Business Analyst Review

I enjoyed the placement. The workload wasn't as busy as I would have liked but I did have a good experience, met lovely people and gained skills that I will take with me into my future career. I also had the opportunity to work on global projects and be a part of numerous intern communities.

I felt well valued by my colleagues and well integrated as they would provide feedback and gladly sit to chat over a coffee. They were all willing to ask me to do certain tasks however the only drawback I feel that there was a certain disadvantage to being the intern as many of the tasks didn't have a large amount of responsibility as I wasn't there for a long period of time.

The support was always there if I required and I always felt I could ask my colleagues if I needed any help. My manager was always in the office and we had weekly meetings to talk through the projects I had been working on. My other manager I saw a few times through the year but was very good at checking on how I was progressing as the year went on.

I was very rarely busy and some days I would struggle to find work however this did give me the chance to undertake further learning using IBM platforms. I would have liked the placement more if I was busier. The best advice when in this situation would be to seek opportunities. So I joined 2 intern communities to fill my time which definitely helped and gave me more experience overall.

This varied a lot. I had full responsibility on a few projects and some tasks it seemed I was mostly there to listen just in case a small task came up for me to help with. It was different within the intern communities as they are run by interns for interns so the responsibility is much larger.

The leadership skills I developed from the projects I will definitely be taking with me into my future career along with all the skills I learnt through the IBM learning platforms such as HTML and Python. Working on global projects also gave me the experience of working with international teams which I think is invaluable for many companies. Now having the 9-5 mindset will help a lot when I go back to University to complete my degree.

Tuesday to Thursday the office was busy. Mondays and Fridays were very quiet as most people would work from home but you would always have someone to talk to. My manager was also very flexible in that regard so I was able to work from home if needed to on a particular day.

I think the overall placement scheme is well organised as you have 2 managers; a task manager and a early professionals manager who you would see a few times throughout the year. However my placement didn't seem to have much structure and it seemed I was moving around colleagues to find tasks to do when they became assigned to projects.

I had a 2 day induction, a careers academy and I also went to a design thinking workshop with another company. In terms of personal development due to my location and lack of funding there wasn't much investment as most courses and events were too far away. However there was lots of courses being held remotely that you could join when you had free time.

Graduate prospects are very appealing as there is the consulting by degrees scheme that could lead you to anywhere within the company. I'm not sure if I will apply back yet but if I did I know it would be on one of the best grad schemes within the country. To apply back you need to complete a separate application and another interview which isn't as guaranteed as some placement to graduate schemes at other companies are.

As there was only 2 placement students within the office the social scene was very lacking and within the team there was only 1 night out. Luckily I was living within student halls which provided me with a better social scene. Through the year there was more hires upstairs within the same age bracket however there wasn't much integration between as they were contracted employees.

Very cheap to live. Travelling and activities at the weekend were also very cheap. I managed to travel around a lot of Scotland through the year that I wouldn't have got to do otherwise. There is a lot to see around Glasgow so I was never bored at weekends and there is great travel links with the airport nearby.

I wasn't particularly interested in the nightlife. There wasn't much nightlife in the town however Glasgow is very close if you wanted the nightlife scene. I would definitely advise living either in Glasgow or just outside of Glasgow as it's a lot busier with lots of events to attend in the evenings and weekends.

Due to the smallness of the site there was only the onsite skills guild to be involved which was a good initiative and gave me the opportunity to meet colleagues from other departments. I did join a few 'giveback' opportunities within IBM run by interns that could be joined remotely. I also became part of a women's group for IBM females based in Scotland to help organise yearly events.