Intern Review

I really enjoyed my summer internship. I consider that I have learned a lot about all aspects of trading and I was trusted to develop new tools that would help the team. During my internship I was able to broaden my knowledge and also put the new information into practice.

All my colleagues were very friendly and treasured my opinion. Whereas they were very professional about their job, whenever I had a problem that was related to something outside of work, they were very understanding. I feel that here it was really easy to connect with people on a social level.

The team was very friendly since the beginning. They were very helpful - providing clarifications on the tasks I was supposed to work on, giving me more information about market trends/any technical knowledge I was not familiar with. I also received very useful feedback on my work throughout my internship.

I was quite busy, but I was able to take breaks during my work. I had time to plan ahead on my tasks and to work on them without getting too stressed out over the deadline. There were times when things became hectic, but with a bit of time management I was able to finish my tasks on time.

After familiarising myself with the trading platform/other software, and after gaining a bit of insight into the current market trends, I was entrusted right away with doing meaningful work that would be helpful for the team. The tasks were very diverse and I feel that they were tailored especially to provide the perfect combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

This experience definitely encouraged me to pursue this profession after graduation, as I enjoyed all aspects of it. I considered it to be appropriately challenging and interesting. I have gained a lot of theoretical knowledge and learned how to put it into practice, something that would prove to be very useful in my last year at Uni.

The atmosphere was mostly professional, as trading requires continuous attention to the events happening on the market. However, the team was very close and they had a very positive attitude, making jokes or being more casual than usual. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere as it was never exceedingly serious, but not too jovial either.

I had to work on several tasks that provided the perfect combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. I consider the project that I was assigned was very well designed, and whereas at times I felt I was working on individual tasks, at the end I was able to see the overall picture and saw how all the parts combined with each other.

The interns had several training sessions and I was able to participate to a couple of others with my team. I considered them to be very interesting and useful, providing the right content and additional materials. They were also very varied, covering all aspects of business. However, I wish they were a bit more focused on the trading side.

I enjoyed the company's culture. My colleagues were very friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was really good throughout my internship. Given that I also enjoyed the tasks that I was working on, I am seriously considering applying for a full-time job or to a graduate scheme after finishing my degree.

Everyone who participated in the internship scheme was very friendly and sociable. We had several outings and social events. They were also very supportive, providing useful feedback in mock presentation sessions. Everyone was keen to learn more; there were always discussions on what sort of project each one of us was working on.

I was working in London, so the cost of living is quite high in comparison with other cities. However, if you plan ahead you are able to stick to a budget. Living further away from the centre and commuting to work would definitely decrease the living cost. Same with socialising, it can be quite expensive at times.

Victoria is quite a busy area; I am not sure about the actual nightlife in the area, but there are a lot of restaurants or cafés nearby. There are also a few very nice pubs close to the working place. For clubs, I am not aware if there are any around.

There have been several outings with the other interns, some were organised by the HR managers and some were more casual. There were not that many organised events, I think there was only one organised outside of working hours. But anyone could initiate an informal outing if they wanted to.