Reflections on a 16 month internship…

In just a few weeks I’ll be wrapping up my 16 month internship at IBM and heading back to the classroom, feeling somewhat like a different person with all my fancy ‘real world’ experience and work-friendly clothes. It’s certainly hard to summarize everything I’ve been lucky enough to do over the past year and a bit but some moments really stick out.


Biggest things I learned/gained from my internship –

- How to work with a diverse, global team. Much to my surprise my first day of work, the team I work on has members scattered across the globe. About 90% of the people I work with aren’t at my office and most of them I’ve never met face to face. It took some getting used to but I’ve honed my email and conference call etiquette, and mastered giving a presentation over the web or over the phone.

- An increased confidence in my work and in myself. When I started my internship I had a million questions about everything and a lot of times I would ask myself (or my oh so kind teammates), “Am I doing this right?”. I’ve learned how to operate autonomously (it’s really quite nice not to have a manager checking on your every move), solve a lot of my own problems and find help when I really need it. I hate to sound too cliché, but now when I start a new project I think, “I can do this!”.

- How to network and be introduced to other potential jobs! Working at such a big company I had the opportunity to talk with people with a huge array of different jobs. It’s pretty easy to get an introduction to someone in almost any area of the company. I learned that IBMers (or maybe people in general) love to explain their jobs to you! If you’re interested, they have many words of wisdom.

Favourite Moments –

- The first time a co-worker reached out specifically to me for advice and help on a project. Working with so many people I consider talented and experienced marketing professionals, I’m usually the one asking for advice. As an intern I was happy enough to be doing real work as opposed to making photocopies or getting coffee (IBM interns don’t do that stuff!). But as my internship progressed, colleagues started coming to me for advice too. How cool is it that I’m now considered a subject matter expert in certain areas too?!

- IBM’s Centennial Day Celebrations and pre-celebratory decorating, watching WATSON compete on Jeopardy in IBM’s amphitheatre along with a hundred other IBMers. How lucky that I was working at IBM during both these momentous occasions!

- Making a presentation to the 200+ new interns that started their internships in May. Hard to believe I was in their position just one year ago, watching someone excitedly make presentations to me.

More than a year ago when I was filling out applications, I wanted an internship for so many reasons. My internship at IBM has definitely fulfilled those goals, and then some! I wanted to get solid work experience (check), a break from school (check), form a better idea of what I want to do after graduation (check), and make some money for student bills (check). On top of that, I really think I’ve been ‘spoiled’ at IBM with even more opportunity than I expected: being a leader of the IBM student community (Future Blue), having great manager and team, having flexible work hours and lots of at and after work activities to take part in. If this is the real world, it’s not so bad.

Olivia Stille

What is Future Blue and what is it's mission?

Future Blue is a laid back, fun-filled student community that is supportive and caters to personalities of all types. The community also strives to provide resources and assistance to help students transition into their new roles.


We don't bite! Everyone here is either far away from home, or just looking for someone to hang out with after work. At any given time, there are close to 400 interns in the Markham location! You might be thinking...Wow! Doesn't this vaguely resemble the close-knit high school life that you couldn't wait to get out of? Yes that's exactly what it is, but it's more fun this time.


Check out what the 2011-2012 Team leads have got to say about their plans for the next year!


Sumbul Alvi & Garrett Kerkkamp – Activities Team Lead


“Most of our events originate from the future blue facebook group discussions. We will plan many more events to cater to all types of personalities. Students can look forward to anything from sports games, to restaurant outings, day trips around Toronto, and much more.”


Chris Cowan – Web & Communications Team Lead


“I would like to make the Future Blue website the one stop location for all student needs in Future Blue. I plan to do this by adding plenty of content, as well as news updates for happenings within Future Blue. Specifically, I will be updating the site to version 17, adding a photo/news feed feature on the home page, and a helpful links section. Students can also look up available clubs and teams to join.”


Rena Chiu – Web & Communications Team Lead


“Our communications team runs a blog that caters to the interests of current and future IBM interns. We will continue reporting on future blue events, trendy happenings in Toronto, and other quirky things we love. This year's efforts will be focused on enhancing the interactive features of the blog, and adding a careers/student voices section.”


Ahmet Aksoy & Shravana Tiwari– Career & Development Team Lead


“One of our goals is to make C&D more approachable and raise awareness for career-related opportunities. I find that there are so many resources available to help students succeed at IBM, but most people don't know about it. For instance, there are some technical courses offered at the labs that would help expand my skills portfolio. I would like more people to take advantage of these offerings.”


Check out our blog or look us up on facebook!


Blog: http://futureblue.wordpress.com


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=142028597824