The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work!
Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!
See how Bevan is getting on with his STEM placement!
Week One
"30th July 2018 was the first day of my research placement at WSP and I was pretty nervous. It was quite dull weather but it didn't ruin my excitement. When I first entered, I was quite taken back at the size of the office and the level of concentration that the employees had. I was first introduced to my line manager and was given a tour of the office. Later, I got a taste of what the environmental engineers do by writing a review. It was a good but tiring day.
The first week of my research placement has ended. It was a nice but exhausting week. Throughout the week, my main objective was to get as much information about my topic as possible before I start structuring my work. I learnt new concepts about landfills, such as the ground concept model and how development of former landfills was challenging with all the risks a landfill brings with it. This kind of information was new to me as I hadn't delved into the world of environmental engineering, which I found interesting and got me thinking about other topics related with engineering."
Week Two
"My second week of the placement was very exciting. I got put into a work experience week at WSP to help me understand the other departments at WSP and help me to broaden my research in landfills.
This was a very fun week as I got to try different departments such as air quality, water, structures, geo environmental, planning and development and so much more. This was to make sure I get a taste of what each department does in their specialist fields including making a detailed plan of a swimming pool in a leisure centre in structure and doing a short desk study at geo environmental of our schools. This showed me that there was a lot of theoretical work to engineering as much as practical work.
This week helped me immensely in terms of what to research on my topic of landfill development."
Week Three
"It is the end of my third week here at WSP for my research placement. I am now desk-based to carry out further research on whether it is viable for a residential development on former landfill sites. My research options were broaden last week and I spent this week researching about risks from former landfill sites, including risks of landfill gas and leachate on surrounding properties, and the remedation needed for these risks. This new knowledge was quite interesting as it involved parts of geo-technical engineering, in terms of settlement of the soil caused by decomposition of the waste and the foundations that are suitable for building on former landfill sites. This was a more relaxed scene than last week as I could focus more on the topics I wanted to research with no distractions, which in my opinion was quite enjoyable."
Week Four
"The last week of my placement was spent doing the last few bits of my project and organising my research. My end goal for this week was to complete a report that included my research about development on former landfills and my own opinions on whether it is feasible to do such a development.
The last few weeks have been hectic with the amount of research and understanding that was needed for my project. So it was nice to have a look back and think about the new knowledge that I have gained in the four weeks of my placement. Overall, I found this placement very interesting and enjoyable as it showed me new aspects of engineering - geo-technical, planning development, geo-environmental, structures and much more."
Week Two
"My second week of the placement was very exciting. I got put into a work experience week at WSP to help me understand the other departments at WSP and help me to broaden my research in landfills.
This was a very fun week as I got to try different departments such as air quality, water, structures, geo environmental, planning and development and so much more. This was to make sure I get a taste of what each department does in their specialist fields including making a detailed plan of a swimming pool in a leisure centre in structure and doing a short desk study at geo environmental of our schools. This showed me that there was a lot of theoretical work to engineering as much as practical work.
This week helped me immensely in terms of what to research on my topic of landfill development."
Week Three
"It is the end of my third week here at WSP for my research placement. I am now desk-based to carry out further research on whether it is viable for a residential development on former landfill sites. My research options were broaden last week and I spent this week researching about risks from former landfill sites, including risks of landfill gas and leachate on surrounding properties, and the remedation needed for these risks. This new knowledge was quite interesting as it involved parts of geo-technical engineering, in terms of settlement of the soil caused by decomposition of the waste and the foundations that are suitable for building on former landfill sites. This was a more relaxed scene than last week as I could focus more on the topics I wanted to research with no distractions, which in my opinion was quite enjoyable."
Week Four
"The last week of my placement was spent doing the last few bits of my project and organising my research. My end goal for this week was to complete a report that included my research about development on former landfills and my own opinions on whether it is feasible to do such a development.
The last few weeks have been hectic with the amount of research and understanding that was needed for my project. So it was nice to have a look back and think about the new knowledge that I have gained in the four weeks of my placement. Overall, I found this placement very interesting and enjoyable as it showed me new aspects of engineering - geo-technical, planning development, geo-environmental, structures and much more."
- Bevan Pun
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