Investment Banking Intern Review

For an investment banking internship, I would rate my experience as very good/exceeded expectations. Low stress level due to encouraging working environment, approachable colleagues and well organisation overall.

People were very nice. No one wanted to make me feel bad.

The environment was very friendly. From the first day I had a buddy. He introduced me to everyone within the team. He had time to answer my questions, and in general was eager to offer advice. My line manager was very supportive. During my internship she offered several learning sessions to explain team's products. Feedback session were to the point: no vague and hard to understand concepts. Clear points with examples and reasons. Other team members were also very accommodating and approachable.

For an internship in a bank my schedule was reasonable. I usually came at 8am. I had time to grab lunch and to eat it without rush on my desk. 80% of the time I left around 10pm. Only 10% of the working days I had to stay till 1am since I had tasks to finish. The other 10% I left at 8-9pm. 50% of my weekends were free. 20% of them I had to come because I didn't have enough time to complete something I had to submit a week that followed. Around one third of the weekends I spent studying products that the group offered. In comparison with my peers from similar groups in other banks I had much better schedule overall.

While the stress level was lower than I expected due to relatively healthy working environment, the level of responsbility I received were not as high. Probably, that was the norm for a summer intern. Usually, you don't have an independent piece of work. I guess, broader tasks come with time (credibility) or with initiative (asking for more challenging tasks).

The group I interned in was very specialized. I learned mostly about the products offered by the team. It was interesting to see how all of that works in real life. I think, it is useful if one stays within similar area.