Implementation Analyst Review

The Digital Internship scheme is run separately from the other schemes and as such, provides a much fuller experience. The Digital internship organisers run a variety of events for all the interns in Digital, which helps you to feel included, to network and to work with a variety of different people on a variety of different tasks. My internship was in the Commercial Banking Online Implementation team, who deal with delivering changes and updates to the Commercial Banking Online system in a monthly cycle. The work was varied and interesting and there was plenty of opportunities for me to get involved with other parts of the implementation team.

Throughout my internship, I worked closely alongside a number of different people in the team. Everyone that I worked with provided me with feedback as I went along about how they thought I was performing and gave praise when completing tasks that I was working on. Weekly one to ones with my line manager also provided a platform where he would feed back to me what the other members of the team had been saying to him about how I was doing in the team. Due to this feedback, I felt like the work that I was doing was adding value to the team

My line manager and other members of the team I was working alongside were very flexible to let me make the most out of my own internship and gave me the opportunity to get involved with whichever projects I showed interest in. My manager was always there to help whenever I ran into difficulties and to sort out issues that I had.

There were days where I achieved very little and days where I was overloaded with things to do in order to meet deadlines. I think this was less down to the workload that I had and more down to a lack of motivation on some days, particularly when all the tasks I had to complete were relatively tedious ones

I was given a lot of responsibility over some of the things I was working on, but these tasks were not business critical tasks to the team. I wasn't in charge of any of the aspects of the business releases - when it came to these sorts of things, I had more of an overview role. But when it came to presentations about the successes of business releases or findings from other parts of the business that I was exploring, I had sole responsibility for the content, presentation method and delivery.

This internship has provided me with a lot of different opportunities to develop my soft skills - things like presenting, stakeholder management, communication and teamwork which I will be able to take back to university and forward into any future career. My manager was always keen to help me develop these areas as he realised these are the most important things to take away from an internship.

Due to the nature of the work that is carried out in the office - the monthly cycles and the high pressure of being the final connection between the online platforms and the customer - people in the office could often be under a lot of stress and very busy all the time. Because of this, at times there was very little conversation and interaction.

My line manager had a plan in place for my 10 weeks when I joined the team. Due to me showing interest in other areas, he was happy for my to divert from this plan in order for me to get the most out of the internship, which suited me well. The Digital team organised a number of events over the summer for all of the interns I digital which provided a way for everyone to come together and network and work in teams with different people for these workshops and talks.

This internship was part of a wider scholarship programme which provides students with cash bursaries, academic based bursaries and internships. The internships offer a great platform for you to build upon your existing skills and develop along the way. The balanced scorecard that you complete through your internship allows you to keep track of the areas you are making improvements in

I am currently going through the referral process onto the Lloyds Digital grad scheme which will begin in September 2017. However, I am not sure if working in an organisation of this size and stature is where I see myself. Although the work is interesting and I have enjoyed my time here, I find the pace rather slow. Due to how big the company is, any changes - operational or procedural - take a long time to implement because of the sheer number of people they effect. I much prefer working in a fast paced environment where change can impact quicker. However, the grad scheme at Lloyds is a very good scheme and I may end up on the grad scheme if it suits my situation come September

A lot of the interns this summer were the sort of people who go to work, go home, eat dinner, watch tv, go to bed and repeat. As an outgoing person, I found this quite frustrating as there were never lots of people up for doing things all the time. However, I did make friends with a group of people who liked to do some after work activities from time to time

It's London - pretty much speaks for itself.. The office I was working in was based in Soho, which is great for eating out for lunches and dinners and there are a few cheap after work drink places - two for one cocktails in a lot of places nearby. However, the team will be relocating in December so that might all change!

I personally had some bad experiences with the nightlife during my time here, but that's not to say that there is a lot available to cater for everybody's individual wants and needs. There are clubs and bars for people with all kinds of interests but for me it was hard to scope out the good places to go because 10 weeks is a short time to be in a city the size of London and find where the good places are.

I was already involved in a number of activities before I moved for this internship, so I wasn't really looking for a lot of this. Also, I find London to be quite a lonely place and it would have been hard to get involved in activities if I was the only one interested. Back to my earlier point about people not being overly keen to do lots of things outside of work, it was difficult to get involved in much more.