GL15 Test Manager Review

Was a fantastic placement allowing me to gain experience in my chosen career path. Also the scope of my role allowed me to work with executives as well as other management teams in the USA, Europe and Asia.

The department I worked for had an almost family atmosphere and thus the working conditions felt quite relaxed. My work was also valued by colleagues within my department as well as managers overseas.

Given the size of IBM a lot of the guidance I required was quite complex, however I found both my supervisors and colleagues were very helpful and would always set aside time to help. Furthermore by having a separate Professional Development Manager, this also helped to further enhance my skills outside of my job role.

Due to my role being project based I found there were stressful times where the workload was quite heavy and other times whereby there was very little to do. However for the most part I thought the workload was fine and the stressful periods were a good challenge.

As my role was focused around Project Management, I was empowered with a significant amount of responsibility. Often I would be required to report statuses to company executives and make decisions on how best for the team to progress.

I feel the skills I have developed from this placement are invaluable. It has given me the chance to develop interpersonal skills I feel I otherwise would not have developed through University alone. Furthermore the experience it has given me from a work perspective I feel will be useful for my first Graduate job.

Generally the office environment was quite quiet, there was some banter between team members and regular tea breaks. The quietness of the office was generally caused from team members working at home.

Set up of the placement was very professional, I was provided with a Professional Development Manager and Placement Record to aid my skills development. Furthermore my job role was well structured and was often challenging but not unmanageable.

With the use of a Professional Development Manager and access to a wide array of e-learning courses/shadowing opportunities; this allowed me to easily develop my skills and find out about other areas of the business outside that I was working in. However there was little scope for paid courses unless it was essential for my job role.

Due to the Graduate Scheme being very competitive, most of the students are required to go through the whole process of Assessment Centres and Interviews. As an advantage however, we are allowed to apply before external students thus allowing us access to all available roles and the top percentile from the placement can be forwarded straight to Interview.

With a high amount of students on the placement, there was a good social scene among the students including a weekly night out. However generally there was little socialising with colleagues after work due to their other life commitments.

Although I personally lived from home; I have heard that living within Portsmouth was fairly cheap to accommodate for the many students attending the University.

For nightlife there was a large selection of pubs, bars, and restaurants; however there was only really the one nightclub. This was of a slight surprise to me considering the numerous nightclubs in Sheffield which is where my University is.

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