IBM Placement Retrospective

I’ve finally completed my 12-month placement at IBM. When I look back I do feel that I’ve learned quite a bit although I can only confidently say that it was worth it after I start my final year. Only then will I be able to tell if I am actually able to apply some of the skills I’ve learned at work or if I’ve gotten too used to the different work culture at my placement.

Pros of doing a placement:

• Experiencing the differences between Uni life and Work life
• Gaining valuable experience for future Jobs
• Learning about the necessary skill sets at work
• Earning Money towards University expenses
• A chance to learn about your own weaknesses and strengths

Cons of doing a placement:

• It takes 1 more year to complete University
• It is very easy to get out of touch with continuous learning required at University
• Having to make new friends at University when coming back

One of the things I learned about myself is that I have real trouble judging the acceptable social distance at work and come across as “shy” because of it. t University there are clear lines, students & lecturers that’s it no problem whatsoever. But at work there may be team mates, that are 3 levels above you hierarchy wise and others that are on the same level or just one above. What is acceptable then? I was constantly asking myself if I was being rude. It did get better after time, especially once I got to know them personally. But I still feel like this is a weakness of mine, I will be working on remedying this.

That’s it for now.

Placement/Internship applications guide: Interview preparation

I’ve been asked by one of my juniors to write a guide for interview preparation, and I am happy to oblige! It’s amazing that there actually exist people that are interested in what I write.

First of all you need to know that Interview preparation is all about research. You need to know about to company, you should know what to expect in the interview, the process, etc.

So if you’d split the research you need to do, you’d end up with 3 big components:

Long time no write + IBM placement started!

Its been a long long time since I’ve written anything. After completing all of my applications and interviews and accepting the offer from IBM  I’ve been swept away by the workload caused by assignments and exams. Luckily it was worth it and I succeeded in getting a first class result.

This year I only had 2 weeks of holiday and then had to move to Eastleigh for work. After 2 additional weeks of settling down in my new accommodation and getting to know my flatmates I finally started my placement.

In IBM the whole process is as follows:

The first 2 days are Induction. Here you receive valuable information about the placement, get to know other interns and are shown the company’s premises. You also find out who is responsible for you. Each intern is assigned to a General manager and a personal manager in addition to the Task Manager. As the titles say the Task Manager is responsible for work related issues, the Personal Manager for personal development related issues and the General Manager for any other issues. There are a lot of interns that start at the same time so you get to know quite a few of them. In addition to the induction there are socials in the first week to further encourage communication between interns.

Well that’s it for now. I’ll keep you updated.

My choice – next steps

I finally decided which company I am going to choose. It was quite difficult to choose between two great companies IBM and Intel but in the en I decided to go with IBM.

I talked to several colleagues and asked for help from my advisor and some other professors and in the end it seemed like this is the best choice for my future.

One of the suggestions I received from one of my professors was to ask the company I chose to decline if it was possible to go on a summer intern ship instead. I thought this idea was awesome, and will certainly try it. The worst thing that could happen would be that they refuse. I would have never even thought about trying this so I was very thankful for his suggestion.

For everyone that has received an offer and is currently going through the process of completing the mass of forms required to accept the offer. Make sure to read everything thoroughly and don’t be afraid to ask for help. The companies usually give you the contact details of a person that you can contact in case you have questions.

Also in my case my university also requires a cover letter that states you want to go on a year in industry and a form that your future manager needs to complete so make sure to check if your university might require something similar.

Other than that the process is pretty simple, just make sure to keep it within the time range.

UPDATE! IBM Software Development Placement -> OFFER

Today something unbelievable happened, even though I as I told you before, I passed the IBM Assessment centre and was told that I still have to complete the final interview to be matched to a manager. I received a call today saying that I will get an offer without having to complete that interview. As you can imagine I’m ecstatic, TWO offers one from IBM and one from Intel each of them amazing companies from which I could learn a huge amount.

Now comes the hard part I need to reject one of the companies. This will take a while but I have already started to consult friends, family and lecturers. Of course I will update as soon as I have made my decision and received some more information about the placement.

 

Microsoft MACH – Telephone Interview

Again this is a quite delayed post as I had this interview last week on Tuesday, the day after the Intel assessment centre.

