Software Development Placement at IBM
Maybrook House, 40 Blackfriars St, Manchester, M3 2EG
July 2018 - August 2019
Key Points
- Spent 10 months as QA tester
- Spent 3 months in the development team
- Grew familiar with enterprise-class storage systems, gaining extensive experience with the SVC hardware and Spectrum Virtualise™ software
- Worked in agile teams of 2-7 people
- Participated in projects outside of my main role
- Educated my replacement for the following year
- Enjoyed social events with the rest of the Manchester lab
Overview
My role at IBM was predominately working as a Quality Assurance (QA) tester in Agile teams of 5-7 testers. The product being tested was IBM's SAN Volume Controllers (SVC) built with the IBM Spectrum Virtualise™ software, which were part of the IBM Spectrum Storage™ family. These machines are an enterprise-class storage system that can handle large scale volumes of data, and provide flexible multicloud deployments to help companies improve their data economics.
Having joined the team part way through a test cycle, I was able to spend just over a month developing my understanding of the role and the machines I would be working with, as well as getting to know the lab and integrating myself into the team. Once familiar with the role, I was even able to complete some of the tests in that cycle for the team.
The two test phases I was a part of were 18Q4 and 19Q2. Each test phase I was assigned a product, and had to build and configure the machines available in the lab to recreate this product. It was then my job to ensure the product still worked with the most recent software patch, executing test cases for both the new and the original functionality. This meant recreating a variety of different conditions the product may face, and when any defects arise, working with the development teams to identify the issue and assist in fixing it.
In both the test phases the team worked well together to complete all test cases in time for the assigned release date. If a member of the team was absent for whatever reason, it would be up to me or one of my colleagues to assist/take over any tests that were due to be performed on their machines during their absence.
For test phase 19Q2 IBM put a great deal of faith in me and the two other students on placement with me. The three of us made up half of the six man QA team in the lab (which dropped to a five man team halfway through) and we were trusted to perform our role to the standards that IBM demanded from their employee's. Having the responsibility of being a key member of a small team that plays a crucial role in the software development cycle, allowed me to contribute the most I possibly could and show that I am ready for the working world.
Once 19Q2 was over, I moved from the QA team to the development side for the last few months working with the technical lead for product configuration. Already being familiar with the machines meant the transition was smooth and I quickly learnt how to make changes and pushed some of my own into the software.
I extended my contract with IBM a further month to gather more experience on the development team. Additionally, this meant I was able to help the next years interns with starting their position as a member of the QA team.
Spending a year working in the industry and gaining experience I feel has been extremely beneficial for my development. I was able to apply all the knowledge and skills that I've accumulated over the course of my education into a practical setting, but more importantly it gifted me the opportunity to learn things that can't be taught in a lecture hall. These being the soft skills that are crucial in the world of work, as well as the broader understanding of how the business of software development works. Going forward I know how my role fits into the business, and I feel more confident in hitting the ground running in whatever my next role may be.
Outside of the Key Role
My role at IBM was predominately working as a Quality Assurance (QA) tester in Agile teams of 5-7 testers. The product being tested was IBM's SAN Volume Controllers (SVC) built with the IBM Spectrum Virtualise™ software, which were part of the IBM Spectrum Storage™ family. These machines are an enterprise-class storage system that can handle large scale volumes of data, and provide flexible multicloud deployments to help companies improve their data economics.
Having joined the team part way through a test cycle, I was able to spend just over a month developing my understanding of the role and the machines I would be working with, as well as getting to know the lab and integrating myself into the team. Once familiar with the role, I was even able to complete some of the tests in that cycle for the team.
The two test phases I was a part of were 18Q4 and 19Q2. Each test phase I was assigned a product, and had to build and configure the machines available in the lab to recreate this product. It was then my job to ensure the product still worked with the most recent software patch, executing test cases for both the new and the original functionality. This meant recreating a variety of different conditions the product may face, and when any defects arise, working with the development teams to identify the issue and assist in fixing it.
In both the test phases the team worked well together to complete all test cases in time for the assigned release date. If a member of the team was absent for whatever reason, it would be up to me or one of my colleagues to assist/take over any tests that were due to be performed on their machines during their absence.
For test phase 19Q2 IBM put a great deal of faith in me and the two other students on placement with me. The three of us made up half of the six man QA team in the lab (which dropped to a five man team halfway through) and we were trusted to perform our role to the standards that IBM demanded from their employee's. Having the responsibility of being a key member of a small team that plays a crucial role in the software development cycle, allowed me to contribute the most I possibly could and show that I am ready for the working world.
Once 19Q2 was over, I moved from the QA team to the development side for the last few months working with the technical lead for product configuration. Already being familiar with the machines meant the transition was smooth and I quickly learnt how to make changes and pushed some of my own into the software.
I extended my contract with IBM a further month to gather more experience on the development team. Additionally, this meant I was able to help the next years interns with starting their position as a member of the QA team.
Spending a year working in the industry and gaining experience I feel has been extremely beneficial for my development. I was able to apply all the knowledge and skills that I've accumulated over the course of my education into a practical setting, but more importantly it gifted me the opportunity to learn things that can't be taught in a lecture hall. These being the soft skills that are crucial in the world of work, as well as the broader understanding of how the business of software development works. Going forward I know how my role fits into the business, and I feel more confident in hitting the ground running in whatever my next role may be.
Outside of the Key Role
- I was part of a team that planned the activities and worked out the logistics of the yearly event that IBM provides to encourage local secondary school girls into the tech industry. This involved working within a budget, securing a venue to host, contacting the schools, and planning activities that both educate and stimulate their curiosity for the industry.
- A solo side project that I was involved in was to build a piece of software to assist QA managers both in our lab and beyond Manchester. The software was designed to be an automotive process that every week would access the IBM servers and collect data on each team's testing info such as how many were completed last week, how many tests remain, etc. This data would then be processed and structured into helpful tables and graphs that were then emailed to each team manager at the start of every week informing them how the test phase is going and whether they were on target to complete all the tests on time.
- Throughout the year there were many lunch and learn sessions. These optional sessions were roughly an hour long during our break, where anyone in the lab could give presentations on whatever work they liked. Often they would be relevant to the software/products we were working on, but were occasionally nothing to do with IBM products and just a good opportunity to learn something new.
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