Vacation Student Review

Mott MacDonald went the extra mile on this placement to invest in my career plans. With any internship there is a financial incentive to hire students to complete work cheaply however the management and line managers at Motts were eager to see my skills and engineering competencies develop and even prevented work that could have been deemed as dull or administrative in content coming to me in favour of giving me access to current engineering projects.

My colleagues were quick to encourage and evaluate my work. My only criticism was that it was a shame on a placement where I lived away from my normal city that there wasn't more of an effort made to direct me to the social events that the office offered outside of work.

The management were excellent in offering guidance and support. I was able to get in touch before hand to find out what sector of the business I would be involved with and even asked where I would like to involved with. On two occasions I was offered the opportunity to spend a week on site and on both occasions the management checked up to make sure I was comfortable. Although any time getting support or guidance with senior management was tight they offered guidance on what I could pursue once the internship was finished and how to get the most out of my time at the company.

It was very rare to be bored or too busy. It was obvious that they kept me in mind when resource planning occurred. There was the occasional period in the last week of the placement where work was slightly quieter but this is to be expected.

I was given responsibility on a number of occasions. This included hiring and driving a rented car to site, representing the company during site visits, preparing and delivering presentations to senior management and checking engineering calculations.

I have no doubt that this internship has set me on a trajectory towards a career in engineering. It provided opportunities and experience that I can use in subsequent years at university and beyond in terms of good engineering practice and how to work effectively as a team. It also allowed me to develop a number of key competencies that I can use to fulfil the ICE development objectives for chartership. It's easy to see why Motts are regarded as having one of the best training programmes for professional accreditation

The office is well balanced in terms of atmosphere. My experience of most consultancies is that they can be very quiet and the employees are generally very introverted. However the Motts office had a good balance that allowed for a relaxed yet professional atmosphere.

Organisation was excellent. All contract documents and conditions of employment were sent out well in advance.

The company really based the internship around my desires and aspirations. From providing me a job in the sector of my choice to even encouraging and shortening the length of my placement so I could gain experience with a contractor during my summer too.

The company runs a bursary scheme onto which students who excel during their placement are placed. I was on this entered into this scheme last year and the general consensus is that this is used to support students with a substantial bursary during university and also encourage students to re apply in future years for graduate and intern positions.

The social scene depends how much you engage with the other interns. I didn't really get to know many of the other interns until towards the end of the placement and would suggest that if you want to get to know the other interns don't expect anyone but yourself to organise that.

Living in any city in the U.K. is not particular cheap. The office was located in the centre of town and therefore I cycled 30 mins into work everyday to lower my costs.

Some great pubs in the west end! It's very easy to get around the city and there are some very nice pubs, clubs and restaurants available in the city centre too.

There was opportunities to play football however any other opportunities that were publicised seemed to be too few and too far between.