James C.
Leading a cross-functional team during the internal hackathon and working directly with enterprise clients made me realise I want to shape what gets built, not just how it is engineered.
Placement company
IBM HursleyWhat was your placement experience like?
My placement year at IBM Hursley working as a Full Stack Software Engineer on the open-source project Galasa was an incredibly immersive, fast-paced, and transformative experience. Over the course of the year, I transitioned from focusing primarily on front-end development to contributing across the entire enterprise stack, ultimately landing over 750 contributions.
On the technical side, I was given the autonomy to major epics vital to key clients such as our department CICS (Customer Information Control System). This included rendering 3270 mainframe terminal screenshots into a user-friendly UI table, automating Kubernetes client-java updates via GitHub Actions, and resolving a critical security blocker for the Galasa 1.0.0 release by implementing Personal Access Token (PAT) expiry logic. My stack expanded exponentially to include Next.js (TypeScript), Cobra (Golang), Java (OSGi), CouchDB, and cloud-native tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and ArgoCD.
What were the best things about it?
The absolute highlights of my placement fall into three categories:
Real enterprise impact: Unlike typical intern projects, my work directly affected production-level open-source software. Unblocking the 1.0.0 release and seeing features I built used by enterprise clients was incredibly rewarding.
The enterprise client win: Co-presenting at the CICS Architecture Forum to over 20 clients was well outside my comfort zone. However, it resulted in successfully winning over an enterprise client as an adopter of Galasa. Collaborating with them afterwards to build out their enterprise use case was an invaluable business experience.
The cohort culture: The community at Hursley was fantastic. Gathering the placement students together early on for bouldering and food in Southampton set the tone for the year. We formed a tight-knit group that regularly played sports, brainstormed hackathon ideas, and supported each other through complex sprints.
Have your career plans been informed by your placement?
Absolutely. While my time at IBM solidified my technical foundation and gave me a deep appreciation for cloud-native infrastructure and Agentic AI, it also highlighted where my true strengths and passions lie: at the intersection of complex technology, user experience, and business strategy.
Leading a cross-functional team during the internal hackathon and working directly with enterprise clients made me realise I want to shape what gets built, not just how it is engineered.
This realisation directly informed my next steps. I have secured an Associate Product Manager (APM) summer internship with Google in London working with the Fitbit team. Very excited to say this includes an incredible opportunity to travel to Silicon Valley and participate in development talks with other APMs from around the world.
What advice do you have for students considering doing a placement?
Get comfortable being uncomfortable: The steep learning curve at the beginning of a placement can feel overwhelming. Don't shy away from tasks or technologies just because you haven't seen them at university. Stepping up to present at a client forum and diving into Golang backend code were the things that grew my confidence the most. Whilst it might sound silly, reading documentation is a real skill that will differentiate how quickly you learn.
Build the community you want to see: A placement year isn't just about code; it's about network and culture. Be the person who organises the social outings, initiates the lunch plans, or puts together a hackathon team. The relationships you build with your peers and mentors will be just as valuable as the lines of code you write.
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