Business Technology - Summer Analyst Review

My summer internship in Technology was fantastic. The workplace environment was not overly intense, and I was proud to be working alongside genuinely pleasant people. I was given the freedom to deliver work that was genuinely "my own", and thoroughly enjoyed working at RBS.

My colleagues were all a pleasure to work with, I felt like I was genuinely valued as part of the team, as opposed to treated as an intern. Interactions with all colleagues were relaxed and friendly, including management and senior management. The fantastic corporate culture in Service Delivery at RBS is perhaps its strongest attribute.

I was given as much support and guidance as I requested, which functioned well with the way I work.

When there were lulls in my overall job, that time could be invested in my intern group project and corporate CSR challenge, which you genuinely got as much out of as you put in. At no point did I feel completely stressed out / overworked / like I was dreading work (though commuting into London is a different question altogether).

I was given three relatively broad strategic objectives, and allowed to devise my own path to achieving them. Assistance was always available when required, but I was by no means "babied". The level of responsibility taken on in delivering on these objectives was also largely self determined, so at the end, I felt like what I had been able to produce / achieve was entirely a reflection of what I had put in.

It was a fantastic opportunity to hone my stakeholder management and reporting skills, and just generally develop my workplace abilities.

Upbeat and pleasant, it was like working among a group of friends. Could not have asked for a more pleasant atmosphere.

This was really down to your manager, as intern HR did not provide them with as much support as they might have liked. This was fine for me, but the experience varied across other interns. The social side of the internship, or lack thereof, was spartan and illogical where existent.

I did not require a huge amount of directed training for my role (finding my own way was directly beneficial to my deliverables) but I was given all the development opportunities I could have wanted. I was allowed to participate in a two-day hackathon and attend a day of internal lectures for my own development without having to take leave, and both events were extremely beneficial to my personal development.

You really do seem to get out what you put in here, so if you're willing to put in the work it won't go by unnoticed. RBS are also incredibly flexible when it comes to working from home or your own hours. I worked 8-4:30 instead of 9-5 to avoid both rush hours. Working from home is not really an option on the internship but it is as a general employee, so if total flexibility appeals to you then this is the right place.

Not particularly, no. A lack of social events at the start / generally poorly thought out (rare) social events meant that the internship was quite clique-ey. I formed a good group of friends but as far as I'm aware, many others did not. For London based internships, socialising does need a helping hand at the start, since organising things in London is twenty times more difficult than doing so at university.

High. Extremely high. I'm lucky enough to live in Zone 4, so I commuted in from my childhood home - as did many others, staying with family or partners. This, understandably, added difficulty to socialising, as did the fact those who had to rent couldn't afford to be located particularly conveniently. #LondonLife

London has some good nightlife spots, but is on the whole not fantastic during the student-free summer. I'm sure it will be as wonderful as the media claims when I'm 25-30, but as a summer intern I am far too young to appreciate what London offers in terms of nightlife (it's a bit boring). If you love clubbing at uni, Ministry of Sound and XOYO are pretty good (though book tickets in advance because the price on the door is high). If you prefer clubs which are really just a smoking area with a bar and dancefloor (the notorious ilk of Jesters, SObar and Klute) then Proud Camden and Islington Metal Works will be more to your taste (also very affordable). If you're a cocktail night or quiet drink in the pub kind of person, this city is your oyster. Just remember oysters are supposedly quite expensie.

RBS is always doing a million and one schemes to raise money for The Prince's Trust, so every area had some sort of ongoing challenge in addition to the Intern CSR challenge (for which enjoyability is directly proportional to what you put in). That aside, not particularly for those working in Services (Technology, Operations etc). Activities occurred in Edinburgh, but not in London. "Front office" departments had more of a social scene.