Brannoc Whetter — Cognitive AI Intern
See this article on Medium and IBM.
IBM has a strong link to students in tertiary education. Through various programs such as the Professional Practice Internship Program (PPIP), the program I’m interning in, they attract young talent, provide them with strong industry experience and receive extra work and first-hand graduate position vetting in return.
Motivations
The process begins in the first year of university, offering tours of the premises and general outlines of potential internship positions. Honestly, I wasn’t particularly excited for the program by this point. I knew it would be worth completing for the Industry Experience and Scholarship pay — a win/win in my books, but I was unsure if there would be work available that I was truly interested in — Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence systems in my case. I’ve always been interested in technology, its increasingly broad use-cases and engaging community. Playing around with code and hardware until that moment where everything comes together is an amazing feeling.
I’m particularly interested in the application of technology in association to creative arts. I produce music in my free time and wanted to pair my interests with one big project — a Machine Learning platform to recognise and recommend music to people. I knew what I wanted to achieve, but I had no idea how to get there. I’ve spent a significant amount of time googling things, talking to people and simply trying until I fail — only to start again. I was brought to the conclusion that real experience is the best way to comprehend and understand. This is where IBM comes in for me — it is a major company that I someday aim to match in size and importance. Working on actual projects from start to finish, understanding the process and proving to myself that it doesn’t have to be an endless struggle — projects can be completed, progress can be made.
Regardless of if you have been invested in technology your entire life, or if you have only recently sparked your technological fire — IBM are accepting and educational. Put yourself out there and you will be rewarded.
Onboarding Process
Applying for participation in the Professional Practice Internship Program is a valuable experience in of itself. Despite being through the university, you run through an entire job application process. You are required to provide a resume and a cover letter. Don’t fret about these being perfect, they are just as much for you to better understand yourself as they are for IBM to understand you. From here, if you are accepted you move on to an interviewing stage — again, at this point it’s more for the experience of interviewing and identifying what you are looking to get out of the program so they can place you in the right team, so don’t be too anxious about this. This helped illustrate that if you are confident and know what you are looking for, you will never be disappointed.
IBM has been really accommodating of my desires and availability. The Cognitive AI work that I’m completing wasn’t originally outlined in the internship positions. However, by demonstrating a strong interest in the field, IBM supported me and offered an opportunity. I’m often preoccupied with university, family and my own business endeavours — as long as I’m keeping on track with my hours and completing the work I need to, IBM and my managers have been understanding that I have external requirements — it doesn’t eat away at your life.
Work and Experience
IBM Australia works on an extensive range of projects for various organisations — from the Australian Tax Office to Telstra and much more.
Immediately, I was requested and placed on the Cognitive AI Team. I networked with a few managers and got straight to work on a Proof of Concept (POC) for a company in Hong Kong as part of a sales pursuit. This was really exciting for me, work in the domain I was interested in, for a big organisation overseas! I really appreciated being able to jump in the deep end and really get involved with this level of work. Expectedly, this wasn’t without complications. The Cognitive AI Team is managed primarily in Melbourne and Sydney. This meant that my managers and other contacts were never onsite with me in Ballarat. I had to take initiative to make my own decisions — following a general brief. Find the right people to contact, ask the right questions and work towards the right goal.
The company being in Hong Kong proved to be a complex situation as well. More contacts were located in completely different time-zones and delays in communication were inevitable. Much of my resources were in Cantonese, a language I don’t know (although knowing Japanese helped a little!), I managed to work around this by using Google Translate for reading educational content and talking to Native Cantonese speakers to confirm the validity of the Cantonese content I was writing as part of the project. These occurrences were absolutely frustrating in the moment, but they were fantastic learning experiences. No matter whether you are at IBM or anywhere else — intercontinental projects are going to have their share of difficulties.
Networking is a major part of modern business. Due to the limited availability of onsite support for my specific team, I had to look outside for help. IBM has an extensive range of people and resources all over the globe and by simply sparking a conversation with people I was able to get technical support for various environments, business and methodology support amongst other things. These circumstances really pushed me to take initiative and solve problems — something I’m grateful for.
I was able to make the best of the circumstances and use it as a powerful and rewarding learning experience.
IBM has provided me with an opening to learn and engage with industry-standard technologies and given me a foundation for the professional methods of completing tasks and achieving goals on actual projects. I can’t stress enough how important working on something that actually releases to a client can be to improve your mindset and comprehension of technologies. Peer-learning and collaboration are highly valuable practices for onboarding and maximising efficiency without causing the feeling of isolation. Being collaborative with other developers and engineers has helped me rapidly learn software stacks and obtain requirements.
Conclusions and Pathways
I’ve had ups and downs in this process, but even my problems have been a positive experience. If you are interested in a career in IT, even if you don’t plan on staying for IBM’s graduate positions (I’m looking to start my own business for example) — it is absolutely worth engaging with.
IBM definitely provides industry education on software techniques and business methodologies and there is no denying their importance. That said, IBM further provides significant personal growth and confidence. Even if you go through the program and decide that a 9–5 isn’t for you — you never would’ve learnt that had you not tried.
My biggest takeaway so far is this: Nothing is inaccessible if you are willing to talk to people and take opportunities when they arise.
Nothing is inaccessible if you are willing to talk to people and take opportunities when they arise.
—
If you would like to get involved check these links out:
