Offering Requirements Coordinator Review

Overall, I quite enjoyed my placement with IBM and was able to work on a few different projects. The main part that I enjoyed was working with a global team in each of the different projects I was involved with however at times there were certain tasks that felt a little bit tedious.

With all of my projects I was able to work with a wide range of people from countries all over the world. Whenever I was given a task to do, I tried my best to complete this to the best of my ability and made sure that it contributed towards the overall goal of the team, giving the feeling that I was a valuable asset.

Working with such a wide group of people, I have never felt like I wasn't able to reach out to someone for support and usually whenever needed help there was always someone there who could point in the right direction or provide me with the information that I required.

Generally I have been able to keep myself busy on a daily basis since I would be working on a couple of different tasks at a time, however sometimes it would feel like I had nothing to do.

Due to nature of one of my roles, I feel that I had quite a large responsibility as a lot of people would be dependent on me in order to get the correct information within a relatively quick turn around as they would need it when conducting pitches to potential clients.

I think I was able to further develop the skills that I had already attained from my studies whilst at IBM and feel that they will benefit me moving forwards with my final year. I also feel that I gained a better insight into how a company such as IBM is structured and how the different organisations work together and can change.

Since our office was tucked away in one of the corners of the building it tended to be a bit more quieter in the area that I was working in compared to some other parts, however we had a good group of people in the office that were in on a regular basis.

Since I was part of the Foundation Internship program at IBM, the work placement was set up generally well and was provided with the necessary training before I started. With my role the start of the placement was very busy but I feel towards the end things weren't quite as organsied as maybe they could have been.

There were always plenty of opportunities to further my training and development whether it being through the internal learning environment which covered a broad range of topics and offerings, as well as being able to attend events, both online and in person. It was actively encouraged at IBM to try and further you skills as much as possible.

I have already applied to the graduate scheme at IBM as it something appealed to me when I found out about it. As well as offering a higher salary that the placement scheme, it would allow me to choose an area that I want to go into as well as giving me more opportunities for personal development.

In the location of my placement, there was quite a large number of other placement students which made the social scene a lot better due to there being a lot of other people there my age. We had opportunities to socialise both in and out of work. Also due to IBM Hursley having a bar on site, it was quite a nice place to go with fellow colleagues during the day for lunch and a drink.

Working in Hursley there were two options for living, either in Winchester or Southampton. I chose to live in Southampton due to the lower living costs as compared to Winchester and due to there being two universities in Southampton it meant that socialising in the city was never too expensive. Also both options for living are a short drive from Hursley, or can be accessible by train and bus.

Since Hursley is quite a small village, most of the nightlife was found in either Southampton or Winchester, with the majority being found in Southampton. Friday and Saturdays tended to be the best nights however there are plenty of restaurants as well as activities to do around the city and surrounding area. As mentioned before, due to there being two universities in Southampton there tended to be more options for the nightlife and was also able to cater better if we were to go out in larger groups.