JP Morgan Spring into Technology Review

I found the insight interesting in terms of the technical topics covered during the week. I excepted the insight to be more JP Morgan centred, but instead, I was encountered with an insight were the topics were just very general and not focused on the company in itself, or how the different topics were being applied and used in the company in itself.

There wasn't a moment when I felt like I was not being taken seriously or not valued at the firm. In fact, the HR team made a really good job at making us feel very welcome at the company by giving us a bag of freebies and merchandise on the first day, as well as giving us prizes for the different challenges set during the week. Moreover, even during the workshadowing sessions, the employees took us seriously because they knew that most of the spring interns end up working full-time for JP Morgan.

As I mentioned before, the insight was very technical and theoretical, which is kind of expected in a Spring into Technology event. Given the technical focus of this spring internship, we had two full days of technical challenges where we received mentoring from current software developers and engineers, which was extremely helpful. Moreover, between each event happening during the day, the recruiters were always around, so if we had any questions in mind or any doubts about the spring insight, they would provide guidance. Overall, I felt like a lot of guidance and support was provided by JP Morgan during the spring insight.

Since the spring insight was very technical and not very JP Morgan focused, the skills and knowledge I gained are very valuable. This is mainly because the skills I gained were technical, which are second to none in my degree in computer science. However, I expected to gain more information about the company in itself (the strategic structure of the company, the different departments and teams, the goal and purpose of each team, the projects JP Morgan is currently doing...) which I did not get at all. Even during my workshadowing sessions, I did not get a very good insight into the daily work of the employees given that they did not seem to be very keen to share their work.

In my opinion, the whole structure of the insight was not very valuable, considering it was a JP Morgan Spring into Technology. Given the title of the spring internship, one would expect to get an insight into how technology is used within the company and get to know the values and goals of the company in itself, focusing on the technological side of JP Morgan. However, all we got during the spring week was very general information about technical topics. For example, we had talks about UX design, which seemed like any regular UX lecture at university rather than a JP Morgan UX design talk.

The general atmosphere during the insight was okay. Regarding the other spring interns, they all seemed to be eager to learn more about JP Morgan and make the most out of the spring week. The environment generally looked friendly. The fact that JP Morgan organised a social event for all of us to attend the first evening of the week, made a big difference in the whole atmosphere with the rest of the spring interns.

I feel like the company really invested in me, teaching us about Personal Brand, how to prepare for the JP Morgan interviews and how to format our CV; as well as the technical talks we had. However, the impression they gave me was not very good given that that the spring week was not very focused on the company in itself. As I outlined before, I expected the spring week to give me an insight into what it is actually like to work at JP Morgan and the different technology departments available at the company. However, I felt like their investment in me was very "general" in a sense. Even though I gained a lot of invaluable knowledge in terms of the technical knowledge, I did not get a lot of information about the company in itself and how my knowledge gained at university could be applied to the daily work life at JP Morgan.

The spring insight did not give me an overview into what it is actually like to have a full time role within JP Morgan. Having attended another spring insight, where I gained a lot of knowledge about the company in itself and what it is like to work at the company, I feel like I gained no knowledge about the company in itself at all during the whole week. Spring insights are meant to give you an idea of what it is like to work at the company that is organising the specific spring insight, but instead, I just gained general technical knowledge at this JP Morgan Spring into Technology. I feel like in the future, they could focus the spring week more on the company and try to link all the topics of the talks and different activities we have to the company in itself.

The insight really helped me understand the culture at the specific office I attended. I feel like a company's culture cannot be defined by just one office, especially if it is a technology hub where all the employees at the office are engineers and developers. This really made a difference in the company's culture given that engineers are generally known for being nerdy and shy, which was indeed the idea I got during my insight. The office in itself looked boring and crammed, with no entertainment spaces to get the mind out of the coding environment. However, each company has its own way of designing office spaces, which I assume an American investment bank's description would be something like what I saw and experienced during the week. But overall, I got a really good idea into the company's culture and the general atmosphere at the office I attended.

The content of the day did not help me decide on my future career path at all. I was expecting to get to know the different roles in the technology department of JP Morgan, to get an idea of what specific role I would like to have if I ever got the chance to work at the company. However, all I learnt was just general technology topics, not very helpful in my choosing a role within JP Morgan or letting me decide which roles interest me within JP Morgan.

We were reimbursed for travel and JP Morgan paid for our accommodation during the week. However, compared to many other companies, we were not paid for our spring week. But still, it was very generous of them to pay for the travel and stay, as well as our breakfast and lunch for the week.

Yes. We had a few networking events during the week, which were helpful because we actually got the chance to ask what we wanted to know and discover what each of those employees did in a regular day of work. However, it would have been more helpful if during the first day of the insight, JP Morgan had given us an overview of the whole structure of the teams at JP Morgan, because each employee is obviously in a certain team, but when I asked the employees during the networking event, I understood what team it was but did not get a very good idea of where that specific team stood in the whole structure of JP Morgan. However, all the employees during the event were really keen to answer any of our questions about the firm and their work at the firm.

As mentioned in the previous question, the networking event opportunities were extremely insightful compared to the rest of the activities and talks we had during the rest of the week. In fact, the networking events were the only part of the whole week where I felt like I was actually learning something about JP Morgan and not just any regular tech topic. In terms of the social event opportunities, we had a social the first day of the spring week, where there were no employees and it was only us, spring interns. This really made a difference in the environment for the rest of the week since it gave us an opportunity to get to know the rest of the spring interns.

They made a huge emphasis in the different societies available at the company that were aimed at different kinds of people (LGBTQ+, Hispanic...) and the events that each of those hold during the year. Moreover, I found out that JP Morgan has a website where the events outside of work are outlined, but not any regular social event. Instead, they were events about specific technological topics taught by other JP Morgan employees keen on that topic.

In general, although the spring week was not what I expected, I did have fun and learnt a lot (about technology rather than JP Morgan). However, I would say that I would recommend this spring insight to someone who wants to meet other likeminded people, wants to have fun, and wants to take part in fun technical challenges. But if it is a friend who wants to learn more about JP Morgan and wants to see what it is like to work for this company, then I would say that this insight is not helpful at all in that sense.