Vacation Student Review

My summer placement this year was extremely enjoyable after coming back from a year in industry with Arup previously. To the projects I was working on to the people I was working with, everything kept me intrigued and was an invaluable experience. The two months flew by and goes to show how much I enjoyed working with Arup.

As I had previously worked with the Arup team, I seamlessly became a valued and integrated member of the team again, and even if I hadn't of known the team beforehand, everyone is extremely welcoming and open, so it is hard to not feel valued and important from the get-go!

My supervisors were always open to questions I had and made my placement that much more enjoyable. My manager would often ask me what I was working on and whether there was anything, project or task wise I would like to contribute to, and my manager would see to it if it was possible.

As I was keen to get my hands on as much as possible during my placement, there were moments where I felt maybe I had taken on too much work and had to talk to my supervisors but with that being said, most of the time I was at a great balance of work.

With the projects I was working on, although we were usually a large team of anywhere up to 10 engineers, I felt I still had my own share of responsibility with the tasks that were assigned and my inputs/thoughts would always be listened to and considered during meetings and catch ups.

The skills I developed during my placement will be forever useful to me where ever I go with my career. The interpersonal, organisational and time management skills I have further improved after my placement will be extremely valuable when I return to my last year of University. Also the technical skills and knowledge I learnt will most definitely prove to be useful in the future.

The office always had a social atmosphere, where discussions within a working bay could easily break out and everyone around would provide their input or listen in to the conversation. However, at the same time, if members of a team were particularly busy, others would know not to disturb and allow for a quieter and more focussed atmosphere.

As mentioned before, I had previously worked for the team so I did not require as much organisation or setting up as a brand new starter would maybe require, but either way, the team secretary and others all help to ensure your placement is structured during the first weeks and then once you have settled in, allow you yourself to have more of an input of what you would like to get out of the placement, which is great!

I felt that the company invested sufficiently in me in terms of personal training and development.

Having completed a year in industry and a summer placement for the same team, I believe my future employment prospects with Arup are very likely and is enforced after multiple comments from my managers and supervisors once I had completed my placement. I would gladly work for Arup again as a graduate engineer if given the opportunity.

There was a great social scene between fellow placement students and colleagues as there would almost always be after work drinks on a Friday with the team as well as social opportunities during the week. Whole office socials were also often held, allowing for easy socialising between others in the office.

Living in Cardiff (especially in the more student orientated area (Cathays)) as a Student can be easily stated as living cheap, with rent and the cost of food and drinks out being more than reasonably priced and is great as it allows for more money to be saved after finishing your placement.

Being a Cardiff University Student, I can only recommend the Nightlife in Cardiff as being great, as both 'scenes' are available to you. The choice between going out with students to clubs or having perhaps a more social time in a variety of pubs with work colleagues is presented to you every weekend and makes for an enjoyable experience.

There were ample opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work from everything to cricket to monthly whole office pub socials.