Spring Intern (Technology, London) Review

I really enjoyed the Spring Insight Week into Technology at Barclays. Through a variety of talks, interactive sessions and work shadowing experiences we got to learn about how the bank is structured, how it works and what it's like to work there. We were introduced to a variety of people from different business functions, and everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly throughout. I think some of the most interesting things I learnt were from talking to the people on the grad scheme were were shadowing, who if you really try to get to know them you can find out a lot about work life at Barclays.

It's extremely clear that Barclays cares a lot about attracting the best technological talent. In terms of compensation and how much they invest in the spring week itself they are on par with other large banks (and further investment here is unlikely to improve it much). Where they really shine is in their push to adapt, for example doing agile properly, investing heavily in training programmes or allowing employees to work remotely. While they do have some technical debt and outdated policies in places, they recognise this and work hard to fix it - unlike other large corporations I've seen where it's clear they have much more serious problems but don't seem to acknowledge them.

On the spring week a lot of the time was spent in talks which explained what the bank did in a very understandable way. Staff were always happy to answer questions and the environment generally was very supportive. Whenever I asked for more information they always were able to provide it or pass me to someone who would. There was also an app (which had a few technical problems in loading sometimes though, and generally felt a bit clunky, hence the ding to the rating) which allowed you to view the schedule and receive and send announcements/messages from staff and other students.

I don't think this is a fault of the spring week (in fact I think it was good it was structured this way), but I think it was primarily focused on allowing us to understand how Barclays operates and what opportunities there were within it. However, there was a talk on explaining blockchain technology, and many speakers recommended topics or technologies to study to go into their business areas. The one-to-one CV review was helpful, but the general CV and interview tips session felt quite generic and a little unnecessary to me.

The insight was structured well, and we got to see a lot of different functions within the bank. The first day's 2nd session was especially useful in understanding the different parts of the bank, and busting the basic acronyms that we'd come to see a lot later. I'm not sure why but I think a couple speakers dropped out/got delayed at the last minute which was a shame, however they were quick to find us alternative stuff to do.

The atmosphere in the London insight week was really incredible - we bonded extremely well as students, and the recruitment staff were really welcoming and friendly. The entire event just had good vibes. Didn't really expect much like it going into the event at all, so really pleased with that. I think mixing us up quite a few times (e.g. tables for presentations in different buildings, group work groups, work shadowing groups) allowed us to meet lots of different people, growing our network and just having a lot of fun really. I think the freedom in the project working time and breaks we had was really valuable, and allowed for a lot of just unstructured networking which was great.

It's clear Barclays is investing a lot in new technological talent, and the spring week is one part of that approach. Also see my answer to: "To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?" Here are more words to reach the word count.

Being able to speak with real grads was a great opportunity to learn what it's like at Barclays, particularly following the existing scheme. It's fair enough that they don't want to distract people away from their jobs for too long but I think I'd have liked even more free time to hang out with the grads.

Asking people a lot of questions was useful for figuring out the company culture - particularly the grads, the people giving talks and the people at the networking evening. Culture seems to vary quite a bit by different teams and floors, so it's worth asking the same kinds of questions to people in different functions to see if you'd better fit somewhere specific.

Again, speaking to people really helps you to figure this out. In some cases I'd have liked to be able to just chat with some of the speakers after their talks (rather than formally asked questions), but sometimes they left pretty quick. In the actual Barclays building they seemed to hang around longer (compared to the hotel where it was hosted for the first couple days). Also, speaking to other students and the recruitment team was pretty useful to get their input on what you want to do.

£250 week allowance that's just paid for general expenses and daily travel Travel to and from the program (to get to London, not daily travel). They require receipts almost a month in advance, which can be an issue with trains that take contactless/can't be booked that far ahead. All food provided (breakfast, lunch, lots of snacks) Accommodation provided in Stratford if you live >90 minutes away. Share with one other person (same gender), with basic cooking facilities.

They ran a networking evening on the Tuesday with quite a few of their employees, strongly suggest staying for as long as you can with that and really getting to know people. You also get a good amount of time with the people you are work shadowing. After the talks, in some cases I'd have liked to be able to just chat with some of the speakers (rather than formally asked questions), but sometimes they left pretty quick. In the actual Barclays building they seemed to hang around longer (compared to the hotel where it was hosted for the first couple days).

There weren't any 'organised' social events except from the networking evening on the Tuesday - I wouldn't really see them as that beneficial to the program. However, they provide a good amount of time for project work, breaks and lunch that you can have a lot of fun with the other students. Also, do try to speak to lots of people and make friends as you can have your own informal events (which are much more fun than a corporate could organise) - just a trip out to McDonald's or the supermarket can be fun and help you strengthen relationships.

Yes, learnt about some wake-boarding society and about the schemes Barclays runs to support people who want to do out-of-work activities. With a well-run organisation that large with so many enthusiastic people it'd almost be impossible for good social networks not to form. Seemed like a pretty cool place to be.