I have to be honest I did not really enjoy this interview since as I have read before in preparation Microsoft just hires some people to ask you questions that have been typed off on some form and they read it off and type your answer. Nothing really friendly and ‘cold’ in a way not at all the way I imagined Microsoft to be.

The interview was basically split into 5 parts each of them concerning a certain characteristic that is important to succeed in their company. Motivation, Awareness, Confidence, Tact and Drive. In total it took precisely 45 minutes to complete it.

First of all before asking anything they ask you to confirm some data you have provided and remind you that they will request for proof if you pass. Then they explained that it is important to follow the STAR concept when answering the questions. Honestly do so, since I actually read that somebody had been rejected because of poorly structured answers.

Intel Information Systems Engineer placement – Assessment Centre -> OFFER!

One of the main reasons why I was so busy the past week was the fact that I got a call the same day that I got rejected from Nomura inviting me to an assessment centre for Intel. I actually got this call before I received the rejection from Nomura and even though I still had hopes them I immediately accepted the suggested date. Monday of the following week.

Compared to other companies application process Intel’s is much shorter it’s just:

Online application -> online test -> information request call -> assessment centre

But what amazed me the most was that the person that contacts you is actually your future supervisor. He is the person you communicate with.

Back to topic. The assessment centre entailed a 10 minute presentation, a competency based interview and a technical test.

Before I start to talk about my assessment I have to say that my assessment experience might differ from yours as I was the only applicant being tested. There had been another assessment centre with more applicants on the same day in the morning but I was not able to attend that.

Nomura – Rejection & Feedback

Last week Friday 2 days after the actual assessment centre I received a call from on of the recruiters responsible for the placements. Since

it was a call I got my hopes up and thought I might have passed the assessment centre but this was not the case. I got rejected and ironically the

person that called me to inform me about the rejection was the one that introduced me to Nomura and made me want to work there.

Even though at that moment I wished she had just e-mailed me about the news in the end I was really happy about the fact that even though I was rejected

they still took the time to call me. They also provided me with extensive feedback.

Basically the way it works in Nomura is you only get the position if you managed to score a ‘distinctive’ in all or most of their areas. I don’t actually know what all of the

areas are but some of them are Initiative, Leadership and Teamwork.

My applications

As I mentioned before I applied to various companies in hopes of getting a placement. This list will show you which ones have already replied, how long it took and what I had to do. Hopefully it will give you an idea of how long the replies from those companies take.

Succeeded -> Interview:

• Caterpillar

Application sent: 16/12/12

Process: On line Application form

Reply received: 08/01/13 – Telephone interview invitation (Note: I have withdrawn that application)

• Accenture

Application sent: 20/12/12

Process: Online Application form

Reply received: 02/01/13 – Telephone Interview invitation (Note: I have yet to receive a date)

• Microsoft

Application sent: 31/12/12

Process: Online Application form + CV -> Inductive reasoning test

Reply received: 06/01/13 – Telephone Interview Invitation -> 30/01/13 Passed Telephone interview

• IBM

Application sent: 12/12/12

Process: CV template + Online Application form -> IBM Information Processing Aptitude Test Online (IPAT/CAT) -> Assessment Centre -> Final interview

Reply received: 13/12/13 (IPAT invitation) -> 03/01/13 (Assessment centre invitation)

Update: IBM Application – Final Interview Invitation

Today I got an e-mail from IBM stating if I can advance to the next round or not. As I wrote before in my opinion I did very badly, even though I believe I had a good presentation I barely contributed to the success of the group tasks. But apparently I was mistaken.

Today afternoon my university colleagues, that attended the assessment centre on the same day, told me that they had received their e-mails already, each of them getting rejected. Honestly I was really surprised since I was in the same group task as one of them and it seemed to me that he did really well. Both of them are quite confident individuals and very skilled at what they do.My e-mail arrived a few hours after theirs and,

I advanced to the next round!!

I honestly do not know why I passed the assessment centre but I am really happy.  It is of course not guaranteed that I get a space as an intern there but I am one step closer to my goal. The only thing I can do right now is to wait for them to tell me a time for the last interview.