Technical Support Associate Review

I've had a fantastic placement with the opportunity to learn from a variety of friendly and helpful people. The opportunities I have had to develop my skills, have client facing meetings and work within teams of like-minded people have been endless and enabled me to grow throughout the year. I have learnt a tremendous amount and received valuable and constructive feedback which will aid me in the next steps of my career.

I was lucky enough to be part of a great team and became very close with many members of storage. The support I received from my manager [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] to develop my skills and take external opportunities outside of my core responsibilities was very valuable to me. His invested time in my university work was also really appreciated.

The support I received from my manager [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] to develop my skills and take external opportunities outside of my core responsibilities was very valuable to me. His invested time in my university work was also really appreciated. There was recognition of my work when I was awarded the Manager's Prize at an event and it was personally very rewarding to be recognised for making a genuine contribution during my placement. The VP of my department was also very supportive in recognizing and sharing with my EPM the valued work I was producing.

Day to day my core responsibilities varied. On Monday's and Tuesday’s, I was normally very busy all day with normally no lunch break. However, on the days I didn't have as many core responsibilities on I used the initiative to ensure I was helping on extra projects, doing ad hoc analysis for colleagues or volunteering with give back.

The amount of responsibility I had was the perfect balance. The data I format into packs was required to run cadence and the waterfalls I created and updated were used in the brand review with the GM of the UK. I was still however always fully supported and encouraged by the storage team.

I have developed hard and soft skills that will benefit me whichever career path I chose. My ability to be adaptive in certain environments and flexible as well as being creative and innovative are skills required in any role in this digital age. My client experience and development of interpersonal skills have made me much more confident when I am presenting and communicating with colleagues.

Everyone was very positive and friendly - always up to chat and say hello. I made amazing friends in the office who I will be keeping in touch with. During busy times when many people were on client site it could feel a little empty, but most of the time this was not the case and I had a great network of people surrounding me.

The overall placement scheme within IBM is fantastic - they really take care of you from day one and everything is very organised. The organisation within my specific sector could have been a little better though. In the beginning of my placement, the handover from my previous intern wasn't great and so I felt a little unsure at first.

The personal investment of time from my managers and colleagues was great. They helped my with my university visits and requirements and also invested time in educating me on my role. It would have been great if the interns had an external training course where we could bond more as a community and develop basic skills together.

My experience so far with IBM has confirmed my belief that this is a fantastic company to work for during your early career - I will therefore most definitely be hoping to secure a role after graduating from university with them to continue to develop my career path with them. I believe the skills I have gained this year will be beneficial in for a graduate role.

As I was on a client account away from IBM offices I very rarely go to meet up with other placement students in the company. I already knew a few other students from my university, however if I hadn't then I would have had very little interaction with the other students unfortunately.

The choice is between living in Leaminghton Spa and Warwick, For a single room (en suite) they are both expensive - Leighton more so, but if you can find people to house-share you can go down to £350 or so per person per month. Leaminghton Spa en suite is £600 (bills included) but is a better location for going out (no clubs in Warwick).

In Warwick the nightlife is limited to very few clubs and mainly pubs (spoons is always a good choice) but if you want to go to a proper nightclub - go to Leaminghton. There are a lot of students from Warwick university that go to Leaminghton. If you value this it might be a good idea to live in Leaminghton not in Warwick

There were a lot of opportunities available to placement students outside of your day to day role - these included events and conferences, volunteering in helping out at internal and external events, side projects, and even the chance to work at Wimbledon. Most of these tended to be in the London area.