Software Developer Review

I did really enjoy my placement at IBM, the workload was manageable, there were only a few times where I would have to spend time outside of the normal 9am-5pm. The environment at Hursley was vey welcoming and warm. Everyone for the most part was very good to work with.

The experience I had with my team was extremely positive. They were very supportive at the beginning, and really put in effort to get me familiar with the project. I feel like I did get close to some of my colleagues (particularly with some of the graduates, as we were similar in age).

I worked closely my team leader, he was very supportive whenever I needed extra help (especially at the beginning). However, here were some things to do with middle management that were frustrating. It was interesting to see the waning degrees of understanding of our delivered product as you go up the chain of command.

This fluctuated during the course of my placement. It was hectic in the beginning when I had to do a lot of learning, but that's to be expected. There was a period when the future of our product was unclear, so productivity definitely decreased. Overall, they workload was pretty well balanced though, I did feel I was being challenged

I found this really depended on me, rather than IBM. My team was happy to let me take the lead whenever I felt comfortable, if anything, I am a bit regretful I didn't take hold of more opportunities to drive large pieces of work! I was definitely held responsible to work I did drive though.

I learnt A LOT. I would have loved to learn even more if anything! I improved my programming skills drastically. Working with senior developers definitely gave me an appreciation to the thought process behind code implementation as well. My team really challenged me too question everything, from the team's workflow to the product's user experience

The office was generally quite fun to be in! I much prefer going to the office than working at home. It's great as a student, to be able to turn around and ask questions and the open floor office plan felt very open. The atmosphere was always fun and genial.

It was organised in that I definitely had enough work to be getting on with. I felt very included as part of the team, and I was doing the same work and had the same amount of responsibilities are the graduates in the same team. My transition into the team was quite seamless.

I didn't get to go to any conferences which was a bit of a disappointment to me (our product wasn't in the right place to warrant it). IBM has a lot of learning opportunities though. There are many online training courses, opportunities for giveback and reading groups that you can join.

I know a fair percentage of placements students get invited back as a graduate. We do have to go through another assessment centre, which I do find pretty unnecessary, as I have already been working for them for the past year. We also have to do performance reviews which they could use as a deciding point.

There were definitely a lot of socials held among placement students. Most people were very friendly and social, it's a shame under lockdown some of the end-of-placement socials were cancelled (with good reason of course). The people were definitely the best part of my placement (be it other placement students or my team members).

I worked in Hursley is I lived in Winchester. My experience with housing was not good (mainly because my landlord was not nice). It wasn't too expensive, but definitely is not cheap to live in Winchester. I would say the cost of living was overpriced for where and what it is.

I am not sure how to answer this question, as I did not live in Hursley. The Nightlife wasn't particularly interesting in Winchester. You would probably have to go to Southhampton (which is just a short train ride away) to have a decent night out. My experience with night out greatly depended on the people I was with

There were many giveback opportunities, reading groups and online courses offered to me. There is also a company gym onsite which is great. There is also a sports hall where you can play table tennis, badminton and football. There is also a lot of grass at the Hursley site, where you can play cricket and rounders! so there as definitely a lot available to do.