Technology Spring Insight Intern Review

I enjoyed the insight into Technology at Barclays. I learn about all the different areas of Technology that is being used at Barclays, and how it plans to use Technology in the future. Everyone at Barclays was so friendly and nice, and I became friends with everyone that was on the Technology insight week programme.

I felt very valued during the insight week. Not only did I have my own pass, all the employees from graduates to seniors made me feel like I was valued and like I was a potential employee. The 2 work shadowing sessions allowed me to explore and gain an insight into the company as well as seeing areas of my interest.

The number of opportunities that were available to talk to current graduates and network with was so helpful for me to ask any questions that I had about a career at Barclays. The group project that was worked on throughout the week was very enjoyable and really allowed me learn to work on presenting and working in a team.

I was able to really improve on my existing set of skills such as communication, presentation and also networking. I was also able to understand how Technology is currently used in Banks, and how it is leading the way in banking and finance. The 5 core values of Barclays were ingrained into all the activities throughout the insight week. The skills that have been developed in the week will definitely help me during my degree, internships and in my career.

The week was very well structured. From the very first day we were told how the week will be planned and what we expect to learn. We learnt about getting to know ourselves as well as Barclays. The first day was then concluded with a networking evening with seniors in Barclays. The next few days involved working on our group projects, insights about Technology being used in Barclays, as well as shadowing sessions.

A lot of the spring weekers had come from outside of London and had accommodation organised by Barclays. I wasn’t staying in the accommodation, however I still bonded with every single person during the insight week. The atmosphere was both relaxed but also sometimes intense during the preparation of the group presentation.

The company invested in me in terms of development. Starting with all the networking sessions we had with graduates and with seniors we were encouraged to ask any questions we had and get to know them. We were also working on a group project to come up with an idea and then to present it. Which allowed all of us to develop many skills such as communication and team work.

During the week, we had the opportunity to shadow two recent graduates working in their specific areas of technology. This allowed me to get a full understanding of a career at Barclays. The networking sessions also allowed us to talk to people that already have a full-time role at Barclays, and allowed me to get an insight into a career at Barclays.

The insight helped me to understand Barclay’s culture. The 5 values of Barclays were essentially the core of the insight week, and allowed me to know what Barclays really cares about. Since the beginning of the week it was really evident to me the company has an outstanding culture and engagement with the community.

The content of the insight week helped me to really narrow down my career choices and helped me decide on what career path I want to go down. I came into the week thinking that I wanted to become an application developer, and at the end I still do, but areas in technology like cyber security and machine learning now seem like career that I would like to do with my career as an application developer.

We received a payment of £250, as well as separate money to spend on breakfast and lunch every day.

There was a lot of opportunities for networking at Barclays. There were sessions where we were able to network with senior employees at Barclays, as well as sessions with recent graduates. This allowed me to ask questions to get an idea of what I could do become a successful senior employee, but also an idea of what I can do now to be a successful graduate at Barclays.

The networking sessions and social events were great. It gave me the opportunity to meet so many people and network with people early in the career as well as successful people far in the career. For the networking sessions were given business cards with our names on them that allowed me to give my business cards out to people that I would like to stay in contact with.

Opportunities for employees were mentioned quite a few times during the week, such as working for charities as well as helping the elderly with technology. However, I think that these opportunities weren’t mentioned enough, and I definitely would like to have learnt more about these opportunities that employees at Barclays could get involved in outside of work.

I would absolutely recommend this insight week to my friends and even to those I have not met before. This week has taught me about how important technology is in finance and in banking, and has helped me with misconceptions I had. The skills you learn, the people you met, and the activities you get a chance to take part in just makes this spring insight week so worth it. This spring insight week also allows me to jump right into the summer internship, if successful with the interview at the end of the week.