Visual Designer Review

My experience at IBM (London Southbank) was extremely positive. Being exposed to an agile 'fail fast, learn fast' environment in a young, enthusiastic team allowed me to develop my skills and professionalism hugely. My team of 12 were aged between 22-35 and got on like friends, I was given a lot of responsibility quickly and built my professional network considerably. The experience of relocating to central London was also great fun and allowed me to explore a new city.

Throughout my placement there was never a shortage of work, my colleagues respected anyone who put in the effort and showed dedication for continuous improvement. I was the only member of my team who completed visual design tasks, therefore, I felt my skills were strongly valued because no one else could complete the work I was set.

Working in an Agile space meant that everyone was keen to learn from each other and share knowledge. My manager encouraged us to set up 'learn and share' sessions with other companies, these allowed us to exchange expertise with employees from completely different company cultures and find out about new ways to improve our work. During my time on placement I also had the amazing opportunity to attend a global conference - and meet industry leaders in my field. This experience was paid for by my manager and allowed me to find out about the latest innovations in user interface design and front-end development. Finally, my manager also delivered a career progression talk to myself and the other interns in my team; this gave a fascinating insight into how we could progress if we returned to IBM after finishing university.

There was never a lack of work during my placement! Throughout the year there were quieter periods and busy months. Having said this, all experiences lead to learning more and were without doubt time well spent. In IBM all employees are encouraged to perform 'Giveback' and volunteer to help in other departments outside of their day job. My experiences with Giveback meant I had to work long hours on occasion but ultimately lead to me designing my own app and producing a lot more work I was very proud of.

I was given a lot of responsibility quickly during my placement. A concept my team worked by was 'fail fast, learn fast', this proved quite scary at first but due to constant iteration and practice, I improved massively over the course of the year. During my placement I lead visual design on many projects and had the opportunity to conduct user interviews and user testing sessions for with real adopters of our team's work.

The skills I developed throughout my placement have helped sculpt me as a professional and enhanced my skills as a designer. Working in a large company meant that every process or task had to completed in the best way possible, what I've learnt about best practices will without doubt be extremely useful in the future.

My team was based in the IBM Southbank design studio, therefore, the atmosphere encouraged fun and creativity. We had the ability to play table tennis and table football for quick breaks and relax in the office canteen on lunch. My team itself got on very well and acted like friends, going out for lunch together and having drinks after work. Having said this, I believe many other placement students had quite a different experience due to their colleagues being spread across multiple locations. They often spent their day alone using video conferencing to communicate or sat with other employees in similar situations.

IBM have a placement scheme therefore everything was professionally conducted and well organized. On occasion, I had to produce work for my placement within the company to document my progress and communicate how well I was doing, I also had an 'Early Professionals Manager' who gave guidance if I ever needed anything.

Due to the size of IBM there are many training courses and programs available to employees without cost. Having said this, most of the training conducted is not available to interns/placement students and only to permanent employees. However, my manager did pay for me to attend a conference that cost nearly £500, this experience was very exciting and taught me a lot.

IBM allow placement students to apply for graduate schemes early so that there is less pressure in final year for returning students. I have enjoyed by placement and would like to return to the company and do something similar therefore I have started my application to return already. Having said this, to progress further in design within the company I believe I'd have to relocate to the US, this is an exciting prospect, but might not be for everyone.

The year of my placement IBM hired around 400 interns across the UK, with almost 1/3 being based in the London offices. With such a large number of fellow students there were many social events organized and many of us would regularly meet after work for drinks.

My office was located in central London beside the River Thames. This proved quite expensive to socialize however myself and 3 fellow interns lived just 10 minutes from the office and would regularly have friends over instead of going out (to save money). London also have a large range of free events, which meant if we weren't tired after work there was always something to do!

Nightlife in London is extremely diverse but expensive! In such a big city there really is something for everyone, from pubs and bars to super clubs there's a lot in south London.

Outside of work there was a lot of opportunities to socialise, learn and explore the city. Even with IBM there were many sporting events like office teams and the corporate games to join.