Business Operations on BP IA Review

I enjoyed my year at IBM to a great extent because of the nature of the work I undertook, my level of responsibility and autonomy, the location and experience of working in London and the support I received in both a professional and a personal capacity from my line managers.

This varied between colleagues as I spent my time working with a wide range of people throughout my year. Some colleagues would be very grateful, spend a lot of time working with me to improve my work and give me feedback and I would feel particularly valued. Others would barely say "hello" or "thank you" - but this was a rarity and I imagine these people exist in every organisation.

The support from my direct line managers was superb and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I received guidance from the management team and the wider IBM when I requested it, which was a brilliant aspect of my year. Then the support from my Early Professional Manager was unparalleled.

The degree to which you're busy as an Intern at IBM is entirely down to you. If you work efficiently and accurately, you can go out and find more work to do and there is always people around IBM that want support and are happy to help, so it's up to you to find the perfect balance.

I was given the right level of responsibility. I didn't have the training or the knowledge to be "running the show" which is fine - I'm an intern and I didn't want to be responsible for billions of dollars of revenue as I may well have crumbled! I was given the right amount of responsibility for my competencies and experience.

The skills I've developed will help me in workplaces of the future. These include industry knowledge, IBM Badges Learning System, ways of working such as Design Thinking and Agile Delivery and beyond. However, I'm not sure how these skills will be useful in my degree studies, this will be confirmed when I return to University.

The Digital Experience team on the account ran quarterly socials, running club, well-being breakfasts, quarterly Town Halls, Account University, Mental Health Awareness Week. We have different houses, so every person across different projects and portfolios are part of a house in which we have friendly competition such as points systems and employee of the month.

Faultless from IBM.

If I wanted to complete any training or personal development, it was available. If it was not available, I would be given the time and investment to complete it.

The intern to grad scheme is really appealing. The Business Consultant role looks particularly good, I would also like to end up in Sales and IBM but I can see myself at IBM as a graduate and for a lengthy period in the future. It's a brilliant opportunity to start my career.

With over 120 interns in one building, this meant a lot of us lived with or near each other. The social scene was as strong as it was at university as we are all similar people, to an extent. It would consist of Xmas party, Summer Ball, frequent nights out and the pub every Thursday (and Friday..) - all organised by the interns.

London is crazily expensive. After my travel and rent, I was left with about £100 a month... this is for food, drink, lunch, prescriptions, dental care, clothes, travel outside of London Zone 2, socialising, toiletries, haircuts, home furnishings, utility bills and anything else. Considering it's £5 a pint, it makes life very difficult.

Nightlife in London is awesome. There are hundreds of places to choose from therefore there's something for everyone. We lived in Clapham in which there's tonnes of options on the high street, equally nearby Brixton has a range of options. Going into other areas of London such as central, Covent Garden, Mayfair, Shoreditch and Elephant and Castle.

London has everything you could want / expect. Throughout the year, we've visited a lot of different pubs, watching professional football, golf driving range, beer gardens, five a side football, the royal parks, rock climbing walls, cinema, theatre, restaurants, table tennis bars, board game cafes, tennis courts and beyond !