Apprentice Civil Engineer Review

I am an apprtentice civil engineer in the water group at arup where. I have developed in my job hugely from having the oppurtunity to interact with some top engineers. I use CAD more than less every day for doing jobs from designing manhole chambers from plans to just annotaing drawings. I feel like that i am responsible for any mistakes that are on the drawing after i have entered it which makes me feel the need to check over all aspects of it. I work on numerous different projects at the moment for example LG tanks, Station road lanelli and vowchurch.

My skills on cad has progressed the most as i used the programme on a daily basis which i really enjoy. I have been fortunate enough to visit a course on civil 3d giving me the oppurtunity to begin to produce 3d drawings at a acceptable staqndard. Regular practice on this is needed but i am able now to produce these type of drawings. What i think is biggest skill i am only now beginning to develop is the understanding of the drawings i am give. This is my own fault as only the last couple of months i have been asking for explanation of the job/drawings before proceeding any work on them.

In my opinion this programme is brilliant i really enjoy what i do and might sound like im ,lieing but i do enjoy going to work every day. It gives you the oppurtunity to have a work experainace side of life and also getting your qualifications in college. Arup as a company have made me feel very welcomed and been very encouragiing throughout my development. All the teams around me are always look for me to develop new skills and trying to help me as much as possible. I didnt expect ehat i have had from this company and they have exceeded my expectations which i cant thank them enough for.

I had my 6 month appraisal and review recently which i was praised and thanked by my manager and am thanked on a regular bases after completing work. This makes me feel that my hard work is appreciated in this company which is a good feeling.

This programme is very well organised from the first i arrived for my indcution everything was ready and set up to me to now where i often get offered to go on training quite often. I dont get much time to study in work but i believe this is my own responsibilitiy in my own time. My mentor is very helpfull but there are other piers who act like my mentor and are very helpful to me as theyve been through this programme which i appreciate massively.

My mentor often asks me how im getting on with stuff certainly college work so that i am keeping up with the workload and if help is needed he is always willing to give up his time to help me. When i have probklems i always have someone who i can go to and get the problem explained thoroughly which is very helpfull.

I dont think managers have time to give me support other than during my appraisal ecery six months. I guess they are very busy and have many resp[onsibilities in the company.

My salary is very high for an apprentice and provides a good living cost however, my travel costs are extremly high and arup dont provide anything for these costs which is a slight difficulty ecery moth. Appart from this, the wage is acceptable.

Regular events are available to all stuff, every month they visit a different pub for a drink and socialise as a company. Also activities like conoeing and paintballing always come up while arup having football tournaments for everyone to participate in. They also have thier own football team which play every friday against other companies.Oppurtunites of voluntry for fundraising is a popular one in arup but also you able to bwecome an ambasittor. When i werent working i was attending collge for half of a year which i then realised that i needed eexperiance on a construction site to give me more of a chance to becoming an engineer. I also attended any engineering events possible enabling as much experiance available as possible.

Yes

Arup is a friendly company that make you feel extremly welcomed. Everyone that works hear is willing to help someone to benefit them which i love about this company. Also they offer huge amounts of oppurtunities for your development. On top of this, Arup will make you the best engineer you can be.

Arup will look for experiance so get as much of this in any cad work, engineering or helpfull skills for this job as possible. They will look for someone willing to work hard to become the best engineer possible and in that interview you have to show that your eager to work for this company because of what it offers. Show that you really want to be part of this team.