"I started searching for placements at the start of my second year. I decided to seek guidance from the Placement Office. They were extremely helpful.

"I had mentors in different areas of the business, and eventually I was trusted to mentor a project on the IBM Extreme Blue programme. My placement should have lasted for 12 months but I extended it by three.

"As a technical writer, I supported the team that provides product documentation for one of IBM's most profitable product – WebSphere MQ (WMQ). As my placement progressed, I was given more independence which led to me single-handedly writing the entire documentation and dynamic for a major feature release on WMQ Explorer called Telemetry.

"As time went on, I was encouraged to get involved with product design, architecture, and planning. This opened doors to implementing methodologies I learnt at University. My knowledge of programming in C++ and Java enabled me to stand out above my peers and secure my place in a number of projects.

"At the start of my placement, I wanted to be a software engineer. Now, I'm more inclined towards consultancy, technical sales, or being an IT specialist. Working within a huge organisation like IBM exposed me to their business processes and I realised that there was more to the company than just producing software."