Vacation Student - Fire Engineer Review
at Arup
Internship (1 Month+)
Engineering
Birmingham
Review Submitted: August 2024
Overall Rating
4.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
5/5
-
Overview of Role
4.8/5
-
Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
5/5
-
Company Culture
5/5
-
Overall Experience
5/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
Review of documentation and production of fire strategies throughout all RIBA stages and retrospectively. Production of fire strategy mark-ups and use of fire engineering solutions to identify derogations and risks mitigations to accommodate non-compliances.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
Named as Project Engineer on two projects within two weeks of starting. Handed projects as sole engineer working under a PM and PD and entrusted to provide full reports, analysis results, and mark-ups within deadlines. Attended a client call in week 5. All work is checked twice by PM and PD before issuing, but PE responsibilities were equal to those of permanent employees.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
5/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Report structure, use of mark-up software, identification of non-compliances, reading and understanding codes and legislation as well as their intent. Ability to read floor plans and create mental models of structures.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
4/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
Frequent feedback both written and verbal. Guidance on hand whenever needed, context of tasks provided in depth with great care as to use of jargon. Full interaction with the team at all levels across multiple offices, all of whom offered help at any time it was needed. Explanations were provided with full care and attention, but still offered the chance for my own thoughts on the matters to ensure my understanding.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
Very welcoming atmosphere. Regular opportunities for professional development during lunch breaks. Welcomed into the team as a member and multiple opportunities to spend time with colleagues in a non-work environment (walks at lunch, out together twice in the evening). Members of other teams also introduced themselves to me and kept in touch throughout the internship.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
5/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
Very much so. Arup offered the chance to see a broad variety of projects and understand how fire engineering influences every part of infrastructure. Challenging enough to keep my mind stimulated but never daunting or overwhelming.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at Arup
5/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Arup to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to Arup
Lots of useful information on the website; ensure you understand the company as a whole as well as your potential team’s role within it, and what your role would be as a new starter. Have something in mind that gives you an edge - if you’re applying for a legislation-based role (such as ADB and BS9999 for fire engineering), read as much as you can of the codes and make sense of the guidance and jargon. The Approved Documents have glossaries at the back; other codes likely do too. Understanding the jargon before the interview will mean your thinking time is going towards your response, not towards understanding the question.
