Spring Into Technology Review

I really enjoyed my Spring into Technology insight week. Everyone was extremely friendly, and their main priority was to ensure that everyone enjoyed themselves. The days included great team-building tasks, as well as informative talks, so I got a chance to both learn more about the company and have some fun.

This varied depending on the task at hand. Most of the time everyone got to play an important role and had input into problems when doing group exercises. However, in coding tasks, very often experiences coders dominated the group, not allowing less experienced members a chance to have a go. In once challenge this resulted in almost 3 hours of watching someone else code. However, during most of the week this was not the case, for example during shadowing, we were only in pairs, so there was plenty of one on one time.

We recieved a lot of guidance and support throughout the week. All the talks were extremely informative and they always made things as clear and easy to understand as possible. There were always staff at hand for any questions, and they were always more than happy to help you with anything.

I am studying Physics, so I did not personally find anything on this course relevant to my degree. However, I did find the information extremely useful in regards to informing me about future jobs and interview etc. I think that in a way this is even more useful, though, as it has prepared me for what to do after university.

I think that the insight was pretty well structured. In tended to get more involved as the week went on. We started with simple team-building exercises and finished with group coding challenges that really tested our actual skills rather than just teamwork. I felt that this worked well. There were a few times when things ran late.

There was a great atmosphere. We were in different groups each day which really encouraged you to reach out and meet lots of different people. Coupled with the regular (and free) socials in the evenings, this made for a really nice atmosphere of friendly people. Overall I really liked it, and I made loads of new friends.

The company invested a significant amount of time into us. We had multiple tours and talks from teams all around the firm, as well as over 5 hours of shadowing during the week. All of this took time out of peoples normal work, so they clearly thought it worth their time to help us.

Even though the shadowing showed us all a lot about what it is like to work at the company, we did not really get a full sense of actual day to day working life. It depends on what you mentor decides to focus on, however some people only really got tours, rather than actually learning what is is like to work there.

This insight taught me a lot about the culture at J.P.Morgan. Everyone is really friendly, and you get the sense that everyone cares about each other. From the talks, you learn a lot about how the company is trying to encourage people to work with morals, and not just with the focus of making money.

I found it very useful. While I did not personally find that it pushed me towards technology, it did help me find out more about the different aspects of the bank, something that I know will be useful when it does come to choosing a career path later in the future.

I did not have far to travel so paid for myself to travel in on the tube each day. There was an option, however, to get reimbursed if you had more expensive travel arrangements. Additionally, many students had accommodation provided for them to stay in during the week, as well as travel being covered.

There were lots of networking events. On the first night we had the opportunity to network with other students, which was a great way to meet new people and get some potential future contacts down. Later on, we had several networking lunches with EDs and MDs from different parts of the company.

The networking and social events were great. At every event, everything was paid for, including drinks and food. All the meals were covered and all the food was great. We had to social events, the first being a meal in a restaurant, and the second being a pizza night. They both provided great food.

On the first day we had lots of talk about how the business is run. One of these included a talk about J.P.Morgans BRG - Business Resource Groups. They made it very clear that J.P.Morgan strongly encourages its employees to take part and create their own groups and societies, similar to how universities run.

I would definitely recommend this to a friend. I think that the Spring into Technology was definitely the most enjoyable insight week that J. P. Morgan offer. It is also slightly easier to get into than the finance ones. It is a really enjoyable week and definitely work applying for, even if you don't have a technology background.