Placement Engineer Review

I greatly enjoyed my work placement. I was placed in the Belfast rail team and got along with all my colleagues. The project I worked on had just begun and I was, therefore, able to see how a project progresses from the beginning. This was very exciting and the work I did on the project was enjoyable.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. I had the opportunity to go out with them to lunch and drinks and got to bond with the team. I was encouraged to do good work and was praised whenever I completed work on time. Throughout my placement, I was given the opportunity to present both to my team and to a team from another office.

I was given a great amount of support during my placement. I was working directly under a senior engineering who guided me and answered any questions I had about the design. He also produced markups of my drawings and talked me through the corrections. My line manager also assisted me in creating my presentation for a meeting.

I had a steady workflow each day and had a good overall output of drawings. I was never looking for something to do. At certain points there was a small reduction of work such as after a submission, however, I had research to carry out and preparation for my presentation and this mainly occurred within my last week.

I was given a good amount of responsibility. The project I was working on had a small project team and so I was given the majority of the CAD work to do. I also found myself being present for meetings and discussions about the design and had a lot of knowledge about the survey data as I had to review it once it was received. For this reason, other project members came to me for anything CAD related.

I think the skills I have developed while carrying out my placement will definitely assist in my studies. I have developed my CAD and project management skills through seeing how a project is developed in the early stages. As well as this, I have developed my skills in report writing and excel by assisting in the creation of reports and schedules for the project.

The atmosphere in the office was very comforting and everyone was friendly. I have previously worked at Arup and so I expected it to be as friendly as the last time I was there. Working with the same team members was also a pleasure and there was always a good mix of jokes and hard work. I was never afraid to speak my mind to other colleagues and suggest solutions to design problems as the atmosphere was overall welcoming and supportive.

The work placement was well set up. Due to my previous experience at Arup I knew the company as well as their policies and procedures for new placements. Rather than putting me through the same training procedure, I was able to start work on the second day and had plenty of work up until I left. I thought this was very good as I was only there for a short time.

I was able to complete a site safety course during my placement and also was allowed to assign time for research and development of 3D tools in the program I was using. At the end of my placement I was assigned a slot in a monthly meeting and allowed to present my findings. I found this very encouraging and was glad I was able to pursue this.

I am really looking forward to the possibility of working for Arup again. I have completed several summer placements with them so far and always look forward to going back again afterward. Overall, my goal would be to obtain a full-time job with the company once I graduate which is something my line manager has been keen of.

I knew several of the fellow placement students and the others were friendly. The placement students organized a lunch together in order to get to know each other better and I went to lunch a lot of the time with one of the other students. I also had several opportunities to go to lunch, dinner, and drinks with other colleagues in my team and there were plenty of events with the wider office as well.

I lived close enough to Belfast where my placement was located meaning I was able to get the train in every morning. Travel is relatively cheap and my student pass allows me to get discounts. Social events in the city are very reasonably priced if you know where to look with plenty of bars, restaurants, and cafes.

The nightlife in Belfast is very vibrant. There are plenty of bars and clubs all over the city and the public areas are always lit meaning you always feel safe in the city center. During my placement, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to take advantage of the nightlife as I was working another part-time job on Saturdays as well so I needed the night to get my rest.

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities such as golfing, socializing and volunteering. Arup has many different clubs that are very inclusive and offer different kinds of activities for everyone. During the golfing event, The Open, it was streamed on the television in one of the social spaces after work along with drinks and mini golf which was a great social event for everyone.