Junior Fullstack web developer Review

The placement started off really good. I was learning a lot about web technologies and my skillset was increasing massively. However, towards the end, the tasks started to get a little repetitive. It wasn't helped by the fact that I was on the same project for one whole year. I found that after 6-8 months, the learning reduced. But when I was learning new stuff, I really enjoyed it.

My contributions were always recognised and I was applauded by my immediate team and stakeholders when things went well. I don't think I could have asked for better people to work with. Everyone was always willing to help you out and teach you new things when you were stuck or confused.

We worked in an agile manner so the feedback loop per sprint was quite quick. We reviewed work at the end of each sprint and gave verbal feedback. I felt like there could have been more 'formal' feedback as that would give you concrete data which you can refer to. I often requested such data, but requests would just float by sometimes.

It varied quite a bit. Some times there were tasks that only someone with in-depth knowledge would be able to complete within the time given or complete at all -- since you needed deep technical knowledge of how something worked. In those cases, you would often 'pair program' (which sometimes meant you just watched the other person) or you would work on bugs. In the latter case, it could get quite boring. Sometimes you had to bite the bullet and work on the more challenging cases. It was good to be stretched as I feel like I've learnt a lot from it. But this meant that I was quite busy on those days as I really needed to put my head down to get something working.

As much as I felt comfortable. There were often cases where I wanted to take on more responsibility but doing so wasn't feasible. Mainly due to historical knowledge gaps, such as knowing something that happened 6 months ago (when you first joined) or even earlier -- I know I should have worked on bridging those gaps but there was very little resource and time in most cases to help you learn. This was mainly due to the breadth of the existing systems, and the fact that it was built over many years. But I was given the freedom to work as I feel right on the tasks which I did take ownership of.

I definitely know that the skills I learnt here will set me up for my career as a developer. The skills and experience has been invaluable. I have definitely learnt more than I would have at university. I has also taught me how to learn -- surprisingly! I've probably developed my learning skills at work more than I did at university. This is mainly because at work the onus to learn and explore is on you. No one will spoon feed you or give you a book or tutorial to read. You need to do the exploration yourself. Others might help, but you need to lead your development.

Very chilled out. People wore casual clothes. Starting times were flexible so long as you had spoke to your managed about this. There was a ping pong and foosball table which people usually congregated around. There is a very flat hierarchy as well so you would regularly see the director of your business unit walking around -- any possibly sitting right next to you. You could also work from home which made it quite flexible. Finally, the I worked in was office not your traditional office block with cubicles. It is quite start up like, not quite Google though. And this modern approach was only applied to the Studios, other business units have the old offices.

The initial set up was really well organised, they had two days set up just for inductions. Although accommodation wasn't paid for and I had to pay for a hotel as the location was quite far from my house (Hursley). But after the induction, the regular check ins with your HR manager were fairly inconsistent in terms of being arranged.

I was given the opportunity to do tasks that regular employees had access to, so I wasn't necessarily restricted to 'intern only' work/work for the sake of work. I was also given access to IBM Business Guidelines etc. But there were no official training courses where I would go to learn about X technology. I hear that they have those for grads only.

Quite appealing, they have once of the best graduate schemes in the country and some of the work that you get to work on as a graduate software developer is really interesting. Especially as they have access to some of the big brand projects (especially if you go into consulting or CbD). But the salary isn't what Google or Facebook would give.

Most interns tend to form groups early on. I formed a group with the interns I had within my team (3 including me). We worked in the same office space so it was easier to talk everyday. Some other interns who worked elsewhere also formed their own groups. My colleagues within the CIO where great though, so I didn't really have the need to talk to other people as there was always something going on with them.

I lived at home with my parent so I was rent free. But living in London is expensive in general and I have heard of people struggling to live in central London. My advice would be too room share on the out skirts of London and commute in as public transport is quite good.

Didn't go clubbing so I can't comment on this. There is plenty of other stuff to do, I mean it is London, so you can go anywhere and find interesting things. Museums, parks, galleries, restaurants etc.

There were a few opportunities to help out at schools but these where usually far away (like in Southhampton) so it wouldn't be worth the journey. Apart from that there were not many other things to do outside of work. FYI, I'm assuming this is about opportunities provided by IBM to do stuff outside.