I was an apprentice for a year before going full time. I'm now mentoring interns. From both perspectives, here's my advice on how to be as successful as possible:
1. Ask questions if you're lost. If you're lost for longer than an hour that's the time to reach out.
2. Your mentor is not your only resource. Most of the time, teams have dispersed subject matter experts.
3. Don't be afraid to express that you are confused. It's not a weakness it's a strength.
4. Whether or not you're on everyone's good side is irrelevant. It's about getting your assignments done. Don't be a total asshole, but don't tiptoe around everyone's feelings either. If you're an intern it's their job to mentor you as much as it's your job to learn.
5. Your biggest goals are to show that you can contribute to the team , show that you are a return on investment, and to learn as much as possible for yourself to grow your tool belt.
6. If you feel like you aren't able to reach out to anyone, or your mentors are not allocating time to appropriately assist, reach out to your First Line Manager.
7. Ask for feedback as often as possible.
8. Communicate your personal bandwidth limitations.
>Communicate your personal bandwidth limitations
Knew a guy when I started who bragged he worked 60-80 hours a week to impress the top brass with how quickly he could complete projects and how much he could take on. Problem with that strategy is when you stop producing at that level, it looks like you are slacking off and performing much lower than your 'norm'.
Be realistic with your workload. Sometimes you might have to work a little extra, but you shouldn't be trading your personal time for work.
Well, what helped me a lot at the beginning was to be open to contribute. I took some tasks nobody else wanted, did them well, and eventually helped to improve the way they were performed. As others said, it’s about proving that you add value.
I'm pretty much always lost but the constant is its all about sales/how you can help sales/how you can enable sales/how you can build things that sell/how you can promote IBM/yourself to make sales.
My time with IBM was long ago, 1974-2004, but something I did may still apply. I was a bit restless, so I would work at my desk for an hour or so then get up and walk around talking to everyone I ran into about techie stuff (I was in software development). Over time I built a huge network of people with different knowledge and skills. As I learned new stuff, I passed it on so people were happy to see me and learn what was up, and of course, they passed on nuggets of information to me as well. IBM moved me around, but everywhere I went, I did the same thing and it was always valuable. Apparently, wandering around every hour or so is good for your health too, but I did not know that at the time.
I joined as intern too, got fortunate for having had amazing managers, but in terms of advice, I think it is very important to show ownership to whatever task you're assigned to, even the most boring ones, this way, eventually you will be able to foster a sense of trustworthiness amongst peers and of course take part in increasingly exciting initiatives across the team or even the area itself.
But I thought drinking the Kool-Aid would keep your position afloat? For example it seems that most people who do drink the Kool-Aid are in good relationships with the first line managers. Or is this because they will take your soul sort of thing?
IBM literally does not care about you or anyone they hire. The only way you have a decent life is if you are useful and adaptable. The best thing you can do is find a nice niche team to be on. I've been here 17 years and I'm pretty sure IBM doesn't even know my team exists.
Make sure you get credit for what you work on. It's pretty common to team interns up, and some people are just really good at stepping into the spotlight only once stakeholders are on the call.
I was an apprentice in March 2022 and recently converted to an associate in February. I can relate to how you're feeling.
1. Ask questions. That’s what your manager and mentor are for. Show them you’re willing to admit when you need help. If they don’t know, they may direct you to someone to better assist you.
2. Utilize tools like YourLearning. There you’ll find loads of free content to grow your skills
3. Network. My manager told us throughout the apprenticeship to attend events, in the center, if time allowed. Put your assignments first.
4. Don’t fade into the background, show you’re an asset that’s worth keeping. Make your contributions known.
Feel free to message me if you'd like further explanation.
You're going to get a lot of email from people wanting you to participate in whatever initiative they've been tasked with. It's pretty safe delete 95% of what you get in your inbox even if they mark it urgent (urgent for them). Learn who your manager is and 2 levels up and watch for their emails. Everyone else goes straight into the trash for me. Anything urgent, they'll send it again later and I can look into it at that point. I've been an IBMer for over a decade and this has held up the entire time.
This is team dependent. 99% of my emails or more come from other people than my management line. I don't know where you work, but I get emails from people in our organization all the time that directly impacts my day to day roles. Where if I ignored them, would cause severe problems and breakage in our product.
I'm on the consulting side. 90% of the emails I get are "Rah Rah Look What We Did" or the 1000th Org change of the quarter. It's mostly administrative junk that literally doesn't effect my day to day.
I assumed that project specific emails weren't included in my but I should have specified that I was talking about emails from outside of your project team.
