DevOps Engineer Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at IBM due to the people I worked with as well as the level of responsibility I was given. I feel as though I've had a true 'taste' of what having a professional job such as this one is like. I've developed a wide range of skills that will provide me with more choice in a job once I leave university.

My colleagues at IBM were always extremely appreciative of the work I completed for them. The verbal feedback I received from them was always positive and encouraging, which motivated me to put 100% effort into the work I was doing. The feedback tool available at IBM makes it easy to receive written feedback from colleagues, which is something I personally found really useful because it made it easier to get feedback for specific tasks completed for individuals.

To begin with I was given a lot of support and guidance but naturally this reduced throughout my placement as I became more settled into my role and could take the initiative to get on with my work. I never felt like I couldn't go to someone about an issues I had.

Due to the nature of my role I found that there were periods I was really busy and occasionally needed to stay late but other times it was a lot quieter especially during the start of my placement. Overall I'd say it balanced itself out.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I anticipated I would. I personally preferred this as we weren't treated as placement students but instead treated like everyone else within IBM and therefore had just as much responsibility.

I now understand the realities of project work within a large company such as IBM and feel like the skills I've developed will prepare me for any future career. The technical and problem solving skills I've developed are what I feel will be most useful during my future studies and future job role.

The general atmosphere in the office was professional. I think being in a smaller office did mean there was less of an atmosphere as there was a significant number of other interns there. Luckily I really got on well with these interns so we organised social events out of work.

My role was one that couldn't be well organised as every day is different and there's no daily or weekly tasks that I had to be taught. Potentially there could have been more structure however I'm not sure how due to the nature of the projects I worked on being quite agile.

There were a lot of online resources and tools available to complete independent training to develop your skills or area topics you were interested in. I would've liked to see more face-to-face training opportunities but not sure if the lack of this was due to the fact I was placed in a smaller office (Preston). However, there should've be equal opportunities for all placement students irrelevant to location.

I've applied back for a graduate role and doing the internship has definitely provided me with an advantage compared to those who have not. It's still a structured process with forms and interviews to be completed so I've no idea if I will be successful or not as the majority of placement students have applied back.

Yes there was a good social scene with the other interns in my office. There was also opportunities to socialise with others in the different locations although I'd have liked more opportunities. The social scene is whatever you make of it, and it does depend on if you get on with the other interns. However I did find that the majority of interns hired were like minded individuals so they were easy to get on with.

I personally chose to live in Manchester and travel into the Preston office. Living costs were average, but would have been lower in Preston. Similar with the cost of socialising, they were average in Manchester but lower in Preston - however there was more things to do in Manchester.

There nightlife was poor and I personally didn't go for a night out in the area. There was a good selected of pubs and places to eat so there was still opportunities to go out and socialise after work if you wanted to - but we would chose to travel to surrounding areas for nightlife.

I'd say there were a fair amount of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. There were really good social events at Christmas and also career developing events available. I think there could have been more however the coronavirus pandemic did put a stop to these opportunities after the first 6 months.