Between penthouse and underground car park

April 15, 2015

Misel Kokoruš

6th semester BA at HafenCity University in Hamburg, working student & intern at Markgraf Bau

I wanted to go into residential construction right from the start because the field is diverse. You always have to deal with different building structures. At the Cinnamon Tower in Hafencity, where I work as a working student, the challenge is the unusual roof: It consists of eight individual roofs that have to fit together exactly. We are building ten luxury apartments on 14 floors. I did my first internship in a small housing construction company, where I saw for the first time how a house was built from start to finish. We built single-family homes, completely different properties than here. I like this variety.

At the beginning it was very difficult to find an internship. There are few positions because many companies don't take interns. I only received rejections from twelve applications. I ultimately got my first internship through relationships. Things were similar at my current job.

Based on my experience, I would advise everyone not to only apply in writing. My tip: You should go to the construction site, find out who the construction manager is and approach him directly. This shows initiative and curiosity and, in my opinion, achieves more than written applications. They often get lost in the pile of paper.

As a working student, I work two to three days a week during the semester break, and the rest of the time I have to study for exams. During the lecture period I work a maximum of 20 hours per week. The construction site is only five minutes away from the university. If I am needed at short notice during the lecture period, I can come over quickly. This is of course practical.

My tasks include determining quantities and writing offers for other trades. I also check invoices before we trade them in. Overall, I currently spend around 70 percent of my working time at my desk and the rest on the construction site.

There, for example, I check empty conduits for power cables. If they are wrong or even missing, everything will have to be torn up again later - and that can be expensive. That's why it's a pretty responsible job. At the moment I also walk through the building once a week and take photos to document the construction progress.

My parents came to Germany from Serbia and I was born here. My native language is Serbo-Croatian. This has helped me at work because many of the reinforcement workers for the shell construction come from Serbia or Albania and I can communicate better with them.

I am the first in my family to study. My parents are proud that I'm doing so well with my studies and getting the job. I still live with them because having my own apartment in Hamburg is expensive. This means I can make ends meet on my salary.

Although it was difficult to find a job, I would advise everyone to do an internship. It's best to have several at once. It is difficult to start a career after graduating without practical experience. That's why I'm very happy that I found this job.

I think it's important to approach people and learn. There are enough opportunities in Hafencity because there are many construction sites. If I find a project exciting, I go and ask what is being created and how they are proceeding. Construction is constantly changing and new processes are constantly being invented. That's why you should be open to new things.

Konstantin Stammnitz

Trainee in construction management at Franki Grundbau

When I started my studies, I actually wanted to go into structural engineering. That's why I did my first internship in the housing construction sector. That was not bad. But I also wanted to get a taste of other areas, so internships in pipeline and civil engineering followed. It was only then that I realized that I found this area the most interesting.

At the TU Braunschweig, where I studied, internships were voluntary. I still tried to try as many things as possible as early as possible. I would also advise everyone: Try to find out what you want in your basic studies and deepen it in your main studies.

Today I work in specialist civil engineering. We have to carry out explorations and excavate the soil and draw conclusions about the bearing capacity of the soil. And always have a plan B in hand if something doesn't go according to plan.

Here in Hafencity we are excavating a construction pit for a two-story underground car park next to a fleet. Among other things, we have to secure the excavation pit against water ingress. In order to bear the high building loads, we drilled 318 piles up to 23 meters long into the ground. This is a demanding construction project. The conditions are so special that we need special knowledge and equipment. Hence the name special civil engineering.

I started as a trainee in 2013 straight after completing my studies. The program lasts 24 months, I have now been able to shorten it to 14 months. The construction site here in Hafencity is my third and last stop. My first project was a natural gas power plant in Düsseldorf, then I was on a construction site in Denmark. I think it's great to get around so much. I particularly liked the station abroad.

As a trainee, I am never alone in construction management, but always have a supervisor. Here in Hafencity I am the second construction manager. This also means that I don't bear full responsibility if something goes wrong. I'm glad I had time to get used to the tasks and responsibilities. When I finish the trainee program shortly and start as a construction manager, that will change. Then I'm the one responsible. A challenge that I now feel prepared for.

Construction managers are the communication center on the construction site - where everything doesn't always go according to plan. In addition, as a civil engineer you always have to deal with parties that have different economic interests. Of course there are conflicts for which compromises have to be found. That's why my elective courses in human resources management and conflict management were very helpful. I can only recommend them to everyone, even if you don't want to become a construction manager.

After graduating, I had three job offers. I chose my current employer because he largely provides the service with his own staff and machines. Therefore, unlike many other construction companies, you see your colleagues again on other construction sites. That's important to me.

On the one hand, the construction site in Hafencity poses its challenges: space is limited, we have little floor space and sometimes problems with accommodating all the trucks. On the other hand, Hafencity is the largest inner-city urban development project in Europe - and I was involved in it. This is definitely something you will tell your children later.

Mišel Kokoruš 6th semester BA at HafenCity University in Hamburg, working student & intern at Markgraf Bau I wanted to go into residential construction from the start because the field is diverse. You always have to deal with different building structures. The Cinnamon Tower in Hafencity, where I work as a working student, is something extraordinary

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