Civil Engineer, Louis Berger
MSc Road Management and Engineering (2011)

I got a contract tailored for French engineers willing to work abroad and was sent to Kuwait right after I joined the company and now I am a permanent employee there. I have worked in several fields, from business development to Highway Engineering & Project Controls.

I would advise them to enjoy their year, they will have time to sleep later in their life but during this MSc they should enjoy what is given to them, work hard first, but party hard, enjoy life with your friends.

What is the best thing about what you are doing now?
I enjoy having the chance to work in different departments within the same position in this company. I get to assist in the business development, get the projects from the ministries of public works,  design solutions and finally, supervise the works and actually see our ideas being realised. In addition, working abroad is very fulfilling personally, you get to know different lifestyles, cultures, cities, and learn to be more open-minded. It improves your social skills as well as you have to get out of your comfort zone.

To what extent did your degree set you up for your career?
My MSc degree was very important to get this first job as my employer (French-American Consultant) only employs people with a double diploma from France, UK, USA or Australia. The person who actually hired me did the same MSc three years before me.

How far did your degree prepare you for practice?
I was actually lucky as the modules taught in my degree were exactly what I needed for the past two and a half years. I even look at my hand-outs for some reports. I used the road geometry design, pavement design, project control lessons extensively. This degree is perfect for somebody looking to work in consultancy focused on transportation projects, the only thing that you need after this degree is to actually get the experience. One of the drawbacks is that many of our lessons were using UK based standards.

What were the most positive and also the most challenging aspects of your degree?
We were lucky to have a nice group both to work and to enjoy life in Birmingham, the students and the teachers were very close, and we could feel that in case somebody had difficulties you could rely on many to help you. This degree had several technical and more general modules, tight project deadlines and for most of the projects, you had to work within groups or teams. I personally enjoy teamwork but you have to rely on other students, try to give everybody not only a task for which they are good for but so that they actually learn a bit of everything.

What advice would you give to current students studying the degree?
I would advise them to enjoy their year, they will have time to sleep later in their life but during this MSc they should enjoy what is given to them, work hard first, but party hard, enjoy life with your friends.

What was your favourite thing about the University?
I enjoyed the multi-cultural aspect of the University, I made Cypriot, Greek, Spanish, English, French, Syrian, Ghanaian, Swedish, Nigerian, Bruneian, Welsh, Indian, Iranian and Belgian friends in a single year. The facilities were convenient as well, I could access the library, and practice volleyball all for free!

What is your best memory of your time at Birmingham?
Erasmus events.

Read more about our alumni here. If like Pierre you would like to share your career story, please complete a profile or email eps-community@contacts.bham.ac.uk.