Technical Solutions Coordinator Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working for IBM as per my Year in Industry. I have been able to increase my technical and business knowledge throughout the year in opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise had had whilst at my university. I have also gained invaluable experience of working within the profession I hope to venture within.

I had immense support within Foundation from my EPM as well as on a daily basis with my Task Managers. I have felt welcome since the first day and I feel has I have been made into a valuable asset to IBM by my managers.

I have given this five out of ten because my initial manager was very unsupportive and I did not have much of a relationship with him despite continuous effort. I would like to praise the role of the early professionals mangers who look to support interns on any concerns they may have and give appropriate guidance.

At times when I started my role, I was not fairly busy however my manager noticed this and then had offered me the chance to support on an internal Audit which was an incredible experience. My daily basis soon got busier after January when I was made the Work at Risk process owner which was a tremendous responsibility.

IBM is a huge company and so its very difficult to place the impact of the work your doing on the company as a whole. I did work on many spreadsheets with sensitive data and it was important to the teams within ibm that it concerned. It is also harder to feel the importance of your work when you're only working with numbers on your laptop and not working with people in person.

The skills developed will help me greatly in the future, where at University I will use the trait of being proactive with my work and not leaving it to the last minute as I have learned that something may pop up and will leave you with a lot of work to be completed rather than completing it straight away. I have also excelled in my confidence and presentation skills which will no doubt be a great asset to my future projects.

In my office, I sat with a group of other interns from across the organization but not necessarily in the same role as myself. IBM has a flexible working policy so some days the office was very quiet but when others were in it was an enjoyable place to work.

IBM Foundation are always on top of your year, with a 3 and 6 month review it was easy to keep your EPM updated with your progress or concerns. Alongside this, there was also a year long journal to create which allows you to monitor your feedback and progress thoughout your time.

IBM provide you the opportunity to get involved in many projects outside of your role to increase your employability and give back to the company and community, There are a lot of opportunities to "shadow" someone from another side of the business if it interests you, which allows you to gain a better understanding in the day of that role.

IBM offers the "Intern to Grad" opportunity if you wish to apply back as a graduate, with the support of the Foundation Graduate scheme for 2 years. There are many different roles within the organisation and the scheme also offers a lot of support.

Having worked in London and Portsmouth throughout my role, it allowed me to experience the social life of both sites. There were opportunities to get to know lots of the other interns at various different get togethers and events.

I lived at home, so the cost of living was minimal apart from travel costs. Social costs in London were a lot more than Portsmouth, as expected.

Having gone to a London university, the London nightlife was already appealing to me - however I did not get to experience the Portsmouth nightlife as often, as I lived in London, but the time I did, it was great as Portsmouth is a student city.

There were many opportunities to attend learning events from across the country at different IBM sites. The Giveback opportunities were also amazing to do something completely different to your normal day job.