Apprentice Civil Engineer Review

On site, depending on how far the job has progressed I can be organizing site logistics, getting involved with small sit manager roles such as inductions. I take photos of site progression and help out wherever I can on site. At the moment I've just started some small setting out/ surveying activities.

People Skills, Communication skills. A vast knowledge of Site managing in all areas such as different permits needed for different jobs and such. Skills such as being able to formulate appropriate emails being sent to clients to describe works on site/progression. Small handy work skills, Joinery, Demolition.

The programme at this moment in time has been enjoyable experiencing all the different aspects of construction. However I have been at the company a year and not had a lot of exposure to learning about Civil Engineering. This is just to do with the type of work KIER does in the north east. Being a main contractor in construction they do not have a lot of engineering resources to teach apprentices.

I am now being transferred from construction to gain a better experience and to be trained in what my title enrolls. So in terms of organisation, university block weeks are appropriately set out however the apprenticeships training on site not as structured as presumed. Lack of willing engineers to train is one of the main problems.

In terms of support however, i cannot fault KIER. Bringing up my concerns they instantly looked out and recommended more opportunities for me within the company. Hr representatives are incredibly helpful and never fail to help me out when in need. IT has been outsourced however and sometimes can be a struggle to fix the technological problems.

In terms of support on getting my qualifications they are incredibly flexible with allowing me to have an hour after all my duties are done to study university work. The original plan was one day a week however I felt that an hour a day suited my learning methods more and KIER and site operatives were happy to oblige.

Only being in my second semester at uni possibly only one subject (Geotechnics) has related to anything that I have seen on site. As I study more and more subjects however such as surveying I will be able to apply such knowledge into my work. On the whole i don't think that the degree program takes into consideration a lot of site based activity because it is such a broad subject to be getting a degree in and lots of factors play a part in making up the whole of CIVIL engineering.

KIER offer a lot of charity events and experiences to help out the younger generation get a feel of construction. They do school visits and help with mock interviews. Reaching out the charities to give them donations as part of an event such as sponsored walks or an event that I participated in such as a sponsored 'sleep out to help out' which was a charity event to donate to youth homelessness.

Yes

Despite my unlucky experience with not having a tutor/mentor till a year into my training, they have provided me with such an incredible welcome into the business as well as the benefits that they provide. The teams i have been working in are like family and i feel like that is a big positive for being passionate about work.

I would say establish what you want out of the company and what you can bring to the team as soon as possible. Pushing for crucial training that the company is supposed to be providing is a huge part of succeeding with huge billion pound companies such as KIER. I would also say use their vast readily available resources, IT Portals etc to your full advantage.