"IBM Internship! The How's and What's!"; Step by Step - Issue #7

Apr 14, 2022

Last week marked my final day as a Product & Growth intern IBM Quantum and I'll be stepping on to my new role as a Product Intern at Vahan, an AI startup backed by Y Combinator.

Working at IBM was a dream come true and it's been a privilege to work in quantum computing at such an early stage. I've been asked a lot of questions about my work at IBM and this is me answering them -

How did you get an Internship at IBM Quantum? - I was part of the first batch of the Qiskit Advocates program, being one of the only two qiskit advocates from India at that time I was really involved in the qiskit community. I knew a lot of people at IBM and one fine day they asked me if I was looking for an internship. You can read about my journey as a qiskit advocate here.
What was your work at IBM Quantum? - My role was titled product and growth intern where I developed growth strategies for India and APAC. I also worked on developing metrics for our product usage and community growth strategies. I worked a lot of data tools and ran growth experiments.
How was the interview process? - I had four rounds of interview. For three of those rounds they asked questions based on a bit of quantum computing, strategy and execution, data and metrics. The last round I was asked a lot of behavioral questions, what my career goals are etc. pro tip: be brutally honest when you're interviewing for off-campus roles, and moreover ask questions to your interviewer
How was was the work culture at IBM? - IBM is an amazing place and the people there truly care for you to succeed in your life. They helped me pick up a lot of skills outside my main job. I wrote blogs, gave presentations, led meetings and even initiated projects. I received constant feedback for me to improve myself. IBM Quantum Internships are one of the best internships in the industry at the moment, where you'll have a really fun time working on what you're passionate about.
How did I manage my time as a working student? - It's really important to communicate with your manager and your professors about your work-school-life schedule. It was initially hard for me to manage my time juggling both school and work but if you communicate properly and prioritize your todo list to set actionable goals it'll be easier to manage your time.

Here's another piece of advice, do not self reject any opportunity you come across. I got rejected by IBM over four times before I cracked this role. I failed at a Google interview and I did not even make past the initial screening round for many startups. But eventually you all will make it if you're consistent and focused.

April 8, 2022 was my last day at IBM, it's been so great working with a leader in quantum technologies and I'm going to miss a lot of people at IBM, but I'm super excited for my new role at Vahan and I hope to do a great job as an APM.

If you need any career advice or even a resume review feel free to reach out to me on twitter and I'll be happy to help you out.

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Now don't forget to take rest and get enough sleep, and don't over work yourself. That's all for this week's issue of Step by Step. Do let me know if you have any feedback or comments.