Civil Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

Day to day, I currently hold a technician role purely because of how early it is in my career right now. By year 2 or 3, I will slowly move into more engineer roles. And then by year 5/6 when I am finishing, I will be doing proper engineer jobs and even possibly specialising in something if I end up really enjoying a specific field. So that means currently I am working on a lot of CAD stuff, and every now and then I help my line manager with assistant design managerial tasks. Although I sit in the rail civils team, I also get exposure to other types of engineering fields, such as highways or even drainage and track design. I have also got exposure of tasks that are in different stages of completion. Some of the tasks are all ready to go to the client and I help out with final checks against standards or rewuirments. Other jobs have been in very early stages, where it is simply CAD block layout design. Overall, my day to day role is very CAD heavy, and I also get to work on different projects that are interesting to get involved in.

The programme is well structured. I am in the cohort that started the new integrated course, which means that hopefully when we finish the apprenticeship, we should also be able to apply to become qualified by the ICE. So far it is going quite well. My only slight downside is that the course is quite long (over 5 years). However when I weight up the other positives of the apprenticeship ( work experience, salary, no debt etc) then it isn't such a big issue.

Working at Arup is really enjoyable. The company culture is really comfortable and open, and the general company values are something that really align with my personal views, so that's definitely a bonus. In terms of actual engineering, there is a lot of support and training available. They understand that I am new to the industry and might have little to no knowledge, and my buddy is like a mentor. He are willing to go over things multiple times to make sure I fully understand. I feel incredibly blessed to be in this position that I am in now.

Support from uni has been good. They have made it clear from the start that help is available, and they have told us all where to find it as well. General communication from lecturers to us has been a bit weak at times, such as differing answers or lack of instructions, but this was something that we adapted to quickly.

Uni is giving me some good theory to build my foundations of civil engineering on. Although only a certain amount it actually transferrable to my day to day work, it is still enjoyable. Once I achieve my qualification, it will definately boost my position in the office, and the types of works I could get involved in.

Yes

I really like what the company stands for and the practices they follow. An example would be that the company doesn't avoids taking interest based loans to bid on projects, which is really great as it also alligns with my personal values. Arup is also people owned, and hence very people oriented. It has the interests of the staff at the core of what it does. People are very welcoming and understanding. The culture generally is another thing that I personally really like. Arup is also very flexible. As an apprentice, there is a lot of support and training available. They understand that you are new to the industry and might have little to no knowledge, and your buddy is like a mentor. They are willing to go over things multiple times to make sure you fully understand.