Traineeship at „Dam & Partners architecten“ in Amsterdam

Benediktas Kuoras

After finishing my bachelor studies I decided to go for a traineeship abroad to get some practice in the field of architecture. 
My main objective was to explore various roles of profession and find where I would like to focus later when studying for master's degree.

I had a chance to work at Dam & Partners architects, a well established firm with design traditions well developed over time.
I could explore decades of experience on variety of projects, some even out of the boundaries of architecture as small as a door handles or as large as city's masterplans. 
When working in different design teams I got to acknowledge variuos aproaches to problems and understand reasonings behind certain decisions, meanwhile when working individually I had space to improve in self-organization. 
With each task I would be given and could set my own goals within available timeframe for the work that needed to be done. 
Furthermore, visiting construction sites, finished buildings and getting advice from constructors gave me better knowledge of building industry.

Living and working in the Netherlands gave me valuable insights of Dutch culture, history and traditions, the similarities and differences that I encountered even helped me understand myself better. 
Working abroad is a great way to test yourself, explore your strong points and flaws, to see how well you can adapt in different environments and find peers.

I am grateful for Partners4value and VGTU Erasmus+ office for all the support that helped me go abroad. 
I believe that experience gained during Erasmus+ traineeship will greatly affect my career possibilities.
 I would definitely recommend others to participate in Erasmus+ program.