Summer Student (Ground Engineering) Review

I very much enjoyed my 8 week placement with Atkins, and preferred it to the one I had the previous year with a different Civil Engineering consultancy.

It felt very easy to fit in and I was made to feel like I was performing an important role, not that I was a burden.

I was given excellent support by my manager, who was always trying to make sure I had work despite not always being in the office.

I was kept busy with relatively varied and interesting work on projects from around the world. When I had an hour or two spare waiting for the next bit of work it was made clear to me that there was no problem with me researching something to further my learning, such as looking at research topics for my dissertation.

I was given the amount of resposibility I would expect considering I was on a summer placement. I was expected to manage my workload and complete the work which I was given on time and to the required standard, including time-constrained projects. I would have liked to have had more involvement in design work and calculations.

I developed a number of skills which will be very useful during my masters year and in my future career, especially of certain aspects which I could only have experienced through working in industry. I feel I have been well prepared to start a job as a graduate Civil Engineer next year due to this placement.

I enjoyed the interaction with my colleagues, on both a professional and personal level. I felt there could have been more social events organised for the team or the office as a whole, there was a social committee at the company where I had a placement the previous summer.

The placement was better organised than the one I had the previous summer and the work for me was better prepared when I started my placement.

I was able to work on a number of projects doing tasks which helped me to develop a number of key skills. I was also able to achieve a number of my ICE Development Objectives and have them signed off, making a good contribution to my CPD.

I will be able to bypass the application process and go straight to the assessment centre when applying for a graduate position with the company.

There was only one other placement student in the same office and they were on a different team, no events were organised with placement students from other offices.

I was able to live in the house I was renting in Leeds for my 4th year of University.

Leeds has a a very good nightlife.

Due to the location of the office being a significant distance from Leeds city centre andly being served by a few bus services there were very few opportunities to get involved in activities with colleagues from work outside of work. I would have much preferred to work in a centrally-located office.