Last month I took a ride up to Cambridge, Massachusetts and visited with the Extreme Blue interns — top computer science and business students from some of the top universities in America. The Extreme Blue program, which began in 1999 at an IBM facility in Cambridge operates at more than ten IBM locations around the world and brings together a couple of hundred incredibly talented young people to work on projects for the summer. The students are split into teams of three or four computer science students and a business school student. Each of the projects has a sponsor from somewhere in IBM and a an IBM mentor who provides advice and support during the project.
The grand finale occurred in Armonk, New York, where IBM has it’s worldwide headquarters. The EB students from around the United States spent a couple of days demonstrating the results of their summer projects to senior IBM software, services, and hardware staff and management and to the top executives of the company.
The projects are very real (see related links below for more info about them), they result in significant contributions to the company and also to the development of the students. Extreme Blue interns almost always exceed everyone’s expectations. The thing about students is that they have no & baggage& . They don’t know all the things that may not have worked in the past or all the reasons why something can’t get done in a short period of time. No blinders. Totally uninhibited. They have the summer all of twelve weeks or so. Whatever it takes, they will get the job done. The date for their grand finale is set at the beginning of the summer — ten minutes on stage in front of an auditorium full of fellow interns as well as the IBM staff and management. Projects can’t slip like they might in the "normal" world. Students are fearless and tireless. They learn a lot about IBM and from their mentors but I think IBM learns even more from the students. How they think and work together. Their attitudes about technology. The trends they see. Their view of the future. It is so uplifting and enriching to talk to the students and learn from them.
I finally tore myself away from the Extreme Blue dinner at 10:30 so I could get home for some sleep before an early train to NYC for a board meeting this morning and then on to San Francisco for WebSec 2004. WebSec is a conference offered by the MIS Training Institute and will be covering many important topics including Securing Web Transactions, Identity Theft and Digital Identities, Securing Internet Information Servers, Developing a Superior Web Security Architecture, and Penetration Testing for Financial Organizations. I will be kicking things off in the morning with my view of The Future of the Internet.
