Trainee Civil Engineer Review
at BAM
Internship (1 Month+)
Civil Engineering
Devonport
Review Submitted: August 2024
Overall Rating
4 /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
4.3/5
-
Skills Development
4.5/5
-
Support and Guidance
3/5
-
Company Culture
4.5/5
-
Overall Experience
4/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
At first you are shadowing work colleagues in a range of disciplines, on site andbin the office, then as you become more experienced your colleagues will hand you tasks to complete. I find myself surveying on site regularly and producing RAMS/proforma documents in the office. I also read around the subject/study when I don't have any tasks to do.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
Other internships would give more responsibility because at Devonport there are multiple layers of regulation-- everything has to be meticulous. The most responsibility I've had is producing numerous activity plans for a big part of the project, and doing some surveys to construct a CAD model of the site.
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?
Definitely! The main skills I have developed is my independence and life skills, living in Plymouth on my own-- on the job, I've learned many valuable lessons about the industry and how it operates, and been able to make links between what I studied at university and what I have been practising and appreciating on the work placement.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
4/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
4/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
4/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
Support from my colleagues has been fantastic, the two section engineers are very good at giving constructive feedback and delegating fruitful tasks to complete. There are lots of people that will help you and answer your questions. I found PPE nearly unbearable, and the team here have really strove to recognise this and help me with this in the next placement.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
4/5
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?
In the offices, it's an extremely relaxed culture in Devonport because many other cogs in the wheel have to turn to get our work translated into work on site. I have accepted that I may not be busy with work for much of the day. People are very friendly here, but as is the nature of Devonport certain regulatory procedures can seem complex, miscommunicated and not universally understood.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
4/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
2/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
3/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
3/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
As a first experience, I have really enjoyed my time in Devonport. It has been a fantastic learning experience in so many different ways and a brilliant compliment to my university studies in Southampton. The learnings from it, I think is what made it so enjoyable. However, every project is different, and I would love to compare and contrast my experience at Devonport with a different project next year.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
4/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at BAM
4/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAM to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to BAM
I applied to BAM through the ICE QUEST scholarship so my experience may be different to that of others. However, you can't go wrong with BAM: they are a company that will look after you, they work on some fantastic projects whether that is highly sustainable schools or large-scale heavy civils like Devonport. They are very well prepared to take on student engineers: be they apprentices, scholars or interns.
