Cenk - Dublin MBA Intern
Summer 2003

Can you tell us a little bit about you?

I am from Canakkale, Turkey - in close proximity to the old city of Troy - know as the center of ancient civilizations. I was a postgraduate student in M.Sc. in Electronic Commerce, Dublin City University when I joined Extreme Blue 2003 in Dublin, Ireland. I had graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Management Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 1998. I worked as a Management Consultant in the areas of business process re-engineering, performance improvement, business strategy and e-business systems implementations before joining into Extreme Blue challenge. I am currently working as a Management Consultant in IBM Business Consulting Services in Ireland. Since joining IBM, I have worked on a range of projects in the telecommunications, healthcare, utilities and government sectors.

Why did you apply for the Extreme Blue internship?

In the Spring of 2003, I was looking for a challenge and a good opportunity for my professional career after finishing my 3rd level degree. One of my lecturers sent me a mail with a link to Extreme Blue Internship ad. After scanning the advertisement, I did some googling about the internship over the internet. After spending a few hours surfing around the topic, I was totally convinced and excited that it was the challenge for me and it also looked promising for the future opportunities. I felt that the Extreme Blue was ideal for my passion in technology and my future career interests.

How do you think your background and experience prepared you for the internship?

My background had really helped me to succeed in the Extreme Blue program. I have a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. degree and I had nearly five years of experience in management consulting profession. I surprisingly realized just how much I was drawing from many of my past experiences in the university, client engagement work, presentations, all aspects of my education and business experience had contributed to my work in Extreme Blue program. I had sufficient level of business/industry analysis skills and technology knowledge to communicate and collaborate with IBM product managers and IBM Business Partners who were involved into our project.

What have you learned from your Extreme Blue experience?

I think the one of the biggest achievements was to complete the project with a proof-of-concept prototype and a state-of-art business case within the given project timeline. One of the other achievements was to file a patent for our project idea. I found many opportunities to strengthen my skills in harmonizing technology and business knowledge to develop a solution for the customers of one of the largest companies in the world. The Extreme Blue program has helped me to learn more about IBM?s strategy, business and products, to meet with very smart people and to feel the Big Blue. It has been a year since I've started to work in IBM after completing Extreme Blue program and I am really happy to work with people who bleed blue.

Is there anything about the Extreme Blue program that surprised you?

I must say that I was really impressed by the level of commitment by our mentors, managers and project sponsors. They had always been available for questions and were provided constructive feedback into our project. The other very impressive point was that there was a great sense of anticipation around our arrival from the very beginning - we were welcomed by top level IBMers, we had meetings and presentations with top executives of IBM business units.

Would you recommend the program to other students and why?

Absolutely. Extreme Blue is by far the best internship program I've been involved before, that's why it will always be my privilege to be a part of the 2003 Extreme Blue challenge in IBM Dublin Software Lab. We worked as a team and understood how important to collaborate with other people to exceed expectations - that was what I believe Extreme Blue is all about. I strongly advise future interviewees to take Extreme Blue program into consideration and do their best in interviews. I believe Extreme Blue program will provide them a great experience, enjoyable and unforgettable summer time.