As part of my Computer Science degree, I have the choice of completing a one-year work placement in between the second and final years. This makes the degree a year longer, but means a much higher probability of obtaining a graduate job (and even achieving a high final-year project mark, apparently).

I applied to several companies in different fields (science, finance, software development) and attended various interviews, assessment centres and aptitude tests. A few days after attending IBM’s assessment centre, I received a call asking whether I would accept a job offer starting in July 2011, which I gladly accepted. IBM call this an Industrial Placement.

In the offer letter package that I received by email a few days later, I was told who my manager would be, along with his phone number. I called him to ask him a few questions about forms I had to fill out, but also took the opportunity to find out more about what I’ll be doing.

I found out that I’ll be on the team responsible for IBM Rational Software Architect (RSA), the division of IBM that replaces Rational, which IBM took over in the 90s. RSA is essentially a set of tools that developers use to design software architectures (usually in UML), which helps them to be more productive and engineering-conscious by generating code skeletons, helping with planning/workflow and more.

I’ll be based at IBM’s software development labs in Hursley (near Winchester), so I’ll have to find a place to live out there some time before July. I’m really excited and am looking forward to starting the first job of my Computer Science career.

I’ll try to write a detailed article about the application process for those who are applying soon and post it on this blog.