Structural engineering Vacation Student Review

I had a great time at Arup. I was able to be very involved in my project via producing a 3d model and carrying out calculations on specific members. I felt I made a meaningful contribution but was never out of my depth and learnt a lot about the field that I would like to work in.

Everyone in the office was friendly and I felt that the work I was doing was genuinely important and valuable to them team.

My Supervisors were always able to help when I needed it and made sure I was understanding the tasks I was undertaking. They also took great effort and much of their own time to explain further engineering concepts to me even when they were not directly relevant to the task I had been given. I have learnt so much on my placement due to them.

I generally always had tasks to be getting on with but never felt overwhelmed or under any pressure to get them finished for a specific deadline. I was given plenty of time and space to work through things and to understand them at my own pace whilst being given access to any resources that I needed.

I believe the skills and general applied knowledge of engineering I have learnt over the past six weeks will be incredibly useful to me during the rest of my degree. This is particularly down to the time spent on teaching me about things such as building damping and stability systems that were not directly related to the problems I was solving but more of a general overview.

The atmosphere in the office was very positive and constructive. I never felt like I couldn't ask for help and everyone was very friendly both to myself and to eachother. Everyone seemed to be very relaxed and passionate about the work they were doing- and very happy to take time to teach me things.

Overall, I feel that the placement was organised very well. The orientation was very comprehensive and my team were expecting me on my arrival. There were times when I didn't have as much work to do, but this matched the pace and progression of the project I was working on.

I feel the company put a lot of thought and effort into my development. They always took the time to explain things to me and ensured that I had what all of the other employees had. I did not feel like I was with the company temporarily but instead like I was a full time employee.

Future prospects are very appealing with the company. I have been given a great understanding of their graduate scheme and will certainly be applying. I also feel that I now have the connections to be able to ask for help and advice from various people across different departments during this application process.

There were at least 10 other interns on the programme at the same time as me and we all became quite close. It was great to have other people in the same situation as me to socialise with at lunch and on some occasions after work- i.e. during the staff party.

Given that I was working in the centre of London, you accept that socialising in the area is not easy to do. The facilities are there to socialise if you can afford it, but generally most people would just go home after their days had finished as most of us had had to commute a fair distance into work.

The company was very inclusive in terms of physical activities and sports. They made sure I was very aware of this from my first week. As a company they ran running clubs, circuit groups, kayaking as well as a host of other weekly after work activities. All were subsidised by the company and open for participation.