Business Technology Summer Intern Review

I had a business technology internship at RBS and I did really enjoy my internship. My team were all really nice and collaborative. The work I was given was enjoyable as I am already from a technology background, therefore I was familiar with some of the terms and work given to me but I also got to learn about new technologies in the bank. I am not sure if this is the same for everyone but I was put in a team that suited my skill set.

The team I was placed in for the duration of my internship were very friendly and welcoming when I first started the role. They were consistently collaborative with me and always offered to help me if I needed it. I worked on many different projects with my colleagues. My team invited me to various team bonding activities also which were very enjoyable!

My manager was extremely helpful and organised. She was in almost every single day and was only a few seats away, therefore she was always there for me if I needed help or guidance.

I was quite busy each day. The first few weeks of the internship I wasn't as busy but as you start to have meetings and settle into the roll you become more busy and you have more opportunities to network and set up meetings and work on projects with your colleagues. If I didn't have a busy day I would ask my team if they wanted help with their work and I know a lot of interns did this also -my team were happy to give me work.

I was given a lot of responsibility during the placement. My colleagues often left me to talk to RBS colleagues from around the bank and set up meetings on my own and travel to different offices. I worked on some projects on my own and was left to research and collaborate with the right people to finish the work.

The skills I have developed will help me in my later working life as this role gave me the experience of working in a different environment to I am used to. I also was able to collaborate and network and meet lots of new colleagues each week and I got to work in different teams. This bettered my research skills and it also gave me confidence as nearly every day I was meeting and speaking to people I had not met before. I also widened my knowledge of financial technology.

All teams were very friendly in the office. It is sometimes quite noisy as your colleagues are always in conference calls at different times of the day whilst you are working alongside them. So if you are trying to write up something, sometimes it is hard when people are talking next to you on the phone.

My manager was extremely organised and gave me links to everything I needed to set up the first day I got there so that I was ready for my internship straight away. I know not all managers were as organised as I sent a lot of interns the links as they hadn't yet received them. The Early Careers Team are in charge of all interns and specific members of that team are given to the different internship roles. So there was one Early Careers team member who everyone in technology could contact if they had any questions which was nice and helped to keep the internship organised as well.

My team trained me in the technology I was using and I picked it up quite quickly. They were there to offer me help if I did have a problem later.

They are appealing as I enjoyed my internship and I am very interested in technology and I am keen to learn more about financial technology.

The social scene was very good. All of the other interns were really nice and we all happened to live in the same building by accident, so we would often walk to and work together and would meet up in the evenings. The grads in RBS were also very friendly and often attended events set up for us. We were all assigned graduate buddies when we arrived and it actually was really nice to have someone to meet every day to talk about work who is a similar age to you and is working in a similar way to you.

The cost of living was quite expensive. I am from London and my placement was in Scotland. I found it difficult finding somewhere to live however all of the interns ended up living in a large student accommodation building. It was hard to find somewhere as the internship is for 10 weeks in the summer, you cannot rent a house for 10 weeks. The accommodation price was quite high as we were staying in the summer so they increase the rent price and also the famous fringe festival is on the entire length of August therefore prices are increased due to this also. Most interns just used some of their wages to pay for their rent. Socialising was quite pricey but it depends how you choose to socialise. We stayed and socialised in the centre of Edinburgh so we expected drinks/food to be a bit pricier.

I worked in centre of Edinburgh and just a short walk up the road are lots of bars, restaurants, pubs, clubs, shops, etc so the Nightlife was always busy. Also, due to the fringe festival being on the whole month, lots of tourists come and the city is really busy as people spend time seeing shows and drinking after.

The interns organised a lot of social activities that I went to. Also, RBS do organise a few events for interns to attend which are enjoyable.