Electrical Engineering Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship with Arup. I was given the opportunity to work on real projects all around the world, it was extremely interesting to see how the theory I had learned in university was applied to industry problems. I worked on three projects during my placement; a hotel in Barbados, an office building in Edinburgh and the new renovation of Queen Street Station in Glasgow

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. Members of my team each took time to explain anything I was unsure about in detail until I was more confident. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming from the first day I arrived. I was invited on several events out with office hours which allowed me to socialise with my team in an informal setting.

I was given good guidance and support by my managers and supervisors. From my first day my manager ensured I was clear in what I was doing. I was assigned regular tasks on real projects around the world which were interesting and allowed me to gain excellent experience in building services.

I was kept fairly busy with tasks however sometimes, when the office was busy, I was left with little to do. This was understandable and something which I was anticipating prior to starting my placement. This was the one negative aspect of the experience and meant that I was sitting at my desk with little to work on.

I was given a fair deal of responsibility during my placement. The tasks I was assigned kept me busy for a morning or an afternoon. I was assigned to check a fire alarm layout of Queen Street station in Glasgow which took around 3 days. All my work was double checked by an engineer to ensure it was to a suitable standard.

I gained great experience in the building services industry and the use of the CAD programs such as Revit for building design, Amtech for electrical circuit modelling and Dialux for lighting design and analysis. I learned more about fault currents and circuit breakers such as ACBs, MCCBs and MCBs. I also learned more about electrical calculations in three phase which will help me in my degree studies.