Career in Construction: Work Experience

If you’re at the very beginning of your career in construction, work experience is a great way to get a flavour of what it’s like to be an architect.  With the summer holidays approaching, now is an ideal time to start a placement.

The next Career in Construction blog features Zhangeldy Kaupynbayev, a student at the University of Westminster who undertook a work placement in Mark Carter’s team.  He kept a diary of his time at Ryder – here are a few excerpts.

On the first day, I was introduced to the office and to my mentor Stefania. In the morning I attended a weekly team meeting where everyone was updated on what their individual tasks were for the week.  This promotes communication and the team then reviews how they could collaborate resources in the most efficient way.  I participated in a cartoon set meeting for MRI extension, explained to me as “who’s preparing what drawing by when”.  The cartoon sets reminded me of making a storyboard for my university portfolio.

My task for the upcoming client meeting was to make a model that demonstrated the demolition and phasing of the project.  I enjoyed making the models – making is one of the reasons I decided to study architecture, as I find it worthwhile and rewarding and it makes the brain work while using your hands.

All the models gradually started to come together.  I was able to manage my time well to finish tasks before the end of the work experience and handover any files and projects to my mentors in a holistic state.

Everyone in the team was great and were always around to help me with work and advice, both on studies and my future career, and always had an interesting perspective on things.  I was grateful to have had that experience!

The experience was a good exposure to an architectural practice – it helped my understanding of the journey to becoming a professional.  I liked working in a professional and competent environment and made useful connections with an award winning business, in addition to acquiring new skills and knowledge.  It helped me clarify my career plans, especially for the near future and my year ahead.

To find out more about a work experience placement at Ryder, please contact [email protected].