Summer Tech Analyst Review

The internship was truly amazing, especially with the amount of time and effort that the company put into the interns' personal training and development. Everyone at the company is incredibly supportive; we were given the opportunity to learn from just about anybody in the company, including senior management. The company also holds loads of internal events for the benefit of its employees, allowing us to network, improve our skills and most definitely for us to enjoy ourselves.

My team and I are incredibly close, and they have been extremely welcoming from the start. They give me all the support that I need, and very often puts in a good word for me with my managers. We have had very serious technical discussions, where my opinions were taken very seriously and my team always tries to implement my ideas as best as they can.

My manager makes it a point to have one-on-one sessions on a weekly basis to catch up with me, and to help me with any issues that I may have. Not only does he offer me technical guidance, he is also genuinely concerned about my personal development, and does everything that he can to ensure that I set and achieve my objectives.

There are fluctuations in the workload, especially with large projects that require coordination across different teams in regions scattered across the world. There are tasks to complete every single day; however, we are given the opportunity to complete online courses to sharpen our technical abilities on days where the workload is not too heavy.

It takes a while to learn the tools required and to become accustomed to the processes involved in the business but once I became fairly familiar with the processes, I was treated exactly like a regular developer working within the company. The team trusts me with my work and gives me the freedom to work at my own pace and with little supervision, but I can always count on them to be there if I require any support.

I definitely learned a lot about the way technology is implemented in a large company and although it may differ in different places, it remains the same fundamentally across all large companies. The exposure that I gained during the internship through opportunities to meet with expert engineers and subject matter experts in different fields, including cutting edge technology, has definitely been priceless and imparted me with knowledge that will be useful not just in the future when I join the industry, but also in the world of academia.

Despite everyone being busy with their own tasks, it is a very friendly atmosphere. We were encouraged to take coffee breaks between coding to ensure that we do not exhaust ourselves and is usually the perfect opportunity to network with others. There is a large communal area where everyone gets to sit together during lunches, and many breakout areas for teams to get together.

A lot of effort went into organizing the internship program, and loads of events were set up for the benefit of the interns. Along with events that allowed us to learn more about the business, there were also social events for the interns to get to know each other better. The internship was very structured, with very clear goals set early in the internship so that we make the most of our time.

The company invested a lot of time and effort in the interns, not just in providing us with material, but even flying a trainer in from New York in the first week to give us very thorough training in finance, knowing that most of us have no experience in finance. Loads of speaker sessions were arranged, including with the CEO of the company, where senior management gave their time to share some of their wisdom and answer any questions that we may have.

The mobility offered by the company is one of the best things that the company has to offer. Because it is so large, there is much to experience across the different divisions within the business which would be massively different from one another. There is also the prospect of being able to apply to work in different regions in the world for a more international experience.

Thanks to the social events run by the company, particularly within the first week, we got to know our fellow interns quite well very early on in the internship. Social events are held multiple times throughout the internship as well and, among ourselves, we would then organize trips on the weekends and get together outside of work.

Glasgow is a relatively cheap city to live in, compared to other cities. The rent is definitely lower than most places, and eating out is relatively cheap as well, particularly with local bars. A lot of the tourist attractions like museums and art galleries are free, so the city has loads to offer.

Glasgow is incredibly lively at night, and has a wide variety of places to go to, with some places being incredibly cheap. People even travel to Glasgow from other nearby cities like Edinburgh to enjoy the nightlife, and the public transport system is great, even late at night.

The company itself occasionally offers opportunities to take part in activities outside of work such as a firmwide exercise challenge. Lunch walks are also organized for people to get together in a non-work-related setting and to take a break and events like the Corporate Social Responsibility Day were also organized to encourage volunteerism.