IBM Summer Interns Face Fierce Competition - 海外工作

eWeek 專訪一位 曾經在IBM intern過三次的 Phd

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2166148,00.asp

IBM Summer Interns Face Fierce Competition
By Deborah Perelman
August 3, 2007

IBM internships: If there is one word that could be used to sum up summer
internships at IBM, it would be "competitive." For some, this is a dream-
come-true, for others it is just draining.

Just ask Kenneth Bratland, a three-time IBM intern.

"When working at [my second IBM internship] there was a little bit more
competition amongst interns. This may have been at least partially because
it was a more high-profile summer internship at a leading industrial
research lab. I was also there among a larger group of students, many of
whom were interested in the possibility of full-time employment with IBM
after graduation," said Bratland.

"A little competition is good as it pushed me to do better. However, it
would become a bit draining at times," said Bratland.

Bratland worked for IBM while he was studying. In 1997, he worked at the
film packaging division of its manufacturing plant in East Fishkill, N.Y.;
in 2002, in the electronic materials and devices group at the T.J. Watson
Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. and, as a post-doctorate, from
2003 to 2005 at Watson, again with a team of engineers on thin film growth.

Yet, the competitive atmosphere at IBM had little effect on Bratland's
enjoyment of his three internships. Aside from praising IBM for challenging
him, he also appreciated that they were accommodating of his hearing deficit.

"I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work for a great company, with
a good group of people, and be involved with cutting edge products and
research. IBM was also very good about providing sign language interpreters
and other assistive technology," said Bratland.

With his Ph.D. now complete, he is a scientific advisor at Morgan & Finnegan,
an intellectual property law firm in lower Manhattan, and owes much of his
success to what he learned while working at IBM.

"I believe things have worked out as I am quite happy with my present job
and believe that my experience working for IBM played a role in helping me
secure my current position," said Bratland.

Bratland isn't the only former intern who noticed a fiercely competitive
atmosphere while interning at IBM, but for Melih Onvural, it was his favorite
part.

"I thought the most positive aspect of the internship was the competitive
nature. There were definitely times when it created tension, but I don't
think that that many top flight individuals can come together and not want
to compete," Onvural told eWEEK.

"It wasn't a battle to the death, but instead a healthy atmosphere that
brought out the best in a person."

Onvural interned in IBM's Research Division creation solutions for electronic
healthcare communication barriers. While his favorite part of his program
was the community of top-tier developers he got to mingle with, there were
aspects of his specific work that added to this appeal.

"I also enjoyed our project. I feel the entrepreneurial nature of our project
allowed us to take risks that we might not otherwise have been allowed in a
more traditional setting," said Onvural.

That IBM pushed him very hard was a bonus to him, and he argues that it helped
him get the most out of his experience.

"I think that at the point in your career when you're interning, you can only
learn about your growth and potential if you're pushed to your limit. This
community helped me grow by constantly challenging me," said Onvural.

Onvural did have one complaint about his internship: the occasional day-to-day
drudgery of it all.

"While documentation and presentations are an important part of the development
and marketing cycle for a product, they are rarely anyone's favorite task. I
actually had a lot of fun with the presentation aspect of Extreme Blue, but
I felt that the documenting that was asked of us by our mentor was tedious
and unnecessary for where we left the project after the internship ended,"
said Onvural.

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