CIO Services UKI Assistant Review

Overall I would say I enjoyed the majority of my 12 months at IBM. The initial few months were a bit daunting as I was new to the job and didn't feel like I had enough skills to be left responsible for my tasks. However after gaining some useful contacts and building a network I began to feel more confident in the job I was performing. It was an incredibly valuable learning experience.

I felt valued by my team members in terms of being trusted with certain tasks. Everyone I worked with was so appreciative of everything I put time and work into. My opinions were always valued during team meetings even if it was a project that I was not directly involved in.

I was given support when needed throughout my placement from both my task manager and team leader. They were really friendly and always willing to help or point me in the right direction of what steps to take. Feedback was given throughout the year and it was clear that people were willing to give that extra guidance required.

My workload varied quite a lot throughout my placement. Particular weeks such as the last in every month was busy for me as I had a lot to produce at this time. Other than that my workload depended on the amount of issues coming into the task ID and any support I was providing for projects.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility in my role as I was seen as the UKI Accessibility Lead. If you show you are capable of handling the tasks you will be given more to be responsible for. The deeper into your placement you are the more knowledgeable you will be hence task managers trusting you with more important work.

I feel that I have developed a lot both personally and professionally whilst carrying out my year’s placement. There are a lot of online resources and education available to you at IBM which I have used to enhance my understanding of a range of different areas of the business. Having completed a year’s industrial placement, I am hoping the knowledge I have gained from working within an organization like IBM will help me in completing my dissertation. I also feel that I am a lot more skilled in technology than I was 12 months ago.

I was based in the London Southbank offices however the rest of my team were based either at home or in Portsmouth so I sat with some people in knew in GTS. The atmosphere depended a lot on who was in the office and what day of the week it was. There was a general hard working atmosphere the majority of the time although there were times when there was ‘fun’ aspects. It seemed to get more laid back towards the end of the week.

The general organisation and set-up of placements was pretty smooth running. Beginning with a 2 day induction where a social gathering is arranged to give you the opportunity to get to know one another outside of the business side of things is a great idea and was really valuable in making friends from those early stages – making things a little less scary! The organisation of a 2 week handover is also a great idea and means you are not just being thrown into the deep end and you have that support for your initial few weeks. Also, having your EPM there to guide you if needed is also really useful and having 3, 6 and 12 months reviews gives you something to work towards.

There are so many opportunities available to you in IBM, especially when you are on the Foundation scheme. There are countless amounts of online training and education which are provided by IBM and are really easy to get involved in, providing you find the time. IBM have a Think40 scheme which requires each employee to carry out 40 hours of education throughout the year. There are also plenty of events to get involved in in terms of personal development.

Future employment with IBM is incredibly appealing to me. There are so many areas within IBM to get involved in as a grad and there is no better place to be than in the Foundation scheme where all education and training is paid for and highly encouraged. There is plenty of opportunity for growth and promotion within IBM and definitely chances of moving around different areas of the business. There is a great amount of excitement linked with working with IBM as they are ever-growing in the technology world and continuing to innovate new ideas.

There was a great social scene in the beginning 3-4 months of my placement (this was June-Sept). As soon as it hit 5pm Thursday the majority of Southbank interns would make was to the outside seating area of the Understudy across the street until it got cold then would head to Walkabout (just across the river) for student night before running to catch the last tube home. This began to fizzle out as the Summer came to an end and evenings began to get darker and colder. There is also an Inters Christmas night out and an end of placement night out which you guys can organize yourselves.

Very expensive! Rent and bills for me were around £660 and the cheapest pint you'll find in central London is roughly £5!

As we were based in central London you can imagine the costs were extremely high although there is a good nightlife scene. Most of us preferred to go out in areas such as Clapham and Brixton etc as that's where many interns lived. There is definitely a lot to choose from. There would be the odd occasion where we would opt for a more central/more expensive club such as birthdays.

There is a lot to get involved in out with work. Such as sports teams and volunteering. There is a range of different sports offered and opportunities are endless with IBM. There is also a lot of Giveback to get involved in which is where you give your time to give back to IBM with things like going out to schools and universities to do presentations or working at an event etc.