Vacation Work Student at WSP Africa (Cape Town Office)

 Background

In my third and fourth year of study in 2024 and 2025, I was able to use my holiday time practically by getting a vacation work opportunity at WSP Africa in their Cape Town office. WSP are a global engineering consulting firm that have offices all over the world including Canada, England and of course, South Africa. They have many engineering categories such as properties and building, transport and infrastructure and energy. These can be further defined into the many different engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical and electrical. I was in the properties and buildings sector working specifically with the electrical engineering team.

This vacation work opportunity was an amazing experience for me, where I got to meet many people who work in the electrical engineering industry, but I also got to speak to people in other industries such as mechanical, civil and even people who were project managers and directors. It was a great experience learning about how multidisciplinary the engineering industry can be and learning about the overall engineering project life cycle.

Tasks while on the job

  • Learning about the overall project life cycle of an engineering project in the properties and buildings sector
  • Completing engineering drawings in computer aided software such as AutoCAD and Revit
  • Filling out admin work such as progress reports, bill of quantity documents and site visit reports
  • Going on site visits to check the progress of work that needs to be done
  • Engaging in meetings that involve multiple disciplines and industries both on site and within the company to discuss progress of projects and ways to move forward
  • Analysis of projects and how they can be improved in terms of cost and timeline

Practical skills that I gained

  • Being able to communicate with multiple disciplines to be able to understand how that discipline works on a project, how my work should be done so as not to interfere with theirs and how we can work together to make sure the project is successful
  • Being able to communicate with contractors to ensure that projects are successful and cost effective
  • Gained proficiency in Computer Aided Drafting software such as AutoCAD
  • Gained proficiency in BIM software such as Revit
  • Gained proficiency in site walks to ensure that projects are done well and correctly and how to note work that needs to be done