Extreme Blue: Getting Started !

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Blogpost by Ben Beuchel and Maurits van Bellen
On the first day of IBM Extreme Blue 2013, we (the 20 fresh IBM Extreme Blue Interns) were very excited to meet our new teammates and get started on our projects right away. Obviously, such high ambitions were unrealistic for the first day, as we had to set up our equipment. For the three months, IBM provides us not only with brand new laptops, but also bags, and personal badges. We therefore spent the majority of the day registering our emails and setting up the wireless connection, as well as the IBM VPN. Apart from this, it was very exciting to get to know and hang out with the people we would spend our summer with. Furthermore, the day was accompanied by exciting speeches from various executives, who gave us a warm welcome to the IBM family.

After the warm words and official errands of the first day, we jumped right into our project on the second day. In the morning, we met our clients for the first time. During this first meeting, we received our challenge. The challenge is the one key question which we seek to solve and which keeps us busy for three months. Once we had made sure we understood exactly what the client expected from us and had gotten to know the people that represent our clients a over lunch, we drove back to the IBM office with one of our IBM mentors. Back in the office, we got to work right away and started brainstorming on how to tackle the challenge the client gave us. We used the remainder of the week in order to further develop our ideas. Throughout this process, IBM did a great job helping us with a brainstorm workshop in which we got a headstart on how to come up with creative ideas. While brainstorming, we really took our time to think outside the box and develop some innovative solutions. The creative Extreme Blue area, with comfortable couches and carpets, certainly helped us get into the right mind frame for this innovative process. With the help of our mentors, we ended up developing over 40 interesting new ideas to present to our clients.

Throughout the week, we also had a chance to talk to several IBM professionals who gave us great insight into the company and its distinct culture. IBM also offered us several workshops; one about using the internal software package, which is essential to keep client information confidential. We witnessed another workshop from an IBM consultant who
taught us how to set up meetings and make sure we finish meetings productively. Towards the end of the week, we then started clustering our ideas into different categories and turned our work into a sharp presentation for the client. To help us get ready for our first presentation to the client, our mentors coached us through two dry-runs, in which they
gave us valuable feedback on our presentation. The free time we had during the first week, was effectively used to strengthen relations in the Extreme Blue group, as well as improve our table soccer skills.