Summer Technology Intern Review

The role I was placed into was perfect for an Intern, lots of low level work which was easy to pick up, but a lot of depth/investigating required, lots of speaking to the business side, genuine ownership of delivery and a significant amount of autonomy.

At Barclays you are valued significantly by colleagues as an intern. I've had a huge number of coffees, at some points they were almost every day, with both senior and junior staff ranging from Front Office Directors to Junior Project Managers and Business Analysts. If you email somebody asking for advice or a coffee, the vast majority of people will be happy (or will know somebody who is and introduce you) to meet you and talk about their job and/or give advice.

I wasn't micro managed but knew that my colleagues were available for me to ask questions at pretty much any time despite everybody in my team being under a lot of pressure and having very little time. This allowed me to progress projects fairly quickly and meant that while I was expected to think for myself/deliver, I was able to go to somebody if I was stuck.

The vast majority of interns are given good levels of work (not too much, not too little) and not expected to work stupid hours. Working way beyond realistic hours for no reason (e.g. 9-5, 8-5, 8.30-6.30 depending on where you are) is discouraged by your HR contact, your team, other interns and other staff around you. I've found it's not necessarily the work your team expects of you that can push you into working a little late, rather it's the volume of coffees and intern related events that cause you to have to work a later than you otherwise would.

I was given a good set of objectives and was given clear autonomy over my tasks where appropriate. Most of the people around you are simply too busy to micromanage your tasks. Interns will often pick up projects which have been long dormant due to lack of time/funding and thus really it's up to them to either push it forwards or not.

The key skills/training you get will be from doing your job and learning from your team. However, you are given about 2 days of formal training/induction to Barclays and Financial Markets at the start of your internship which while delivered very quickly is an interesting listen. Beyond the formal training and your day-to-day job, the fact you have a huge network of people in the firm you can contact to ask about their job means that if you're interested in an area, you can speak to people in it and learn more about it - this amount of access is incredibly valuable. As mentioned before, in Technology you get a large number of speaker sessions which also teach you about different areas of the bank.

The atmosphere in 1CP heavily depends on the floor you're on. On some floors for areas like Barclaycard Technology, there is essentially no dress code and it's closer to what you'd expect to see at a Technology Company (sofas, lots of cool stuff etc). On other floors it's more formal and generally you'll be expected to wear a form of suit/business attire.

Each intern group is given a HR contact, a graduate buddy, a day-to-day line manager and a mentor. You interact fairly significantly with all four of these people. These are well organised and structured. Lots of events are organised by your HR contact. You also have three objective sessions (start middle end), where you can get a clear idea of what you need to do to meet your objectives/how you have met them.

A huge amount of time and money is spent on interns, bringing in speakers, hosting events, allowing interns to host their own events with funding etc. Personally, the amount of training/personal development you get depends on your team. I've personally had interesting work given to me with plenty of support from across my team but I have also been challenged where appropriate.

All interns are assessed against objectives and a significant number of people receive offers. Your team/area does not have to be recruiting in order for you to be offered a job. You can ask to be considered to be able to switch divisions if your interest change, however I haven't done this. Plenty of people return for second summer internships/grad jobs.

Over 300 interns on the scheme in London. Lots of events, after work drinks, lunches etc to enjoy. Living in Central London is expensive, however you are paid a good wage. Canary Wharf has a huge number of great bars and restaurants meters away from eachother.

High, it is what you'd expect from living in Central London and working in one of the financial districts. You are paid sufficiently though and are able to afford it over the summer.

London has a ton of nightlife and is great fun. Thursdays and Fridays are the main intern nights.

In terms of Barclays-Organised events, not a huge amount beyond the aforementioned. Lots of intern organised events though.