Development Planner Review

The work you do for IBM can vary massively but mine was based almost exclusively on spreadsheets which I don't mind but others may find a struggle. The team was very welcoming and I have heard of nobody this year who did not get on with their team. The work can sometimes feel monotonous but you will get that with any job, I half expected just to be making the tea but this is not the case at all for which I am grateful.

I completely feel part of the team and like my output was valued. I was welcomed by the team and have been treated completely equally which I really appreciated.

I was walked through the scope of the project I am based on with IBM when I arrived and given a task manager who becomes an unofficial mentor, I was helped with any tasks I was stuck with or didn't understand and they could not have done any more to help me during my time here.

I have daily tasks that must be completed taking up around half of my day and then I have secondary tasks to conduct, these ramp up at certain times of the year and then dip rapidly leading to periods when I have very little work but these are few so I feel I have had a rather good balance overall of work.

I have been in charge of compiling and distributing tasks to members of teams I am based in and monitoring progress with them, to make sure everything is on time and running as smoothly as possible. This is a big responsibility for a placement student but as stated before, it makes me feel valued and that I am really contributing.

My excel skills have never been better and getting up early for work has become a second nature, something I was worried about at first. You really do develop during your placement as you will be doing presentation, holding meetings and developing your people skills better than you ever could solely from university. All of this will help with my studies as I can apply what I learn to actual scenarios I have experienced which is only going to help.

There is a fairly upbeat atmosphere in my office even when the pressure is high and for an office environment it is fairly informal. The only time the atmosphere is poor in the office is if the milk for the tea runs out at which point the office tends to revolt.

Initially there was confusion over where I would be based when lead to me sitting in the wrong building for the first few hours on the first day and my task manager got switched twice but the rest of the placement has been set up very smoothly with little to complain about.

During my time here, I have had the chance to shadow people from other departments and interview them to discover different areas of interest outside my role. When getting to grips with my role I was introduced to several members of the team to showed and helped me learn about all the jargon, programmes and training required in my role.

As IBM has many locations throughout the country and very good pay for graduates I would say future employment prospect within the organisation are appealing, however I personally would want to discover different parts of the business to the one I am currently in.

In my office I was one of only four placement students but there is another site nearby with more students with whom to socialise. There are regular nights out and meals, with sports teams being set up, so I would say the social scene for IBM placement students is reasonably good.

The location of my placement allowed me to live at home and drive in so I cannot comment too heavily on the cost of living but Leamington Spa is a fairly expensive area for socialising. For cheaper nights out you have Birmingham and Coventry nearby with the latter significantly cheaper.

There are a couple of clubs nearby in Leamington Spa but as mentioned before, you have the cities of Birmingham and Coventry nearby and the town of Solihull reasonably close so you will not be short of places to go out.

There are sports teams run by IBM employees that you can take part in outside of work and given it is in a reasonably heavily populated area, there are many activities locally for you to do including bowling, trampolining and go-karting to name a few.