Technology Spring Week Intern 2018 Review

Technology Spring Week 2018 turned out to be extremely educational and provided with a great insight into the banking environment! Having an opportunity to talk to the senior managers during the sessions and the networking event allowed for an enhanced understanding of the company's structure and behaviour as well as for getting the answers for the questions that have been bothering me for a long time.

During the week I felt that everything I was doing and saying was important. Everyone paid attention to my comments and were opened to share with me the feedback if I asked for it. It was really nice to be treated as an adult who is looking for future opportunities rather than a student with no experience and thus no value to a company.

I felt being fully supported by the Barclays team throughout the week. I always knew what we were doing and where we were going and when in doubt, I knew who to address to get some guidance. What is more, it was always great to receive an answer which contained even more information that I have asked for, but which was still relevant and allowed me to get a bigger picture!

Being an Information Management for Business student in the 1 year, I still have much to learn about business and IT. Technology week lead to me realising how relevant my degree is due to an increased use and development of technology in most of the industries. Data Analysis and Project Management are the 2 modules that I have been taught and speaking to the graduates working in these fields allowed me to relate theory to a more practical experience, following with a broader perspective on both disciplines.

The schedule with all the events and their timings listed was extremely useful to have. The talks were nicely timed and the breaks were consistent during the day. However, it was hard to sometimes calculate the time needed to move from one building to the other therefore I would suggest moving all the talks and events to one building (apart from the external trips e.g. trip to Rise) to make an insight even better structured.

The atmosphere at Barclays was compeletely different to what I would expect from the bank but it was a good thing! The interns and the employees were nice and friendly, all positive thinkers with a will to explore and help. Senior managers were great to talk to and to connect with, bringing lots of insights about the company. Overall, it felt really good to be surrounded by all these people

The talks were both motivational and useful. Some of them would give advice about things to focus on (values), improve the interpersonal skills and help to ease the overall journey of finding the right path in life. The others were explaining the way the industry works, focusing on the technology departments and the specific roles within these departments. It was a remarkable mix of career-oriented and persona-oriented speeches that complemented each other

The insights into specific roles and the work shadowing of both tech and non-tech positions allowed for a better understanding of what each vacancy requires and provides. However, due to the time constraints it was impossible to put the knowledge into practice therefore the understanding of what the full-time role in any of these positions would be is yet to come

Meeting people from various departments allowed to better and much more fully understand the relationships within each department, resulting in then receiving insight into the company's culture overall. The culture was different from what I would expect as it was much more people-oriented (rather than task-oriented) and led to the employers being satisfied with their teams and all the people around, further making their work enjoyable and efficient.

Having an opportunity to speak to various technical and non-technical role I was lucky enough to find the path that seems to be suitable for me and interests me in the way it allows me to apply my skills to it. After realising where my interests lie, I was lucky enough to have a chance to do a work shadowing of the role I was excited about trying (I asked Barclays if it was possible for me to work shadow this particular role and they helped me with my enquiry). It was great to first hear about it, and then have a chance to see the actual output of the project manager as well as to ask questions about.

Paid and reimbursed

There was a speed networking event where we had the chance to speak to various graduates and seniors in all technology departments ( it was amazing to do it in such a short period of time as it allowed to focus on the main questions). We also had a networking event with again graduates and seniors where we had more opportunities to network with specific positions and learn more about them.

There was a speed networking event where we had the chance to speak to various graduates and seniors in all technology departments ( it was amazing to do it in such a short period of time as it allowed to focus on the main questions). We also had a networking event with again graduates and seniors where we had more opportunities to network with specific positions and learn more about them.

We have received plenty of useful information about the training that usually happens in the beginning of a summer internship or the graduate schemes which allows to acquire all the required skills and knowledge needed for the role. We have also heard about the talks and events that Barclays often holds to allow the employees to constantly develop their experience.

I would definitely recommend the program to my friends! It was a great opportunity for me to connect with other interns, to speak to the Barclays' employees, to get answers for all of my questions and to learn all the wonderful things that I learned during an insight. It was both beneficial and fun!