Level 2 Support - Tools and Workload Manager Review

On a daily basis, I would check the support software for new cases for all of our products. I would provide first contact on these and then check each engineer's workload at the start of the day. I would then assign cases based on workload. Throughout the day, I would continue to monitor product queues and watch for new cases, while also completing any relevant training.

During my year, I was able to develop skills in cloud software, completing training courses in Docker, Kubernetes and Openshift. I also worked on my web development skills, and completed training on Drupal and HTML editing. I was given the opportunity to help training new engineers on our support software, developing soft skills this way.

During my placement I was often treated more like a junior engineer than a placement student. This meant I was allowed to take on my own support cases, set up installations of our products, both on-premises and in the cloud and was invited to the training and weekly calls about our products to gain more insight.

While I was given a lot of personal responsibility during my placement, and often allowed to make my own judgement calls, support was there when it was needed. My managers and team were always happen to ask questions, and would even jump on video calls to help show you how to best complete a task if needed. I was also given training on our products and how to perform my role when starting out.

As I completed my placement virtually due to the pandemic, it was hard to get an idea of what the general company culture was like. However, my team were very supportive of diversity and were always polite when working together. As well as that, for placement students, there were a lot of social events and different interest based groups to get involved with, as well as many charity opportunities.

My placement was a little different to how I imagined, due to the pandemic. This meant I spent my year working virtually. Despite this, I was made to feel welcome and that my role had real meaning by the team. I was given extra responsibilities and invited to events. When I came out as LGBT during the year, but team was support and immediately arranged for diversity training. I would return to IBM.

Yes

I was invited to an assessment centre, which included an interview. For the interview, they ask you many questions while taking notes and watching how you respond. I would recommend being relaxed, but confident and presenting yourself as eager to learn. The first interview is to be accepted onto the placement scheme, and then you will be offered a later interview for a specific role.