Vacation Student Review

I greatly enjoyed my internship at Arup for a number of reasons. The first of these is the kindness of all the people I worked with and particularly my supervisor Joanna Rothwell. I have genuinely never worked with someone more approachable and helpful in every single situation. Not only did she answer to my questions promptly, she also actively sought out other opportunities at work and outside of work for me to get involved with. On top of this, the physical work I was involved in was enjoyable - notably my work on Bath Quays North producing drawings of structural floor options. Also, working on buildings in general was satisfying as I was familiar with many of the jobs I did work for as they are Bristol-based and tangible.

One of the best things about the company is how valued everyone made me feel. The main example of this is the fact that the Structures team has someone - Katherine Pilling - to look over workload for everyone in the office. I am aware this is something she also did for me, in order to ensure I always had something to do. I valued this greatly, as it meant I felt more like a full time part of the team, rather than just a temporary staff member. Being invited to go on site by Joanna at Assembly, and Ewan Macpherson at Redcliffe Quarter made me feel valued as they were actively seeking out opportunities and they knew site visits would be beneficial experiences for someone like me.

So much support was given from all the different people I worked under. My supervisor Joanna was incredibly supportive as already mentioned. It was also nice to be able to sit right next to someone so helpful. In other projects, everyone was friendly and I felt able to approach them all to ask for help. I appreciated Natalie, whom I worked with for the majority of my time as she made me think about mistakes I may have made and how to counteract them. My line manager, Duncan Overy, made sure to see me early on for a General Site Safety and Travel Briefing which I am thankful for, as I was lucky enough to go on two different site visits after this. Duncan also explained the Colston Hall task I did for him very thoroughly and gave me large A3 images of the building to allow me to visualise the building elements better.

I was busy every single day of my placement - and this is definitely one of the aspects I appreciated the most. As mentioned above, Katherine would make sure I always had work so I never felt like I was doing nothing. There were times I had to wait to speak to whoever I was working under, but this is understandable, and I easily preoccuped myself with other things such as writing notes on my daily activities (for my placement report), and completing online induction tasks using the Arup Moodle page. I know other peers working as placement students have struggled with finding work to do on numerous occasions in similar companies so I am thankful for this not being an issue here at Arup.

This is a slightly difficult question to answer, and I personally don't believe I should be given a large amount of responsibility as I don't have much experience and would feel uncomfortable being given too much. However, I did not ever feel patronised or that I was below everyone else. I was glad that Natalie felt confident enough in me to allow me to ring up Peikko, the DELTABEAM supplier. I sized up a beam section for an Option Study I computed for Bath Quays North. This made me feel useful, like a real structural engineer and helped me to develop my verbal communication skills.

I do feel like I genuinely learned something new everyday on the job. Whilst I liked the variation in work when doing a couple of small jobs for Transport Planning, I feel this was not entirely relevant as I am already certain that I want to be a Structural Engineer. Therefore I learned a lot, but am not sure how much it will assist me later. However, all the work I did complete for the Structures team was entirely relevant. For example, learning to produce simple structures in Oasys GSA was extremely useful, especially as this is a program installed on university computers that I am thus likely to use in the near future. Also, with the rising need for companies to use BIM, I am grateful to have been able to look at some job models in Revit. I understand that this is a piece of modelling software that many Engineering Consultancies use and therefore feel its use has been worthwhile. If I did have to suggest something I wish I could've done, it would definitely be something more calculation based, such as design checks for a structure.

The general atmosphere is always quite lively - whilst conversation is mostly work related, there are occasional friendly chats and I like that people often bring in treats on thier birthdays or if they have been on holiday. I also particularly like the fact that in the Bristol Arup Office, the bell is rung when someone is leaving and everyone gathers to her a speech from them and applaud them. These little aspects make it seem like a friendly and positive environment.

The work placement was generally very well set up. Everyone was aware of my arrival and I was able to log in, use emails and timesheets straight away from the first day. One small issue was the fact I was being sent two contradictory pieces of information regarding the compulsory placement report. From one member of HR I was being told the report only needed to be 500 words, and another I was told it needed to be 1500 words. This is quite a significant difference and would have appreciated if the correct figure was given to begin with.

I feel I was given enough training to be able to complete the tasks I was given. Each time I started something new, someone sat with me and explained for a long period of time what to do. If anyone was going to be away whilst I was working on a task for them, I was always given plenty of information or encouraged to complete a different task requiring less support. Also, I was made to undertake online induction courses regarding things like Health and Safety, and Data Security. On my first day I was given an office introductory training meeting via Skype. I felt this helped me understand importances in the work place also.

I am not sure entirely whether this meants my chances of receiving a job, or how desirable a job here would seem. I will answer both. I have no idea whether achieving a job at this company is something possible and therefore cannot really answer this question. A job here would be desirable as the company is so welcoming and friendly, and I have enjoyed my time here.

Placement students generally kept to themselves as they all knew each other, having been on the Engineering Design Course. Whilst I understand that Arup sponsors this course, I feel that the company should branch out and not take all their placement students from the same year group and course. We did not tend to socialise outside of work, but did always spend lunch together. We often took Friday as a good opportunity to go to St Nicks market together for food. The social scene amongst colleagues in structures was present and I did attend a few events with them which were really enjoyable. However I feel it would be nicer if it was more frequent as I am quite an outgoing person.

As I have worked in Bristol, the same place I am studying at University, I feel that I have already known how the cost of living and socialising is in the city. The answer to this is that it is very expensive. Living costs in Bristol are rising to be almost as high as they are in London. Socialising can be cheaper if cheaper pubs and student friendly pubs are visited.

Again, being a University of Bristol student, I was already actively aware of the nightlife perks and where is good to go to socialise. However speaking specifically about the places I visited with work colleagues, the pub we have been to was very lively and a nice environment. The board games cafe was equally lively with a great atmosphere and I would definitely go again!

There were a number of out-of-work opportunities. For example, I attended the 'Pub of the month', on the one occasion this happened during my time at Arup. I felt this was a good way to socialise with other members of the team whom I had not worked for, and to make friends. Also, my supervisor and her general friend circle invited me to Chance and Counters, the board games café, which was kind and welcoming of them. I am again glad I went, as I could see team members in a different light and make more friends.