Work Placement Review

I really enjoyed my placement as it showed me upfront what it means to work in a team of highly intellectual and ambitious people, what it means to have projects with real deadlines while balancing different responsibilities at the same time. Overall, the experience changed me for the better and it prepared me for any type of industry I might work in in the future.

Even though I did not have any experience in the financial industry, I was treated as an equal and always offered support. After a few months, once I started understanding more and becoming familiar with procedures, I actually felt as a full time employee with responsibilities equal to my colleagues. I got to the point where I was considered very knowledgeable in a certain area and some colleagues were coming to me with their questions. Furthermore, I was also giving advice and explaining things to one of the graduates who joined the team, which showed me that my team trusted me and my knowledge.

As for support and guidance, I was always having weekly meetings with both my manager and supervisor. These could be from very informal, talking about career plans and my likes and dislikes to more formal, regarding the project status and next steps. If I had any issues or I was stuck on my project, I would just ask for advice and they would gladly help me. Same goes for my other colleagues.

There was always something to do: be it project work or placement project in groups with other placement student, there wasn't quite enough time to get bored. Nevertheless, you could still find time to go for a catch-up with a colleague or just take a break and stretch your legs if you felt like it.

In my opinion, my level of responsibility was close to one of a full time employee because I did not feel (or was seen) as a work placement. My main project had impact to a certain business unit of the company and I was given full control of it as I was working alone. I was also involved in the critical task of technical support, same as any other colleague.

I already applied my project management and team-working skills in a summer project (which my brother took part in) and I believe my experience with the firm influenced my decisions and behaviour throughout the project. It provided me with the technical skills to program better/cleaner, the analytical skills to divide a problem into sub-problems more efficiently and the time management skills to balance different tasks at the same time.

The office atmosphere was friendly and everyone was willing to help you if you had any problems. From time to time there were social events planned after work or we would hold certain session to play around with new technologies or showcase what we were working on. The latter gave you a very good high-level understanding of what was going on in the office and ask for tips if you were doing something similar. During the day, people were very willing to take an hour and explain anything you wanted.

The work placement was very well organised as we - the work placement students - frequently had training organised just for us which would help us in our day to day responsibilities. We would also have various networking events with people in important positions within the company or we would have different social events planned after work by the company. The side projects did involve more work which could get in the way of your day-to-day activities.

The firm was investing a lot in our personal development from programming training to teamwork training to other soft skills sessions. We also had side projects (not related to our day-to-day work) where we would be grouped in teams of 4-5 work placements and asked to give a presentation on a topic at the end. Furthermore, the company was interested in obtaining our feedback and suggestions on how they could improve their process.

I do like the fast paced environment of the industry and I would like to grow as a professional in this company.

Throughout the placement I got the chance to interact with many placement students from different teams (especially from the technology department) and I made very good friends. We would usually meet up for lunch in the afternoon and play table tennis or go out for a drink after work. The social events organised by the firm were very fun as well.

As you can imagine, living in London is very expensive, but I believe we could afford it and have no problems going out.

We were in working in zone 1, so there were plenty of pubs and nice locations around. Also, the tube was close and it could take us anywhere.

Not quite, Work would take a lot of your time. But there were opportunities to join different sport groups within the firm which met regularly.