DevIT – Infrastructure support Linux/Windows Review

I enjoyed my placement to a very high extent. The placement involved everything that i was interested in and i would love to one day work for IBM again in the future.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and that my role held a high importance to both the department and the business. I feel like as you progress through time at a workplace your skills and knowledge builds which therefore also increases your overall value.

I was given an outstanding level of support by colleagues in my department, my EPDM manager and my line manager. I felt as though i could confidently go to someone in my time about any problem i may have and that they would always give me the guidance i needed.

I had the perfect balance of workload and time to learn during my placement. This balance of time has allowed me to obtain many IBM certified badges and learning over my year and has also shown evidence of a high amount of customer work that i completed.

I was given a very high responsibility during my placement. This involved independently dealing with customers and their machines to resolve and overcome issues. On top of this, i also had access to the datacenter in which i was trust to go and work on physical machines with no supervision. I also took on projects for the department which i was in charge of, ran meetings for and eventually completed.

The skills that i have developed will help me with my studies and further into my career a great amount. My technical skills have increased a very high amount through the problem solving aspects of both my day to day role and other events/projects i was a part of. My interpersonal skills have also been built on hugely, this is from the high level of team work required in my role and also from partaking in things like the festival of innovation where i ran the stand for DevIT and gained some valuable experience.

The atmosphere of my office was always great, which i believe a high level of wanting to be a success encouraged. I also believe that the daily SCRUM also helps to build on this.

The placement was very well organised with regular EPDM meetings to discuss progress. My time at IBM also got off to a great start with all of the required training.

I did lots of personal training and development, which IBM invested in. This includes a learning time of 75+hours, 14 certified badges and many events like hackathons which i took part in.

Future employment prospects are very appealing with this organisation. I would love to one day work for IBM again and would encourage anyone with the opportunity to do so. I have also witnessed that there is a great level of development opportunities at IBM for you to build a successful career.

Yes, there was a good social scene between the students which i took part in where i could. This involved nights out, a christmas party and several other events.

The cost of living for myself was quite high as i stayed in a studio apartment in Winchester centre. However, if you share with other UPs then it is very easy to do it at a higher cost, IBM also helps to organise this before you start your placement.

There is lots of great pubs in Winchester which are open till late and in Southampton there is a few big clubs which are also a great way to spend a night.

Yes there were lots of opportunities to get involved in outside of work. For example, many sports activities like football, over night hackathons and other different clubs.