Technology Summer Analyst Review

The internship overall was a fantastic experience, the other interns, the grads and the environment made it an easy place to settle into and to enjoy the work. You are given countless opportunities to visit other teams and areas of the bank and are encouraged to network as much as possible. HR, your manager and the programme sponsor are approachable and will listen to everything you say.

The work we were given meant that we were able to add real value to the company. We continuously worked on projects that would contribute to a bigger part or be used in the future. Colleagues didn’t look down on your because you were an intern but treated you like you were a full member of the team.

When I first came into the bank I had very little coding experience and limited financial knowledge. This meant that it was more difficult to settle in, however the people around and my manager especially, eased this process. You are able to ask whatever you’d like, whenever you’d like and no question is too small or insignificant.

From day one we were given multiple projects to work on which meant we had to continuously review our workload and use our time wisely. On a daily basis we were never left without any work to do and always had something that needed doing. Other projects from HR were assigned for any down time that might occur.

As the work we were set was to be implemented we were given the responsibility of delivering a suitable product. We also had the responsibility of managing our time effectively and making sure we could organise our days well. Managers looked for initiative and didn’t consistently tell you what needed doing.

The training we received at the start was very short (merely a few days) due to how short the internship was, however in that time we learnt basic financial knowledge and bonded with the rest of the intern class. On the job is where most of the skills are learnt, such as business procedures and programming.

The atmosphere in the office was very welcoming and eased the settling into the environment. Everyone was very approachable and you were able to speak to anyone at any time about anything. Everyone wanted you to take part and invited you to social events to make you feel more at ease.

The internship overall was incredibly well organised. People knew what they were doing and where they were meant to be at all times. In addition to work set by your team there were continuous whole group events to bring the group back together and expose us to other areas of technology.

The training was limited as expected for a 10 week programme, but there were weekly/fortnightly speaker series which meant we were able to learn about things that weren’t specific to our team. We were able to shadow different people in order to enhance our personal development. The training and development was also delivered in an enjoyable manner.

The company cares a lot about developing Citi employees and so you are always able to move around and apply to other divisions. People at Citi seemed to love what they do and most had long term careers here. Future employment with Citi is something I’d definitely consider as the internship laid a strong foundation.

The social scene between other interns was fantastic. There weren’t many social events held by HR but many of the interns organised events privately which meant we could utilise the time outside of work well. The class of interns 2016 made the internship so much more enjoyable than it would have been without them.

The cost of living in central London was reasonably high and came to around £200 a week for rent and £30 a week for transport. Living outside of canary wharf in London Bridge meant that all amenities were easily reached, wouldn’t recommend living in Canary Wharf. Socialising was also higher than average, as expected in Central London.

The nightlife in Canary Wharf was okay to the extent that there were various bars we could go to however for a more vibrant nightlife we headed out of canary wharf and to other well-known places in the city. That being said, Canary wharf is always very busy after work with people going for drinks.

Outside of work there weren’t many activities organised by Citi. Due to the size of London it was easy to find other things to do if you used your initiative. I joined the company gym which meant I met other people and used travel sites to see the best of what London had to offer.