Extreme Blue Technical Intern Review

The internship was fantastic. Working in a group of four (3 technical students and 1 business student) the workplace feels like a start-up. Very relaxed environment but in which very hard work takes place. All groups are based in the same room that is dedicated to the Extreme Blue internship, this gives a great environment in which to work, even if we did let it get a bit messy.

Very much so. Each member of the team were given their individual tasks. Extreme Blue is valued very highly at IBM and this coincides with the weekly presentations given at the prestigious Hursley House to members of the site. Working directly with clients also reinforced the value of our work and knowing that all of the projects conducted are still continuing even after everyone left makes that the time and effort put in feel valued.

The Extreme Blue manager is very helpful, in addition each team are assigned 3 mentors. Firstly a technical mentor who offers guidance on the technical direction of the project and can help put the team in touch with the relevant assistance if required. A business mentor who helps arrange interactions with the clients as well as being a great help to the business student on the role and finally a "Master Inventor". Throughout the internship the groups are encouraged to come up with patent ideas and the weekly meetings with the Master Inventor help direct your thoughts to something patentable. The group that Iw as in successfully gained 2 patents.

Very. From day 1 you're given the project objective and then you go. It's like running you're own business, all of the decision are made by the team. The project we worked on was sized perfectly for the duration of the placement. There were many out of work hours put in, but given the outcome, it was very much worth it.

The team were given full reigns of the project. We made the decisions. Ideas were passed through the clients, whom we met with every couple of weeks, and consequently this affected our project plans. The role required work, not only as a Software Developer but also as a Technical Consultant, something that requires a lot of responsibility and was very enjoyable too.

You are thrown in from day 1. Within the first week or two the entire technical undertook a very steep learning curve. Personally, I needed to learn 3 new programming languages and in addition had to learn about the processes involved with making both a mobile application and website - neither of which I had previous experience with. The work conducted massively helped with my final year at University and given the skills I gained I have since done freelance work as a web designer - something I hope to do more of in the future.

There was a room set aside for Extreme Blue only. Each team was then assigned an area of that room with their own desks, computers, whiteboards, etc. There was a general "start-up" feel to the workplace, everyone on the placement enjoyed it and the interesting projects made it all the more enjoyable to work.

Very well, apart from an issue with being overpaid at the end of it and having to give some money back. The organisation was fantastic, from the splitting of the teams, the availability many resources to the trip organised for all placement students to Nice, France for the European Extreme Blue Expo.

I felt very valued within the company and the enthusiasm that other employees have for Extreme Blue fuels that. On many occasions employees of IBM would just turn up at our office enquiring as to what was going on because of things they had heard from others. Help was on hand from anybody that was asked and the exposure to the resources available on set was again fantastic.

All 16 interns on the placement were offered a full time job to begin September 2013, with the placement running for the summer of 2012.

All placement students were housed at local University accommodation in adjacent flats and so not only are you working with each other but also living. Living in Winchester also means that there are plenty of places to eat out, visit and generally see. It's a beautiful city and was a fantastic setting for the placement.

Winchester can be expensive but you are provided free accommodation for the entire duration of the placement and so you really can't complain.

Most nights were spent socialising within the flats or going to local pub quizzes. Southampton is also very local which contains a multitude of clubs and pubs, although we rarely visited there. For the second half of the internship, a lot of nights were spent working.

On the University site we all had access to a gym and sports facilities. There are also loads of sports facilities available at Hursley too.