Technical Support Review
by IBM
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
4.2
-
The Company
3.6
-
The Culture
3.0
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
Such a good experience - would recommend anyone doing a placement year.
Can be under-valued at times as you are quite far down the foodchain but this is likely to happen anywhere. IBM certainly gave me a rich environment in terms of people I came into contact with and gave plenty of opportunity to provide value.
IBM have a good system in place of having supervisors in terms of personal development and line manager so that you can focus on both improving your role and yourself, with rich feedback in both areas.
I was lucky in terms of where I worked as I sat with my manager and was given a lot of tasks on a daily basis and was exposed to a lot of 'giveback' (extra-curricular) activities.
IBM tend to be (from my experience) good in giving responsibility as I was inputting to calls and actions that actually had an end result on how my team worked and outside of this too.
Felt like I learnt a lot during my time on placement at IBM - I certainly have learnt a lot more in my time there than at University in terms of tangible skills that I can take away and use for the future.
The Company
Unfortunately, I wasn't in Southbank but in a quieter office so the atmosphere wasn't as good as I had expected. You can also travel to different locations quite easily with travel expenses at times, so not the worst thing in the world.
Some aspects of the organisation could be improved, but overall there isn't really anything more I expected of the organisation of the placement - I knew everything I needed to at the right times.
The company provide you with a personal development manager which means that you have a lot of communication on how you can improve outside of your role too. There is a lot of education available and I feel like I have learnt a lot during the year.
Flexi Time
Sports and Social Club
Working from home
Applying back for my graduate year for sure.
The Culture
Though there were only a small number of placement students, we did a lot together and there was a really good atmosphere.
Not a great nightlife in the area but we still had a great time. The people in the area definitely made it up for - I wouldn't let this put you off.
Giveback provided a lot of opportunities to get involved with extra curricular activities and the people in the area were friendly and there was a good community spirit amongst placement students.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
East Midlands
May 2014
