Apprentice Civil Engineer Review

Start at 7:00 or 7:30 depending on how busy the site is. Do the morning briefing for the lads which has been written up the night before with the site manager. Set out what ever measurements the lads need for the day. I induct anyone who is new to the site. I fill out any applicable daily check sheets and make sure the machine driver have done theirs. I on and off hire any plant that needs dealing with. I check my emails for any jobs people like the design team have requested me to do. I collect data from the site using various engineering equipment and draw sketches to represent the data I have collected as best I can. I do checks on the engineering equipment to check its accurate such as a 2-peg test on a dumpy level. I sit in on programme meetings to keep up to date with what the client wants and what the jobs priority's are. I check we have plenty of things such as soap, tissue, tea bags, sugar e.t.c. if not I order them on xpedeon. I ask the lads if there is anything they need throughout the day for up and coming jobs, if they need something I ring various suppliers to find the best, closest and cheapest product. I then process that on xpedeon and send the lads out with the address and what they are picking up. I process invoices which have been given by suppliers on pickup to check we have been charged for the right things and the correct amount, this is then confirmed and payed off. I organise skip exchanges. I make sure the toilets are emptied each week. I usually leave around 17:00 but I have been on a site where I worked 7 till 7 for about 6 months.

I have learned the basics and some of the advanced principals behind engineering. I have learnt about health and safety and why its important. I have learnt how to structure and run a site as effectively as possible. I have learned how to talk to different people to get the best out of them.

I enjoy meeting new people and the social environment on site. I have enjoyed learning new skills and developing myself as an engineer. I have enjoyed becoming part of the company and learning the way they operate. I have enjoyed working together as a team with the designers, site managers and engineers to complete all jobs to the best of my ability.

Bentleys is a very well organised and efficiently structured business across the board which has made my job a lot simpler and easier. They have arranged all the training necessary for my job role and some extra courses relevant to other people on site so I can further understand what they should and shouldn't be doing. Bentleys use various sites and platforms to help organise things like holidays, timesheets, expense claims, pay slips, fuel allowance and near misses. All of these are easy to access and have effective IT support. My college days with LSP are good but in the beginning I struggled to get to grips with where to find the work on the websites, where to upload the work once completed and how to check what work needed completing. This definitely made the course more difficult in the beginning but once I understood that it all went smoothly.

I receive a lot of support in many different ways. I get financial support through Bentley Benefits, from there I can have money off when I go to the dentist, have physiotherapy, go to the gym and many others. Bentleys also put me through a lot of training courses such as levelling and setting out, cat course, temporary works and structural concrete supervisors just to name a few. This has helped me develop a lot of knowledge I wouldn't have learned by just being on site and has helped me with my college course.

When I first joined Bentleys I was assigned with a mentor and we had weekly meetings to talk about college work and my on-site performance, this would help me structure college work into my week and he could answer any questions I was unsure about. However, he left just a few months after I had joined, and although it was noted I now did not have a mentor I was never assigned a new one. Then a while after I was asked why I had no mentor, I told them why and that nothing had been organised, I was told it would get sorted but I still do not have a mentor. However, each site manager and engineer on site was willing to answer any and all questions I had.

I think the only thing I have learnt with my training provider that I have used on site was drawing techniques. Other than that its mostly things I do on site and learn on training courses which I use to complete my college work. Overall the work has been quite irrelevant to my current job role, however, once I begin to do more advanced engineering in the future.

Yes there are loads of these; nights out, netball, sports day, football and plenty more. They seem like a great way to connect with your co-workers and to do something different. There are plenty of opportunities to join and dates are on signs in the office. The only socials I have taken part in a nights out to celebrate things like Christmas break or the end of a job, I have not taken part in any that are organised by the office although it would be easy to join if I wanted to.

Yes

Bentleys provide great job security, they look after there employees, I can't name a single person I haven't got on with, they pay well for apprenticeships, a large company with sites up and down the country, let me work both in the office and on site depending on the type of environment best suited to complete my work.

Make sure you focus on learning things the right way, JNBentley pride themselves on doing it safe and doing it right and there are not many other companies that have such a high standard. Don't be afraid to ask for advice, your better off stopping and asking how to do it both safely and efficiently, if you do mess up, don't worry, just learn from it. Also make the most of the training and benefits provided.