IBM

For a three-month internship, it was immediately obvious that there was no shortage of activities. This does not mean that it was a stressful and overloaded schedule, but that I was able to expand on various skills at a rate that encouraged me to push myself and get a lot done. I felt valued as an individual and appreciated the fact that the core values are truly reflected at all levels – local, regional, and global – of the company.

The culture at IBM is one of constant growth and personal empowerment. When I got bored of one learning activity, I could try another or do some soft skills or personal development instead, which made it a very engaging and pleasant experience.

IBM is a huge company, which will in turn include many famous, award-winning researchers and technical experts. They engage in talks, events, and presentations, which are accessible to all IBM employees, and I very much appreciated that I felt encouraged to participate in as many as I wanted.

The internship was ongoing while other large tech events like Nvidia GTC and Microsoft Ignite were happening, and it was also surprising to see how natural and easy it was to participate in those and even win some free certification exams.

This particular internship was focused on Java, and I had mentoring and tutoring available to improve my Java skills with the goal of becoming ready for accreditation. IBM rewards progress that can be accredited by taking a certification exam, such as Oracle Java Certified Professional (Oracle JCP) or Amazon or Microsoft certifications.

The objectives of my personal track were always clear, and I liked that. Career progress at IBM is tracked through such verifiable achievements.

To conclude, I must agree that IBM is a (very) cognitive enterprise, a hyperscalar with respect to cloud but also business practices, and with core values that are well-defined, and I completely agree with them.

A three-month internship can be a short time to understand how deeply rooted the business processes are and how much history the company has. I would recommend trying such a position if you are able to continue afterward, because there is compound benefit from the time spent. For example, if you haven't finished your studies or have to move, it might complicate things, or you might want to do it when you have the time.

I felt that engagement with management was static at times. Managers should do less question answering and more story-driven engagement, in my opinion.

At the local office I went to, it was clear that it is different from other companies because of the business guidelines that are present and the fact that the values of the company are clear. I think it should not end at being better than the rest, but management should continue to refine their business practices to increase compliance with the core values even more.