Infrastructure Sector - Highways Department Review

My placement at Arup was very memorable and Enjoyable, I learnt a lot and also met a lot of inspiring engineers, with a vast amount of experience, and stories to tell.

This was most likely to do with my level of expertise and how much i could contribute to the team, I felt valued by members of the team, when i was asked to complete tasks for various members of the team.

Guidance and Support were always provided as long as i needed it. There was always a member of the team i worked for who had experience to share and they were always happy to share their past experiences and stories about their time in that particular field of engineering.

I always had something to do, There was always a task that needed finishing or adding to, And a lot of the senior engineers were always keen to engage me when i asked to help.

In terms of responsibility i understood that there wasn't much i could contribute to the team in terms of the difficulty of project or my understanding of the particular project, However i was still able to help build a database for the project at hand, and i also got to work on the preliminary designs for 3 different projects that i was involved with.

After my time at Arup for that short duration ( 9 weeks ), i gained a lot of skills that have definitely helped me in my time at University, As i am currently studying towards my Masters Degree, a lot of the soft skills that i got to polish during my time at Arup are helping me better understand the final year project that i am currently undertaking at University. The technical skills i got from working with the CAD software is also a major contributor to my final year Masters group multidisciplinary project.

In the department i worked in, (Highways) There was always a sense of Fulfilment and drive at the workplace. People knew when to smile and have a laugh and also when it was time to business. There was a strong sense of wanting to get the work done and to its absolute best at Work.

The overall placement was well organised with specific dates and times for starting and ending adequately relayed to me, I always had a place of my own to work from and was always informed of any changes to my contract early enough.

As i was only at the company for a short duration, i wasn't able to attend any of the training programmes that are usually provided for the graduates at Arup, However from my research and time at Arup there are a lot of training schemes and qualifications provided by Arup for the Development of its employees

Arup does cater to its employees needs as well as providing the best possibly design for its client base. Being able to work for Arup after my Masters programme would be a fantastic Opportunity.

Yes the graduates at Arup were very welcoming, There was a sense of calm and cheer within the new and old graduates, there was no tension between the graduates and i was able to meet some friendly people on the placement who went on to become good friends, even within the short space of my placement.

My placement was in another city, however, travel to and from work was overall very cheap, there were free coach journeys to work from the main Train station and overall journey times were about 30 - 45 minutes maximum. by train and then shuttle bus. Driving to work was roughly about the same time as public transport as well.

N/A.

There was a graduate social council at the Arup Midlands Campus that were always looking to get people involved in all of the sports and activities that they had planned. Although i didnt take part i know of a few activities that were always being advertised at work. Kayaking, Mountaineering, Gym, Yoga, etc.