Technology Consultant Review

Overall, the experience has been enjoyable. I spent the full 6 weeks working on one very technical project, involving writing instructions for coders to create a risk calculation system. I have often found that I did not have enough work to do, and I only spent about 7 days in the main office so I was unable to mix a great amount with EY employees. However, I often met up with people in the office, for example, going to the office in the morning, and travelling to the client site in the afternoon. Through an internal registry, you can search for people and their jobs, and so I was able to meet people through this to find out what they did, and everyone was extremely friendly when emailed out of the blue!

I got to know my team (quite a big team of 22 split into a further 2 teams) over the 6 weeks, and we got on quite well. It would have been nice to have more team socials to mix with each other informally, but due to the workload of the project, this was difficult to arrange, and so only happened once. In regards to the actual work, people came to me when they needed various things doing, and were often very interested in telling me about their jobs and so would give me work and explain how this fits into the project, making it a much more enjoyable experience.

My managers pointed out what was needed before doing work, and encourage asking questions to make sure that the work is completed correctly. This was particularly necessary to begin with when trying to get to grips with finance and technology terminology. We are also required to ask for formal written feedback from managers throughout the internship which play a role in you being offered a job a the end of the experience. Though daunting, these are useful to find out what you have done well and what you need to improve.

Much of my internship has depended on me going out of my way to do things. My team have often struggled to provide me with work, giving me things on a very ad-hoc basis, often taking only 10 mins to complete. I also felt slightly awkward bugging them, asking them for work often but I tried to balance this fear with appearing proactive and showing I had capacity. In the mean time, I organised meetings with employees working in different parts of the business, organised a partner shadow day, and spent a couple of days in a different team (discovered through meeting a partner) to see a different part of the business, and these experiences have proven to be the most useful and kept me busy, rather than focusing only on my own team's project.

In the work I was doing, I was able to get hands-on with documents and presentations which would be delivered to the client, but these would usually be double-checked- understandable, being the new guy! I was also able to speak a little in meetings, both with clients and internally, obviously requiring good self-conduct, but I did not deliver anything directly to the client. Though I was not given masses of responsibility, this was nothing unexpected, and I can see that I would be given more responsibility if I was able to work with the team for longer.

I have learnt an awful lot about what it is like to work in a big firm, and how to build relationships with people which will be extremely useful during and after my final year. Preparing good presentations and learning how to conduct myself in a formal environment will be very useful when I begin my career, but also for when meeting professors at university etc.

When I was in the main office, the atmosphere was really good. Everyone was approachable and you can strike up a conversation with almost anyone. You can even email partners to ask to go for coffee and find out about what they do! However, I spent the majority of my time at the client site, which is a shame as this was very different but, as a consultant, this is a natural part of the job. But I always looked forward to getting back to the main office to see people!

There were lots of opportunities, such as for partner breakfasts, various presentations etc. however, the lack of work on my project was a bit of an issue. It sometimes felt as if my team had ended up with me without knowing what to get me to do but this was perhaps down to pot luck. There were also a lack of socials organised by the company (i.e. none) but we organised them ourselves amongst the interns so this wasn't a major issue, though it would have been nice to have some properly organised socials so that more people would attend!

There are countless opportunities to develop yourself, from a multitude of online courses on the intranet, to asking people to try new things, e.g. doing a presentation to develop these skills, and managers are very helpful in trying to allow you a chance to do these things. There are also lots of video conferencing 'lunch and learn' sessions involving people talking about different subjects. These are run voluntarily but because of the way promotion works (encouraging people to get involved in everything) there are always plenty of things going on, to learn about how to code, new regulations, and currently lots of information about how Brexit may affect financial services.

I really love the firm, the atmosphere, and the people make the firm what it is. Everyone is extremely friendly, and after a few weeks of working it is clear that this is part of the firm's ethos, and not merely a marketing point. There are so many different things to get involved in and different jobs within the firm that I would love to come back to work here, and try different things to find out exactly what I am interested in.

There were no organised socials by the firm so amongst the interns we organised a drinks session at a pub or bar each Friday, which was great fun, and we ate lunch together in the office (when we were in the office). Again, everyone was really friendly and got along really well!

Standard London prices. I commuted an hour and a half from home, but from speaking to people, I gather it can be difficult to find a reasonably-priced room to rent for the 6 weeks (as it is such a short period), but many people stayed with friends, lived at home, or already had flats in London whilst at University.

Being in Canary Wharf, there are not masses of places to socialise in the evening, though there are some bars which we went to. We often went to the other office near London Bridge to meet with other interns and go to bars around there. Some people would go on to nightclubs but they were a minority as most people have to get home and/or are exhausted from the week and so don't fancy going clubbing!

There is a charity project called EY Foundation which you can get involved in, though, as an intern, I did not have time and only a few interns had a chance to do this. This would involve fundraising, going into schools to help with CVs etc. which I would have really enjoyed doing. I also believe that all employees get a paid day-off each year to volunteer with the foundation. There are also sports, such as netball, football etc. and even sports like American Football and rugby to get involved in. Finally, there are networks such as the Latin network and Black network to get involved with as well.