UKI Network Services Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at IBM, I felt I had a lot of different opportunities to develop my skills and gathered increased responsibility as my placement progressed. I met a lot of good people throughout my time at IBM, with socializing with the other interns a highlight.

I did feel very valued by my colleagues who would always value my input into situations. I feel this was reflected by my level of responsibility, particularly during times when my task manager was on vacation. During these times I would cover her daily tasks and attend calls in her absence.

I was given all the support I needed, my task manager was always available to offer support and guidance throughout my placement year. We had weekly meetings to check everything was ok within my week-to-week tasks. My task manager did not work on Fridays but was still willing to assist me out of hours if required.

I was steadily busy throughout my placement, I had extremely busy periods around and just after Christmas when I was asked to work weekends to ensure the work was done to meet global deadlines. Apart from these spikes of high work load I had a steady stream of work throughout.

I was given a high level of responsibility particularly when my task manager was on vacation I was asked to host calls in her cover and perform some of her day-to-day tasks. My own personal tasks I was given complete responsibility and trust whilst completing them.

I don't feel that my skills learned here at IBM will assist me particularly well when returning to my degree. Perhaps this is due to me doing to a mathematical and technical degree, where my day to day job is within delivery of a service. General skills in terms of what is expected within a professional environment and what to do in certain situations will be skills I take through into later life with me.

The atmosphere in my office was ok in general. A vast number of my team members were not based within the UK so I did not see a few of them. Generally my location was the base of my team so I did end up meeting most of them during times such as audit and one off day visits from them. However there were only a few interns sat in my office which wasn't ideal.

The work placement was organized incredibly well. There were never any problems I encountered throughout my time here at IBM. My onboarding process was seamless with everything going perfectly.

They invested in me what was required, no more no less. The training was all done on a personal level, with occasional refresher sessions online. These were always available when new software or tools were unveiled.

They are appealing, the grad scheme offers a number of a new opportunities and we have been given the opportunity to apply early from within. They offer a lot of different career paths and a rotational scheme changing roles every 6 months. This is something I will be looking into as a future opportunity.

The social scene was as good or as bad as you wanted it to be. Personally I got involved with the football team we set up and went to gigs etc. So there is plenty of opportunity to mingle and meet friends. However some people did not want to get involved and did not come on social events.

The cost of living and socialising is fairly cheap however, with placements starting in the summer it is important to look for accommodation as soon as possible as the price does spike up the closer it gets to June. I do know some people paying nearly £550 per month for rent, whereas myself I has a student house for £367 so depends on your deal.

The nightlife is good in portsmouth, the Friday nights are decent and some occasional midweek stuff for birthdays etc are also good nights out. Down in Southsea there is plenty of bars and pubs as opposed the the main nightclubs in the center of town.

Yes, there were a large number of 'giveback' opportunities all posted on a community page. I personally went out to a college in Southampton to give a talk about IBM, wrote the Blog for our location and interviewed secondary school leavers, giving them an example of what a real life interview would be like for them.