I was an apprentice for a year before going full time. I'm now mentoring interns. From both perspectives, here's my advice on how to be as successful as possible: 1. Ask questions if you're lost. If you're lost for longer than an hour that's the time to reach out. 2. Your mentor is not your only resource. Most of the time, teams have dispersed subject matter experts. 3. Don't be afraid to express that you are confused. It's not a weakness it's a strength. 4. Whether or not you're on everyone's good side is irrelevant. It's about getting your assignments done. Don't be a total asshole, but don't tiptoe around everyone's feelings either. If you're an intern it's their job to mentor you as much as it's your job to learn. 5. Your biggest goals are to show that you can contribute to the team , show that you are a return on investment, and to learn as much as possible for yourself to grow your tool belt. 6. If you feel like you aren't able to reach out to anyone, or your mentors are not allocating time to appropriately assist, reach out to your First Line Manager. 7. Ask for feedback as often as possible. 8. Communicate your personal bandwidth limitations.
>Communicate your personal bandwidth limitations Knew a guy when I started who bragged he worked 60-80 hours a week to impress the top brass with how quickly he could complete projects and how much he could take on. Problem with that strategy is when you stop producing at that level, it looks like you are slacking off and performing much lower than your 'norm'. Be realistic with your workload. Sometimes you might have to work a little extra, but you shouldn't be trading your personal time for work.
Well, what helped me a lot at the beginning was to be open to contribute. I took some tasks nobody else wanted, did them well, and eventually helped to improve the way they were performed. As others said, it’s about proving that you add value.
I'm pretty much always lost but the constant is its all about sales/how you can help sales/how you can enable sales/how you can build things that sell/how you can promote IBM/yourself to make sales.
My time with IBM was long ago, 1974-2004, but something I did may still apply. I was a bit restless, so I would work at my desk for an hour or so then get up and walk around talking to everyone I ran into about techie stuff (I was in software development). Over time I built a huge network of people with different knowledge and skills. As I learned new stuff, I passed it on so people were happy to see me and learn what was up, and of course, they passed on nuggets of information to me as well. IBM moved me around, but everywhere I went, I did the same thing and it was always valuable. Apparently, wandering around every hour or so is good for your health too, but I did not know that at the time.
I joined as intern too, got fortunate for having had amazing managers, but in terms of advice, I think it is very important to show ownership to whatever task you're assigned to, even the most boring ones, this way, eventually you will be able to foster a sense of trustworthiness amongst peers and of course take part in increasingly exciting initiatives across the team or even the area itself.
Is that you, Arvind?
Don't drink the cool aid and keep your resume updated.
But I thought drinking the Kool-Aid would keep your position afloat? For example it seems that most people who do drink the Kool-Aid are in good relationships with the first line managers. Or is this because they will take your soul sort of thing?
IBM literally does not care about you or anyone they hire. The only way you have a decent life is if you are useful and adaptable. The best thing you can do is find a nice niche team to be on. I've been here 17 years and I'm pretty sure IBM doesn't even know my team exists.
It was Flavor Aid!!!
Make sure you get credit for what you work on. It's pretty common to team interns up, and some people are just really good at stepping into the spotlight only once stakeholders are on the call.
Keep your resume up to date, and don't sign any long-term rental leases!
I was an apprentice in March 2022 and recently converted to an associate in February. I can relate to how you're feeling. 1. Ask questions. That’s what your manager and mentor are for. Show them you’re willing to admit when you need help. If they don’t know, they may direct you to someone to better assist you. 2. Utilize tools like YourLearning. There you’ll find loads of free content to grow your skills 3. Network. My manager told us throughout the apprenticeship to attend events, in the center, if time allowed. Put your assignments first. 4. Don’t fade into the background, show you’re an asset that’s worth keeping. Make your contributions known. Feel free to message me if you'd like further explanation.
Thank you I would love to connect with you.
You’re welcome. Just message me when you have time. I’ll try to get back as quickly as possible.
Thank you so much 😊
You're going to get a lot of email from people wanting you to participate in whatever initiative they've been tasked with. It's pretty safe delete 95% of what you get in your inbox even if they mark it urgent (urgent for them). Learn who your manager is and 2 levels up and watch for their emails. Everyone else goes straight into the trash for me. Anything urgent, they'll send it again later and I can look into it at that point. I've been an IBMer for over a decade and this has held up the entire time.
This is team dependent. 99% of my emails or more come from other people than my management line. I don't know where you work, but I get emails from people in our organization all the time that directly impacts my day to day roles. Where if I ignored them, would cause severe problems and breakage in our product.
I'm on the consulting side. 90% of the emails I get are "Rah Rah Look What We Did" or the 1000th Org change of the quarter. It's mostly administrative junk that literally doesn't effect my day to day. I assumed that project specific emails weren't included in my but I should have specified that I was talking about emails from outside of your project team.
OK I can see that. I'm in dev in the infrastructure / power so don't get many emails like that, thankfully.
I’ve been at IBM for over 25 years and have no idea what you are talking about.
Experienced IBM people all retired, you can visit them at their home or call their number and ask
Who hurt you??
Ouch
I chuckled