Technical Risk Analyst Review

I enjoyed being allowed to work amongst a lot of like-minded interns, as the division I was placed in is made up in large by interns. However, being placed in very small teams lead to 'specialising' very early on, not allowing for much branching out, which resulted in a very repetitive and boring working day. There were attempts at social activities etc. geared towards improving interns and permanent colleagues' connections and offering some enjoyment, but these typically gained little traction and therefore were not enjoyable.

I felt like I had a role to play which was certainly a positive of being placed in a small team. But, this role was clearly to carry out the more mundane and boring tasks. I think this is dependant on which team you are placed in, as some teams got to work on wider more interesting projects. There was an emphasis on work-life balance which was backed up by my colleagues, this helped me feel as though they were concerned with my wellbeing.

This depended on which manager, which overall I think is a negative thing, as the uncertainty that came with asking a question was very unhelpful. Some managers instantly made time to get on a call/chat to take a look at what was concerning me; others would mention they there were busy and respond in hours/days time, forgetting I had asked at all; some ignore any contact trying to be made via chat/email. I was lucky enough to have at least one very responsive manager that allowed me to get on with the majority of the work I was given.

Not at all busy. I would routinely have to stretch out and overcheck tasks I was given. Of course, the logical thing to do would be to ask for more work, but this was rarely provided because we (interns) had either not been trained to complete certain tasks, or management was too busy to find tasks for us to complete. This was by far the worst thing about the job - if you are not placed in an 'agile working' team, this will likely be your experience.

We were given a decent amount of responsibility in terms of presenting our work to other teams and completing would alone. This was also backed up with reassurances that our colleagues are aware of the tasks we were completing and would be there to help during presentations. However, do not expect to be making any decisions or even choosing tasks to complete, there are many routine tasks that need to be completed and will likely be your responsibility.

I have not gone back to University from my placement as of yet. However, I am sure that the experience I gained will have no application to my University degree. We were given useful tips on communication (particularly via email) and we were taught how to use certain programming languages. Since my degree does not involve programming these skills will not assist my in my degree studies whatsoever. However, I was not expecting to gain skills of this sort from this placement.

The atmosphere in the wider office was relatively good, certainly no strict rules. You are freely allowed to leave your desk and speak to colleagues, in fact, this is encouraged. The office is an open space that does not encourage any dullness. There was no hostility during the entire time I worked there, largely positivity from colleagues. I think this is as a result of the work-life balance that is encouraged and even the fact that there is no dress code for work helped.

There was no much of an educational aspect of the scheme at all. A few coding sessions and miscellaneous sessions thrown together by 'volunteer' colleagues in the first couple of months. It was evident that this was a quick bit of side work for these colleagues to complete, away from their actual work, nobody in the company is hired to handle interns, which is quite evident. Other than this there was not really a placement/internship to set up, we were basically regular colleagues there to stay for the next ten months, so the rest ran quite smoothly.

We were given a few computer programming sessions, along with a guidebook. Most of the learning was left up to us and the guidebook, we could ask questions when we needed, of course for some this meant leaning went smoothly, but for those with relatively unresponsive colleagues, this meant learning went poorly. Other than this there was no special investment, just any questions we had to ask. The phrase 'get out what you put in' was frequently peddled, which seemed fair when presented with it, but realistically a more positive attitude is adopted by many other companies.

To me personally, they were not appealing, as I did not enjoy my experience on the placement or with the company. However, the placement does offer some fast-tracking to graduate schemes, this is subject to change, as it was negatively changed on our year. But, we were offered an internal numeracy test to complete and then a referral from our managers which could potentially fast track us to an assessment centre for our chosen graduate scheme.

There were a few social activities such as meals and evening parties organised earlier in the year. The aim was to do these once every 6 weeks. There were also two charity events over the course of the year for the interns to participate in. Furthermore, there were 5-a-side football matches played weekly amongst employees. On the face of it, there was quite a lot on offer but of course, these things only work if there is interest in them which there was not much of from permanent colleagues, so these things had to be held up by interns.

Cheap, ideal for students.

Lots of clubs, bars and pubs. Depends on which ones you attend as to whether you enjoy them or not...? Overall very good though.

Interns are offered one day in the year to do a charity activity that involves taking the day off work. They are also encouraged to participate in charity activities outside of work, that they can come up with. There were a few sports that people could sign up to get involved in like 5-a-side football, tennis (specific to London) and pool/snooker. Other than these there were no activities organised by Lloyds, such as networking or talks.