly large, I could always call someone for help.

This fluctuated a lot during my placement. Some days we were very busy, having to do tasks all over the site and others we barely had anything to do, meaning that those days were spent doing paperwork and conducting site safety tours to make sure all the health and safety procedures were being adhered to.

At first I wasn't given a lot of responsibility, but within a couple of weeks I was assigned tasks to do by myself. This was a bit of a surprise at first but it definitely helped my development massively, as I wasn't able to rely on other people to do it anymore.

Personally I feel that the skills I have learnt will not help me much in my last year of study, however when I apply for a job in site engineering I believe that my experience will be very advantageous, as I will have learnt a lot of the skills required already.

The placement was very well organised. I knew about the dates and location of my placement months in advance, meaning that I could organise accommodation efficiently. When I arrived on my first day everything I needed was ready for me (eg laptop, PPE, etc) and I had been assigned an engineer to shadow for my first day.

Regarding the fact that I was only there for a few months, I received a lot of training. I completed a Site Environmental Awareness Training Scheme (SEATS) where I learnt about environmental aspects of the industry, such as waste management and environmental incidents. I also had some CPDs on BIM in construction, as well as on Schoeck balcony brackets.

Being in London meant that there were plenty of opportunities in terms of nightlife. The only problem was that where I was based was a little outside of London, meaning that I always had to get a 30 to 50 minute tube journey to wherever I was going in London.