Public Cloud Tech Sales Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at IBM - I have been able to work on a number of interesting deals and opportunities, learn about many new and interesting technologies, and also been able to meet and work alongside many different people, internationally who have all been supportive and encouraging.

Throughout the year, I felt that I was treated equivalently to a full time employee, with team members helping interns in the team to quickly integrate and get settled. Team members and wider IBM value your opinion in conversations and discussion, and treat it the same way as a senior IBMer were talking to them.

There are constant feedback cycles with both your foundation manager, and your task manager, which helps give you constant feedback, and provide guidance when something hasn't gone the way you would expect it to.

Over the year, there are busy periods and quiet periods, which is to be expected when working within a sales team. During the busy periods, there is plenty of work to fill your calendar, but not to the point of overload, and during the quieter periods, there will be some background work that can be done, but there is also the large amount of learning that IBM provides that can be used during those times.

As the year progressed, and I grew in confidence, and learnt the products that we offer in more detail, I was given more responsibility. I was able to work on solutions and pricing myself, speak to partners and clients on calls and help answer technical questions, and give demos around our offerings.

The skills I have developed this year will be the foundation to what I work on next. I have learnt both a variety of soft, transferable skills that I will use in the future on any task that I need to work on, and technical skills on which I can now build on and continue learning abou

There is a great atmosphere within the team and office. As team members come in daily, you are able to get to know them, and ask questions whether work or not work related questions. During quieter times, things become more relaxed, and you can spend more time having a chat with teammates.

The placement is flawlessly organised, due to foundation's experience of running placements every year. From induction, through to the regular feedback and review meetings with managers, and to the final presentations and offboarding - everything is planned well in advance, and there is plenty of instruction on what to do for each.

There are plenty of opportunities to step out of your comfort zone during the year, allowing you to develop skills that you wouldn't be able to elsewhere. There is also a huge catalog of internal training courses that you can follow and learn a variety of new technical or soft skills. There are also newsletters that give you recommendations on what learning people are focusing on.

Future employment prospects are high, as from the futures gap year placement scheme, there is a pathway directly to the apprenticeship scheme, and simarlarly there is a university placement to graduate scheme. IBM is a very open company, and I feel that they would be happy to take on an ex intern later in careers as well.

There are always opportunities to meet up with fellow placement students and colleagues - with foundation having hundreds of young professionals, all around the same age, and in the same situation as you. This means that there is always a chance that someone has the same interests, and someone to meet up with.

Living away in Warwick meant that prices aren't super cheap, but are reasonable, and you are able to live and socialise with the salary comfortably. There are plenty of local amenities, including gyms, restaurants and shops, along with clubs and bars. Living is also comfortable, with Warwick and Leamington Spa being reasonable priced

There is a decent amount of nightlife in Leamington, with some clubs/bars around the town. Having Warwick University nearby means that there are many student nights during the week. This means that there are plenty of people around, and all of the tickets for venues are fairly cheaply priced , .

Internally, there is a volunteering page that allows you to find opportunities across a variety of different tasks, where you can help in communities and give something back. These can be done with team members, but also with new people, helping you to network and meet new, different people from IBM.