Full Stack Developer Review

This placement year has given me a great deal of industry work experience. Working within a large enterprise had its own benefits and drawbacks, but for the most part I enjoyed the experience. Mainly because of my team, which was very supportive and allowed me learn and go beyond my limits.

I was viewed as an equal and rightful member of the team from day one. The environment within my team reminded me more of a startup than a large enterprise. We all sat together around a large table in an open and colorful London studio area, which gave me a chance to connect very well with my colleagues.

At first I was given smaller tasks for me to show that I can deliver quality work as well as to train me in using the team's tools. There was no rush and I quite enjoyed the steady increase in complexity and responsibility. My manager and supervisor arranged regular meetings with me to ensure that I'm feeling well and to advice on any issues that might have come up. Since my role was technical I was able to approach my teammates sitting across the table with any questions I had.

Since I like to be busy, there was work 90% of the time, but I was still able to go for a regular coffee break or to play ping pong with the team, when I needed some rest from coding from time to time. Also on quieter days I was able to complete online courses and learn new skills via IBM's internal training tools and partnership programmes, such as Pluralsight.

I think that as an intern I was able to take as much responsibility as I wanted, given that I deliver and show the ability to complete the tasks up to an excellent standard. I had a chance to take ownership and demonstrate leadership on a variety of projects, communicate with global teams and present to senior leadership.

I think that the technical skills I gained will surely assist me in my future carrier. I was able to work on industry leading technology and learn skills which are highly in demand. Learning these skills has opened me many doors and given me confidence that I didn't have before. In addition to that, I was also able to get knowledge of different areas of business such as design and product management, which I think in extremely valuable.

The area in which I worked (the studio), was colorful and cozy, with lots of young multicultural people. People were very friendly and most of them wore casual clothing. Because of the open nature of the office, we even had a small minigolf set , and a shared ping pong and foosball tables to relax.

The internship had a good structure with a good amount of personal reviews around every 3 months. This solid structure was helpful to keep inline with my placement objectives, whilst not being too disruptive. IBM also has a good internal system to collect feedback, which is very helpful when presenting your achievement to the upper management. Also, every step in placement is well documented and accessible to every intern and if there are questions you can contact your manager at any time.

My manager took my personal development very seriously, despite my placement being only a year long. I had a chance to travel abroad and work with teams in Ireland, which was fully expensed. The team would also often share experience and present on various topics such as Agile and DevOps. Also from time to time we had visitors from other companies or we would go to other offices for lunch and learn sessions.

I was quite pleased to work within the team I was. I think that it would greatly progress my technical and business knowledge. Furthermore I established a good relationship with my colleagues, which I intend to keep after finishing my placement, regardless of whether I'll work for IBM or not. Therefore, coming back to IBM is definitely in my consideration.

Interns had a Facebook channel, which was quite active in the early days of my placement, but then naturally got quieter as people settled in their roles and started to spend more time with interns/colleagues from their business unit. There were still a good amount of events, organized by IBM and by interns themselves, which allowed to meet and spend time with interns from other business units, offices and even countries. Also lunch time was always a good time to say hello to fellow interns that you don't work with on a daily basis.

London in general is an expensive city and therefore costs are definitely 10-40% higher than elsewhere in the UK. Rent and daily commute can probably are the main expenditures therefore finding a central location at an affordable price is always difficult. From personal experience I can tell that when looking for accommodation timing is not as important as luck.

London has a great variety of clubs, bars and events that are open every day. There's always something going on, therefore nightlife will suit every taste.

Yes London in general has a great amount of external meetups, gatherings and hobbies. I was able to visit Google's campuses as well as meet fellow music production enthusiasts. A good way to find outside of work activities is Meetup and Eventbrite apps.