Junior Civil Engineer Review

Each day I am tasked with prioritising my own time and planning my day to meet project deadlines. I Teams call my design team if I have any questions and work alongside other disciplines, answering emails and attending meetings. I also liaise with CAD technicians to progress drawings. I am responsible for producing deliverables which are then checked by more senior engineers.

I have learnt a lot of new skills, both at university and in the workplace. My communication skills have developed dramatically due to opportunities to get involved in group activities, public speaking and presenting in meetings. My technical design skills have gone from minimum leaving school to me being able to confidently carry out designs with little assistance.

I enjoy my programme getting to earn while I learn and getting practical experience however I do find it challenging at times trying to balance work, life and study. I like being able to get out on site visits and see the real life problem that we're having to solve.

My university programme isn't very well structured. The days are long and in the past we haven't even been given a lunch break on our timetable. Quite a few of the classes have one off sessions that are scheduled outwith our assigned uni day which means the Graduate Apprentices struggle to attend as it's disruptive to our work.

I receive plenty of support from my employer. My line manager is very accommodating with study leave and checks in with me regarding workload regularly. My wider team are willing to help with any uni or work questions I have and give me lots of opportunities to develop my skills.

The support I receive varies between lecturers. Some are very willing to help and will make time to suit my working schedule however some are very ignorant of the face we are part time students with a full time job as well. The workload is very high and because my uni day is so tightly packed there is little time to speak to lecturers outside of class

The classes are varied and cover a wide range of subjects, this lets me be more equipped as an all rounder at work. The materials match quite closely to the work I do at my company and lets me perform better. The computer lab sessions are a waste of time as one session isn't enough to learn a whole computer software package such as Revit, they are always badly run which is a shame as it would benefit me in my job.

Yes there are lots. There are Apprentice Networking events, team socials, business unit socials and the Glasgow office have a social calendar where we do things like go bowling, mini golf, play rounders and go out for food. The budgets for socials are very good and our office manager and business unit director are very generous. We also have events for things like International Womens Day, Apprenticeship Week and Black History Month.

Yes

The working environment is very positive and there are lots of exciting projects you could work on. They are very open-minded and welcome all people and opinions. They listen to their staff and are transparent with business performance and goals. Everyone I've worked with have been great and I like the hybrid working

Arcadis like people who want to make a positive impact and contribute to 'improving the quality of life', whether this be employees or clients. It would be beneficial for you to have an understanding of current sustainability issues and the role you could play in improving resilience and sustainability. y