Business Support Analyst Review

Very enjoyable. My role is suited well to my course at university and it's the area that I want to be working post graduation. I love the IBM culture; colleagues are easygoing and collaborative, they will always go out of their way to help. There's plenty of things to get involved with at IBM. Such as giveback opportunities, working with other IBMers on projects and sporting events.

I do valued by my colleagues. The only drawback is that my task manager is based roughly 450 miles away, so it would've been nice to get to know him better. We've only met a few times. I feel that the distance has been a hindrance and affected what could've been a much better working relationship. From December to February there was a lot going on behind the scenes with my department. This meant my managers were very busy with these high priority issues, which left me feeling a bit neglected as I wasn't really involved with any tasks.

I was given great support from my task manager and other managers in my department from when I started back in June. Even though my managers don't come to my base location very often (once every one or two weeks), they are always available to talk to on SameTime if I have any issues or queries.

It's been from one extreme to the other on my role. From starting in June, up until November I was very busy; there were lots of bugs to be fixed and a transition from one system to another with a set deadline. As I was still settling into IBM, this was quite a challenge. I had assistance from a developer from the US where we were on the phone for hours pretty much every day from August until October. Then the background issues began, and I had barely any tasks to do and there was little communication from my managers as to what was happening. With all of this uncertainty I took on some side projects and did more giveback.

I have quite a big responsibility in my department. I maintain 3 different systems with large databases, which contain vital information for IBMers and our business partners. I also felt like I was given a lot of responsibility when I participated in volunteering for IBM at careers fairs back at my university and helping out with assessment centres for graduate roles. One of my side projects is helping create an application for an event taking place in London, which will be used by hundreds of placement students at IBM.

The skills I have developed will definitely help me in my final year back at university from September. This includes technical skills in web development, and also the soft skills such as communication, teamwork, presenting etc.

The general atmosphere was very friendly. I'm always with the other two interns in my team. It would've been nice to have other teams and/or placement students nearby. The office where I work is very quiet.

I'm finding it very well organised. My handover was just over a month long, which gave me plenty of time to take in all of the information for my role along with settling into my new environment. This wasn't the case for everyone though, the other interns in my team only had a week to handover all of their work.

In terms of training within my team, I feel that this is something to be improved upon. After the handover it was all self taught really. No courses for improving technical ability. Foundation provided great events to help us placement students improve our soft skills.

Very appealing. Since I've been here I have learnt a lot about the graduate scheme, and I feel that this would be a great opportunity for me to go into after university. There are so many different areas to go into, and IBM will help match graduates to their ideal roles. And even if it doesn't work out, there's always the option to speak to your manager and say "this isn't quite what I was expecting", and they can help point you in the right direction. Whether it's in the same team or elsewhere within IBM.

Being based at Hursley, this means that students live in different places, such as Winchester, Southampton, Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford. As we are so spread out and public transport isn't the greatest, it is probably lacking the social side outside of work. Although there's plenty to get involved with at Hursley, such as sporting events and teams. It's always good to meet up with other students in the canteen at lunch times, everyone knows each other.

Coming from Yorkshire, the cost of living down south is higher than what I'm used to. I'm also used to being very close to town/city centres whereas this isn't the case around Hursley. Taxis are very expensive, especially on nights out. Luckily I have a car, so if any events are going off I can usually drive there. I think students without cars find it very difficult, trying to get lifts etc.

What nightlife? Exactly! Like I said previously with students living in different towns, it's hard to get a group together on a night out. The most popular place is probably Southampton, but it's difficult getting to. The train station is not very central so most people have to get taxis back to Eastleigh or Winchester (which costs a lot!). We do have nights out, but it's very rare.

I'm a member of a gym nearby, take part in park runs and go to Southampton football games occasionally. But apart from sporting activities I don't really know of any other opportunities.