Industry Analyst Review

My Placement Year at IBM has been an incredible experience! I have had the chance to meet some inspiring people who have had a great influence on me. The challenges, the opportunities and the people at IBM have made the whole year amazing. There is so much to get involved in within so many different areas.

From my first day at IBM I was welcomed and respected by my team and colleagues. Everyone is professional and treats you the same as if you have been there for a long time. It has been great to work for a company that supports and values all their employees.

My Task Manager has been a great with supporting me and also my interests as she wanted me to get the most out of the year here. Everyone in my team offered help and guidance if I ever needed it and they were all approachable which made it even easier.

At the beginning of the Placement I had a set number of tasks that I had to complete but had a little bit of time to explore other areas. But as the year went on my work load increased a lot and I was busy every single day, which was better! I would be doing work for a number of people at a time and it taught me so much in terms of time management and resilience to long hours.

I was given responsibility with the work I completed and had to manage different areas. It was great to have this and to build upon it over the months. IBM is a great place to ask for further responsibility, if you want more to do or more challenges then you are encouraged to ask.

I do believe that this year will put me in a good position for my final year at University and also for when I am a graduate. I have completed a lot of online learning at IBM, built my confidence and improved my analytics skills. These will all help and support my work in final year.

Even though a lot of people at IBM work remotely, whether this is at home or at a client site, I was very lucky that a lot of my team worked in the office each day. This built greater relationships between us all. There are also a lot of other placement students in the Southbank Office therefore it was very sociable throughout the day.

The work placement was very well organised from the moment I received my offer to the very end. The Foundation Team were very informative and always kept everyone involved and offered help wherever necessary. I was very impressed by how organised the whole year has been.

My Team always encouraged me to take part and complete online learning on the IBM Learning Portal in order to expand my knowledge of certain business areas and products. This was helpful and easy to complete as you could do it anywhere as it was online.

I am definitely going to apply back to IBM as a graduate as I have enjoyed my placement year so much. I have been able to build a strong network and have got an insight into a lot of different areas within the company.

Due to the large amount of other placement students in IBM the social life was very good. I lived with other placement students which was great fun. Everyone is up for meeting up and socialising after work

I moved to London for my placement year so had to pay each month for rent. The cost of rent is much higher compared to University but we have our salary to cover it and still be left with money left over for spending. It is hard to save money if you're living in London and wanting to go out a fair amount. But I would recommend to enjoy the year and socialise as much as possible.

Most weeks a lot of the placement students would go out for drinks which was great fun and a good atmosphere. There are a lot of bars near the Southbank Office, a lot also have IBM discount. The nightlife in London is very good and there are so many different types of bars/clubs around.

You have to be quite proactive if you want to find activities outside of work as they are not advertised that much. I joined a netball team in Clapham which was great fun as I could meet a new group of people. There are lots of sport clubs and teams around London so there is definitely something for everyone.