“ We get to see how things really work

The construction engineering students have had a summer job at AF Byggfornyelse and were engaged in the project with the interior technical works in the extension of today's pier east at the main airport. The new building will provide increased capacity for flights in the Non-Schengen area.

Eivind says that he and Anette worked on a variety of tasks on the project, but that they spent a good deal of time checking that subcontractors had carried out jobs as agreed. The checks were carried out with Dalux.

"We have checked and measured that the work has been done in accordance with the descriptions in the contracts, and then we have reported deviations," says Eivind.

Both attend the civil engineering programme at OsloMet. Anette will start her master's degree in the autumn. She finds that the summer job is particularly relevant in relation to her studies.

"There's very little practical work at school, so it's good to come out and see how things really work," she says.

Anette competed for a place in the AF-kollektivet in 2020 and thought that AF seemed like a good place to apply for a summer job. Eivind was in the competition for the AF-kollektivet this year. He has no doubt that he has chosen the right industry.

"I’ve worked three years as a carpenter and have a certificate of completed apprenticeship. I knew I wanted to continue in the construction industry, but I wanted to challenge myself and build upon the foundation I already have," says Eivind.

Neither he nor Anette knew what project they would end up on when they got a summer job, but they think it’s fun to take part in the project at Oslo Airport.
"Just about everyone has a relationship with Gardermoen, so it's cool to be part of the development of the airport.

Also at the headquarters at Helsfyr, summer students have been able to grapple with real-life work tasks.

"It's nice to see things from a different perspective and not just sit and solve formulas which we do a lot of in school, especially in natural sciences," says Frida Jerve (24).

Frida is one of six summer students who are placed at AF's headquarters at Helsfyr. She studies product development and production at NTNU and has a summer job at AF Energi where she has worked with digitisation of energy systems.

"There is very little compulsory programming in my course, so I found it very useful. We’ve done a lot of programming," says Frida.

The summer interns get to choose a case that they can work on throughout the summer. Here they get to participate in the whole process, ranging from talking to the potential users to identify needs, to presenting the finished solution to the corporate management team.

"We are a bit like in-house consultants," says Vår (23), who is studying computer technology at NTNU.

Vår has a summer job at AF Group in the Innovation and Digitalisation department. Here she works on digitising the data flow and reporting that takes place in tunnels. There is a great deal of sensor data from the machines that are used, but still much of the reporting is done by hand.

Through their summer jobs, they gain knowledge they are not able to acquire otherwise. Among other things, they get to visit the projects they are working on.

"We got to look at an energy plant, and then I was a bit like yes, now I understand how all this works in real life," Frida says.

Summer jobs also give students the opportunity to experience working life and help them find out what it is they want to work on after completing their studies.
"It's hard to figure out what you want to work with and in which company, but this is how this experience helps you to find this out," says Vår.

Through the summer job at AF, students have become more familiar with what it is like to work with a contractor.

"I didn't have any particular idea of how it would be to work for a contractor, but I do now. It is very useful that AF covers all aspects, both as a contractor and as a customer. That way you learn a lot," says Frida.

Last year, the summer interns helped build a new motorway between Kristiansand and Mandal. Watch video:

Patrick (20) also had a summer job at AF last year, and already applied for a summer job at AF when he was at upper secondary school. Now he is studying artificial intelligence and computer science in Edinburgh, Scotland.

"My uncle worked here so I applied when I was in upper secondary school, but then they said I had to wait a bit, so as soon as I started university I applied again”, says Patrick.