Data Security Technical Support Review

I have really enjoyed the placement. It provided me with many development opportunities and left me satisfied with the work I do. The team was great, supportive, helpful. IBM culture is what makes the company stand out in the pool of corporations. I highly recommend a placement with IBM if you are looking for a challenge or want to develop in different areas.

The team is amazing, everyone is really helpful and supportive. You do not feel left out at any point. There is friendly banter, you can discuss many things, not only your work. Colleagues believe in your skills, listen to your point of view and take your opinion into consideration. Free flow of information is encouraged.

IBM provides lots of support and guidance. The Early Professionals Manager helps you with your placement overall, setting up within IBM and extra opportunities within the company itself. The Task Manager, who is your boss on the day-to-day basis, guides you in the office, helps you settle within the team and the product (if you are working with a product) you are working with.

First months focused on learning the product and company, so the work mostly boiled down to setting up accounts and studying. Afterwards the workload increased to a point where you could not do many extra activities, as it would affect your work efficiency. Having said that, work was quite balanced out, so no complaints there.

The responsibilities given to me were mostly limited to the required responsibilities in the role itself. Most of work is just like other full-fledged employees, together with the amount of cases handled. Apart from that, each intern is required to work on himself and do extracurricular activities to promote personal and professional development.

The skills developed can be boiled down to two categories. From a personal standpoint, soft skills acquired, like communication, prioritisation skills, etc, are really helpful and can be carried over to other areas of life. The technical skills obtained are a bit more constraint as they are mostly specific to the position I was in.

The atmosphere was great, people amazing and extremely helpful. There were times the jokes never ended and it helped to get settled within the team overall. Thanks to that, I rarely felt stressed out and/or under a lot of pressure. Working in such an environment was a pleasure and I hope I am a part of such a great team once again at some point of my career.

IBM placement is set up perfectly. There is a 2-day induction to the company which explains how the placement will look like and what is expected of you throughout the year. After that you have constant contact with your managers who guide you and help you with any queries you might have.

My position required me to obtain a certificate after 5/6 months of work. The price of the exam was fully subsidised by IBM. Apart from that, every IBMer has access to Your Learning which is a learning hub that allows you to develop in any area imaginable which is extremely good.

The graduate scheme with IBM seems to be quite appealing. As IBM promotes personal and professional development, it is a great place to be a part of, if you get an offer, regardless of the position you are taking. Even if the position you land is not ideal, there is so much stuff to do, you will be left satisfied.

The part of London I lived in was not the greatest. There were not many places you could go out and/or enjoy your time at. The interns I had contact with were great people and I enjoyed spending time with them, so I cannot really complain in this department as far as I can tell.

There were 2 pubs where I lived, the area was not great so socialising was not really an option. I did not enjoy living there and I hope I will not have to ever come back there. If I were to change one thing, I would not live there, if possible.

No nightlife there, the area was also quite rough so I would not go out in the evenings. Nightlife is non-existent, no fun, my living there mostly boiled down to working and coming back from work, staying in my house for the remainder of the day. Unfortunately, it was not pleasant at all.

As I mentioned before, IBM provides you many opportunities to develop and be a part of. Unfortunately, my office was a long way from the city centre, hence there were issues with doing so - most events took place in bigger hubs, Southbank, Hursley and I did not have the time to travel there for extra activities.