Digital Commerce Support Review

I would definitely recommend doing a placement at IBM. There were plenty of interns to socialise with, real responsibility was given to me from the offset, and many team socials were organised. The placement was well organised, with opportunities to develop professional skills advertised throughout the year. Unfortunately I sometimes felt like the placement dragged on, and for the work I did I wasn't necessarily rewarded enough (e.g. doing the same amount of work as grads but half the pay). Overall, this placement was enjoyable and will definitely give me a head-start in furthering my career after graduation.

Colleagues relied on me for help/information, and I was involved in meetings from day 1. Generally I was given real responsibility throughout, but on occasions I was given monotonous jobs because I was 'the intern' and other senior staff didn't want to do these tasks e.g. sticking up posters, booking rooms etc. Overall, I felt like a full-time member of the team by the 6-month mark.

IBM have a very good system in place, multiple task-managers as well as Early Professional Managers (EPMs). There are reviews set up along the way to help you settle in and monitor your progress. These colleagues are here to support and help. However, I often felt I had a lot of work given to me (unfortunately due to sickness, people leaving the team, lack of resource, increased team workload etc). After plenty of attempts to hold meetings with both task managers and my EPM, I felt like the advice given to me was not necessarily helpful, and the workload was never really reduced. Yes, there is a good system in place.. but the support wasn't great. I attempted to find shadowing through both task managers and EPMs, but in the end this was found by contacting a previous intern; turned grad (despite it not being her responsibility).

I was very busy throughout the year. The first month or two I was eased into my role. As the year went on my workload increased significantly, and at times I needed to work (unpaid) overtime - several extra hours per week. End of quarters were particularly busy, with lots of extra work needing to be completed on top of daily responsibilities. The better you perform throughout the year, the more work is given to you. This creates a catch-22 situation where you are achieving high standards of work, being given extra (too much) work, then not achieving a high standard that's expected. Therefore I rate this a 6, I was never bored, but there certainly was not a perfect balance.

Despite having several monotonous daily tasks, I definitely had a huge amount of responsibility. I was the first-line support for many IBM applications, and at the 8-month mark the team realised I was a point-of-failure, understanding parts of the processes that nobody else within the UK did. When joining IBM I never thought I'd be doing the amount of work that I eventually did.

A lot of the skills developed were soft-skills, e.g. communication, teamwork, self awareness, self confidence etc. I definitely developed throughout the year thanks to the workload and support that I was given. I believe that the skills developed can assist in my future career, and I would like to think my final year grade at University will increase due to this placement year. However, my technical skills weren't necessarily developed too much, but I did increase my knowledge about testing, agile principles and software development methodologies, and web development.

Before I started at IBM I believed the misconception that office life is very serious and dull - but I couldn't be more wrong. The office always seemed relaxed, you can go for coffees and breaks whenever necessary, you can take 5 minutes away from work to browse the internet, and conversation is encouraged. Furthermore the office had several socials, including: meals, volunteering, days-out, attending events etc.

A very good foundation scheme is in place. A 2-day induction is followed by a handover period. After this there are many opportunities to attend workshops, calls and events (although a lot are based in Southbank, London). Reviews are set up throughout the year, and feedback is given almost every 3 months. Think40 is also a scheme within IBM which encourages individuals to undertake 40 hours of professional development. At no times did the placement's organisation appear messy.

IBM have ThinkAcademy's and a talent@IBM system, with both being online learning based. As mentioned previously, the Think40 scheme encourages individuals to undertake 40 hours of professional development. There is also a 'Giveback' database to encourage volunteering opportunities which can assist professional development. However, a lot of my training/development was done through external sites, e.g. Microsoft Office for Excel/Project training an CodeAcademy for web design help. I don't believe IBM necessarily 'invest' in you, as it is very much down to the individual to seek these training opportunities. I was never really invited to attend any official off-site training, and the one time I was very interested in a qualification (PRINCE2), I was told that this is only available to apprentices and graduates - not interns.

The company is supposedly very hard to get back into, but a placement certainly helps with the chances. A certain amount of individuals get fast-tracked to the interview stage, with others attending assessment centres. Being such a huge company, a quick career progression within the company is very unlikely. However, I'll definitely reapply, having enjoyed my year with IBM. The Graduate salary is particularly appealing, and the well-organised placement year gives me the impression that the Graduate scheme will also be excellently organised.

The social scene amongst the interns was exceptional, with there being approximately 60+ interns based at my location. As a group we went out almost every single weekend, and there were always things to do. This includes festivals, pub crawls, football matches, gym, nights-out etc.

Living in Wales and Cornwall previously, Portsmouth was fairly expensive (although other interns seemed to think it was cheap). Housing was approx. £430 a month. A pint of beer (San Miguel) is £3.50.

Only 3 main clubs, but Southampton, Brighton and London are all close by. Being a city with a University there are always club nights to attend. A very good pub scene.

There's a lot going on within Portsmouth.