Student Civil Engineer Review

This was my second placement on the same project and so I knew most the people working on it which helped my enjoyment as it meant I already had friends/people I knew at work. Also I was able to get a good experience by working in different departments such as drainage, structures and paving.

I felt valued by my colleagues as they were always grateful for another set of hands to help but also took time to teach me what they were doing, even senior managers took time to take me round site and explain their job roles so that I could see the progression and different things I could end up doing.

My line manager this year was great. He was very supportive and managed to get me on training courses which helped me progress both personally and in my job. Even when he was on holiday or on nights he made sure to check in with how things were going and what I was working on.

I generally had a good amount of work to do each day. On days that I wasn’t so busy I would use online tutorials to improve my Autocad skills using online tutorials or try and join different people onsite to get a more varied experience of the different job roles.

I was given limited responsibility onsite but felt this was appropriate given my experience and the scale of the project. I was able to do some tasks independently and was given chances to show my knowledge and test new skills.

This year I was able to do mental health first aid training and CAT and Genny training. The mental health first aid will hopefully be useful both in and out of work while the CAT and Genny is a qualification that will be transferable to other projects. I also gained more experience in using the equipment on site and technical detail we have not learnt at university.

The atmosphere was quite mixed in the office. It is getting close to the deadline for finishing the project so a lot of people were either leaving or getting frustrated by the work that was happening. However we would have better feelings when a small part got finished like opening a new section of road.

The placement was very badly set up initially. I was only told with less than a month before where I would be placed and was originally told that this would be Newcastle where I have no accommodation, or I could choose not to have a placement at all. After talking with someone from the company they said there was a lack of work this year due to a delay on projects starting however I feel they should have realised this before hiring more people and given us more warning to find other work.

As previously discussed I went on various training courses and was given a laptop, work phone and the software needed for my role.

I’m currently planning to work for Costain after I graduate as I think they have a good grad scheme and generally are one of the better construction companies to work for. However, this does depend on what work they win and which projects the government decide to run with, as projects like HS2 would be good experience.

There was a fairly good social scene during the week, I played cricket and rounders in games organised by the company after work and we would also do things like go bowling. At weekends most people would go home. I decided not to live in the onsite accommodation as it is 6miles away from town so only has the services and small villages nearby.

The onsite accommodation is inexpensive however I chose not to live there, so found accommodation more expensive in the centre of Cambridge. Drinks are also expensive in Cambridge (similar to London prices). These costs were offset though by accommodation and travel allowance from the company including daily travel to and from work.

Not great, but equally have early starts so wouldn't go out during the week anyway.

Football every week, cricket, rounders occasionally - not much if you aren't sporty though.