Technology Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time here at Barclays as a Technology Summer Intern in the Investment Bank. I found the structure of the programme great - it was well organized so interns could have the chance to work on their project as well as meet lots of other people within the bank.

I joined the team on the second day of my internship. The team was very welcoming, they introduced me to all people on the floor - even people that aren't working on the project. People at Barclays are extremely friendly and follow their core values at all times which reflects them as person. People also make the time for interns, e.g. I've arranged meetings with directors quite easily.

After joining the team, I was given talks and training from various people on the floor - which was relevant to the project I was working on. When there was a time of help/need, there were people that I could talk to quite easily. My team works on an agile basis so daily catchups and demos were encouraged.

At times I could be very busy from the other intern events/meetings that I have. I think it depends on how you manage time. My project itself kept me very busy till the end of the internship and the intern events are an added bonus. I feel the balance is good and the hours are very reasonable.

On the internship, I felt I've added value to the business by completing a real project that benefits my team and the wider community in the IB. I have submitted and contributed towards production code which itself states the amount of responsibility that I've had as well as working independently.

I guess this is project dependent but personally I was lucky enough to get a project that involves a lot of developing, testing and project management which are areas in my life that I would like to pursue a career in. I feel the also has enhanced my ability to code in Java and learn new libraries such as Jemmy and Swing - which could come useful for my final year project at university.

Due to the area of where I work in the bank (IB), the floor is quite quiet. However, I've been to other floors which are loud and fun such as the Digital floor. It depends on the people on your floor. People on my floor are sociable and also hand out cakes almost everyday for everyone.

The structure and set-up was seamless. It was well organized and I'm glad that people were thrown in-to their teams/project instantly after an intern-wide training day. It was fantastic that we could meet and train with people from other parts of the business such as finance, risk etc.

Soft-skills - during training sessions and talks from people, we had to present ideas and opinions. I found this an excellent opportunity to present and share your presentation style to others, while receiving feedback. Technical-skills - through my project I had a few people sit down to go through all of the different technologies that I have to work with and also their was technical training material on their internal wiki site.

Future prospects appear strong. There are mid and end term reviews which ultimately determine whether you'll get an offer or not. There are many talks on the Graduate Programme so as long as you impress you'll be considered and hopefully offered a place on the programme.

Met up with interns for lunch, drinks and done sports activities.

Canary Wharf can seem expensive to those who are from the outside of London.

Great - lots of bars to go to and Central London is only a few stops away.

It's dependent on your pro-activeness.