Industrial Student Placement Review

As a student I was working alongside a professional or multiple. Progressing with report writing - remediation work/ defects, cost analysis evaluations and attending training and workshops that covered all things civil. As I was a short industrial placement - I had daily check ins to complete for my university module (professional placement) and therefore part of my experience was building up professional skills and insight I gained from Mott MacDonald to my lecturers through my logbook and case study.

Initially I had very little responsibility during my placement as work cannot be immediately available to students. However, after gaining security clearance and sufficient training I was able to complete remediation and recommendation work within surveys alongside the help of graduate and senior civil engineers. I was also able to complete myself a cost analysis study with a principal engineer to assess the costs for a waste to energy facility using SPON’s Architectural and Builder’s Book.

After my short spell of 4.5 months working alongside professionals, I feel I have gained a wealth of skills and attributes as a student progressing onto my final year. Through workshops, training days and one to one talks with both senior and graduate engineers I feel it is easier now to understand where the knowledge I have gained from university is applied to in real life situations. Although I never experienced being on site due to the secure nature of the work I was involved with, through all of the online training and accessible portal of information Mott MacDonald had to offer, I could still understand the different processes and regulations in place for multiple sectors. Overall, I feel my report writing skills have significantly improved as well as my understanding for technology used in civil engineering such as MathCad and SAP3000.

I always felt supported on placement from the people at the same level as me to the senior/ principal members of staff. I never felt excluded or not worthy of participating in work and always felt able to ask questions or query why certain work had to be carried out a certain way. My line manager carried out bi-weekly meetings with me but would often check in every other day. I had a buddy who was a graduate civil engineer and he often touched base with me whenever he could. I felt very lucky to be so supported as a student.

The general atmosphere was calm and hard working. There was often plenty opportunities to have a chat and coffee break and get to know the people around you. I particularly enjoyed the catered lunch meetings/workshops where guest speakers were invited and everyone could have lunch together whilst listening to new voices about upcoming opportunities in engineering. With hybrid working I still felt in the office with lots of chat in teams.

I enjoyed my placement as much as I thought I would when I applied. The interview from when I first applied although taunting, was relaxed and personal which I like. I felt welcomed immediately and enjoyed that a lot of the staff were young people and have went through similar experiences to my own and enjoy similar hobbies. My line manager I couldn’t thank enough for how supportive and kind she was. I knew I could ask many questions and she’d have an answer for all of them.

Yes