Case studies : System engineer: Yue Wang

Yue Wang graduated with a first degree in information technology and business information system from Middlesex University in 2005 and then completed a Masters degree in software engineering at the University of York in 2007. Yue is currently working as a system tester within IBM’s Software Group.

I joined IBM as a graduate July 2009. I studied computer science for both my Bachelors and Masters degrees. The reason I chose computer science was that the demand of computer based skills is growing each year. Especially in today’s economic climate, IT, software and computer science are always the safer area to get a job in.

I've worked for a small software company as a software developer for two years before I applied for IBM. Working for a small company has its own benefits however it also means that you won't have a large platform to stretch your skills and it is more likely to be hit by the economic climate. After two years working at my old company, I realised that I had reached a point that I couldn't go any further in my career development and I decided to move onto a bigger organisation for better opportunities.

After doing some research, I noticed that IBM provides all the opportunities that I was looking for. New graduates are given comprehensive training and also flexibility with their career choices. There are many different roles other than software developer and the two-year rotation scheme they offered allows me to rotate to different roles before I decide which one is the most suitable and enjoyable for me. One of the really great things is that we have a graduate manager who is purely focused on our individual career development.

Working for a large organisation also means that I have a better environment to develop not only my technical skills but also my personal skills, such as innovation, communication, presentation, leadership, etc.

The requirements of these skills make the application and selection process more than just a face-to-face interview, it contains a series of tests and exercises, which I found to be a more sensible way to show interviewers my best abilities. These tests and exercises are not designed to be difficult but a way of assessing my strong and weak areas.

My day-to-day job is as a software system tester. We need to understand the product we work on in the way our clients would use it, rather than focusing on just making a single function work. This requires a set of solid analysis and problem-solving skills. We also need to develop test programs to automate the test process, so I never stop developing my programming skills.

I've been given opportunities to participate in many projects outside of my day job. These projects can be for my own interests or for my personal skills development. Since I joined IBM, I've signed up for two projects that I found interesting and educational.

At my working location, we have club house and sport halls that we can spend our time outside of work in. In some ways, working at IBM is like being in a university campus again, learning never stops and we always enjoy our time here.