Project Management Support Review

I throughly enjoyed my time working at IBM. I worked on a very exciting project, developed numerous skills, learned about the company and learned so much about myself. The placement allowed me to get involved in numerous projects going on within the company, which helped me to confirm what I want to do in my future career.

I feel like I have added value to the team I was working with whilst at IBM. At IBM, you are actively encouraged to collect feedback at different stages in your placement. This feedback allowed me to see my colleagues thoughts of my work and I was able to see that they value me.

On my placement, support has been there when I have asked for it. At IBM, you have a Task Manager, who is your day to day manager, and an Early Professional Manager, who conducts your reviews and you can ask any questions to. Every three months, you have a review with your Early Professional Manager, this is a good opportunity to talk about your role and how you are doing. When I have been looking for career advice, both my EPM and Task Manager have been more than happy to talk to me.

At the start of my placement, as my role was created new this year, I was unsure of my tasks due to nto having a full handover, so during the first two months I had very little to do every day. I then had to ask for more work and ended up switching roles. Since that point I have been busy every day, and to fill up quiet time I have taken on extra projects.

I was given a lot of responisbility in my role. I was tasked with managing finances, tracking them and conducting weekly reviews with IBM partners to discuss the finances for each project. I was also given a hgih level of responsibility in other aspects of my role, including commercials and communications.

My degree is in accounting and finance, which is a very specific degree. My placement has been in project management so in terms of day to day tasks I wasn't using the skills I learned from my degree. However, I have developed so many skills whilst I've been at IBM, which will definitely help me in my final year of University and beyond.

I worked between an IBM office and a client office during my placement. The IBM office was based in Preston and is very small compared to other IBM offices such as London. I throughly enjoyed working on the client site, as most of my team was based there and it allowed for easier communication rather than working remotely in Preston.

I would say the overall process is very organised. You have a thorough two day induction with other interns, then you begin your role. As I mentioned in a previous question, was role wasn't clear for the first couple of months, this was due to unexpected circumstances but it should have been resolved quicker. If I hadn't pushed for more work, I might not of enjoyed my placement as much as I did.

There are so many learning opportunities at IBM. There is a learning portal which has access to thousands of different articles, workshops and online videos which allow you to learn so much. You can learn anything from how to code to learning a new language, both of which are extremely useful skills.

I would love to work for IBM in the future. I am planning to apply back as a graduate, hopefully I will start my career with IBM once I graduate from University. I am passionate about what IBM does and it's company values. I have throughly enjoyed my placement at IBM.

Every month, events took place at my office location in Preston. I decided to commute for my placement (around 1 hour each way) so struggled to stay around after work for a lot of social events with fellow interns living near the office. If I could do the placement again I would move closer to the office.

I am unsure about the cost of living as I lived at home during my placement year. The cost of socialising is relatively small compared to larger cities such as London. In Preston, a lot of things are cheaper such as food, drinks and transport. This has been useful during my placement.

Due to living at home, as previously mentioned in other questions, I have to commute around one hour each way to the office. Because of this, I have not experienced the nightlife in Preston. However I have heard from colleagues and fellow interns that they enjoy the nightlife in Preston.

Being based in Preston, there is not a lot going on. I am aware that there are more activites to take part in when you live in London. In the North West, attempts were made to set up sports teams, but these were based in Manchester which is a good drive from Preston, I opted to join sports nearer to home.